MTA Panel Backs Guidelines That Could Aid Valley Transit

In a move that could herald more local control of transportation for the San Fernando Valley, an MTA committee unanimously approved guidelines that would make it easier to create a Valley transit zone, officials said Friday.

County Supervisor Mike Antonovich, a Metropolitan Transportation Authority board member who backed the action, called the Planning and Programming Committee’s Thursday vote a “major victory for commuters, local control and the taxpayers.”

The full MTA board is scheduled to consider the issue Thursday.

Supporters of a Valley zone argue it could save money and improve services. Under the proposed zone, the Valley’s transportation policy would be controlled by eight cities: San Fernando, Hidden Hills, Agoura Hills, Calabasas, Westlake Village, Burbank, Glendale and the parts of the Valley within the city of Los Angeles, according to Antonovich.

So far the region has only one transit zone operating: in the San Gabriel Valley, where the Foothill Transit Zone wants to expand its service.

To create a transit zone, applicants must show the MTA is unable to provide service in a cost-effective manner. They must demonstrate cost savings of 25% over the MTA--a requirement the committee advised reducing to 15%.

Antonovich urged the committee to reject some MTA staff proposals, including one that recommended that zone application be a competitive process--allowing the existing operator to offer counter-proposals to revamp services. The committee struck down that staff recommendation. The MTA’s guiding principle, according to its deputy assistant CEO, Michael Gonzalez, is to make sure no part of the county transit system benefits at the expense of other regions.

“What we’re hoping is that the subregional transit trips are improved as a result of the formation of a zone,” Gonzalez said.