Will workers, employers be satisfied with Orange Line?

Starting on Oct. 29, the next great hope for mass transit and an alternative to spending hours on the freeway everyday will start rolling through the Valley in the shape of the Metro Orange Line buses.

The Metropolitan Transit Authority is calling the line, which will connect the area between North Hollywood and Warner Center and 11 stops in between, the Valley's newest short cut. The trick is to get commuters to think the same way.

"From a commuters' viewpoint, this is a great alternative to the 101 free way, it parallels the 101," said Dave Sotero, spokesman for the MTA. "At one end of the line you have the transit hub in North Hollywood and then you have Warner Center, which is probably one of the largest business communities in the city."

Christopher Park, executive director of the Warner Center TMO, a non-profit group that brings transportation alternatives to commuters, . said that Warner Center commuters will help make the Orange Line a success.

"Companies are very close to each other here, there are 35,000 people working in a highly dense square mile around the station," Park said.

Park said that the frequency of the buses, which are scheduled to be coming every seven to 10 minutes along a dedicated roadway free of normal city traffic, is going to make it even easier to convince commuters to change their habits.

For those who work further than a couple of blocks, Park said, the DASH shuttle that currently runs during the noon hour will begin operating in the mornings and evenings to carry passengers to nearby offices like Kaiser Permanente's Woodland Hills campus on De Soto Blvd. or to Westfield Shoppingtown Promenade.

Park is optimistic that people who are worried about traffic congestion will start to see the Orange line as an efficient and cost-effective transportation option that can fit around just about anyone's schedule.

The MTA is hoping to attract commuters from more disparate locations than Warner Center, however, such as people who work in Ventura Blvd. Sotero noted that there are about 20 metro bus lines feeding into the Orange Line, which can take riders just along Ventura Blvd., or to just about any other Valley destination.

The City has adjusted its bus service so that riders are guaranteed a connection to the Orange Line every 10 minutes if they're on a transportation artery like Van Nuys or Reseda Blvd. Less popular bus lines connect every half hour.

In fact, ease of use has been a major focus of the MTA as it prepares to unveil the system. It has of course highlighted the fact that the buses will be making regular stops, much like a train to offset the city bus system's reputation as pathologically unreliable.

During peak hours, buses are supposed to stop every six minutes, and throughout the rest of the day they'll be coming every twelve minutes. Riders who want to transfer from the Red Line can purchase a day pass for $3, which the agency is hoping will become more attractive as gas prices continue to rise. Commuters who want to bike into the station will have lockups available.

Although many of the line's riders are expected to transfer from bus routes, the City has provided about 3,200 parking spaces along the route, with 800 to be added at Warner Center within the year.

Extra steps

Some employers think that adding too many extra steps to morning commutes in the form of multiple bus trips might put commuters off, however.

Mel Kohn, managing partner at the accounting firm Kirsch, Kohn & Bridge, said he thinks putting the bus system on a dedicated road will save commuters time, it's not a transportation cure-all.

"I think that for people who don't go to one place every day, it presents a problem," said Kohn, who lives in Tarzana. "If I want to get on at Tampa, I'd have to drive to Reseda to park my car."

Kohn said that there is not much enthusiasm about the Orange Line in his Ventura Blvd. office.

"We're too far away," said Kohn. "If they wanted to use the bus, they'd already be riding the metro, it stops a block away."

Tom Komp, senior vice president of the Help Group in Sherman Oaks said the company has about 250 employees who will be able to use the Orange Line. The non-profit provides educational services to students with special needs on behalf of about 50 different schools. Its Sherman Oaks campus at the corner of Burbank Blvd. is about 100 yards from an Orange Line stop.

"It's a very crowded crossing place there. We're right on Burbank and people come from the West Valley and have to come across," said Komp. "You can spend 10 minutes at a series of traffic lights that are no more than 100 yards apart."

Once employees start to see how much time they can save using mass transit, plenty of them will make the switch, he said.

"In the end, the judgment is going to be 'How much time is my commute currently taking me with how much effort and cost?'" Komp said. "We're optimistic that when they compare the options, they're going to like the Orange Line."

Sotero said the MTA is being realistic about ridership on the new line. People will need to see results and understand the benefits of public transit before they change their commuting habits.

"We're projecting an average of 22,000 weekday boarders every day by 2020," he said. "In the short-term, ridership could grow that that point, but we're not expected that many riders right away."

West Valley residents, he said, will have a new option in visiting Sepulveda Basin or North Hollywood shopping locations, and people commuting to the Valley from the other side of the hill will have the option of connecting at North Hollywood, since the Metro Red Line ends at the beginning of the new Orange Line.

A press conference on Friday gathered elected officials like Assembly members Lloyd Levine, Fran Pavley, Paul Koretz and City Councilwoman Wendy Greuel, Chair of the Transportation Committee as well as Valley employers, who were expected to say that the Orange Line is presenting commuters with an option to save time and money, both the city's and their own.

"That's what Friday is about," said Sotero. "All of the Valley business people talking about their plans for the Orange Line and why they see possible economic benefits."