The latest plan to woo transit riders in North San Fernando Valley is a subtle, but big, change
An unpopular bus rapid transit idea is dead. Metro's new plan reaches four times more riders on two bus lines — and more
Steve Scauzillo
Los Angeles Daily News
June 15, 2022
LA Metro unveiled a new, transit-lite bus improvement project for the north San Fernando Valley, dropping previous plans for a bus rapid transit line down the middle of Nordhoff Street that drew vociferous opposition nearly three years ago.
During a virtual community meeting on Wednesday, June 15, LA Metro staff revealed a new “network option” that would add bus-only lanes to Roscoe Boulevard between Lankershim and Topanga Canyon boulevards during weekday peak hours. No bus-only lanes are planned for Nordhoff, said Joe Forgiarini, Metro senior executive officer for operations.
Instead of a dedicated rapid bus similar to the Orange Line (now the G Line), bus-only lanes would be striped along Roscoe where curbside parking is already prohibited, and which becomes bus-exclusive from 7 a.m. to 10 a.m. on weekdays, Forgiarini explained. More bus service would be added as part of an upgrade to seven lines running along Roscoe, Nordhoff, Lankershim Boulevard, Reseda Boulevard, Sherman Way, Vanowen Street and Victory Boulevard.
“We don’t focus on a single (bus rapid transit) line,” said a Metro report released Wednesday. “But instead, on adding enhancements to existing service areas in the North San Fernando Valley — the ones that Valley riders are already using.”
Nordhoff, running through Chatsworth, Northridge, North Hills, Arleta, Pacoima and Lake View Terrace, would be improved with better bus shelters and buses that can control stop lights to help buses move more quickly.
The new version of the North San Fernando Valley Transit Corridor Project includes upgrades to bus service on two existing east-west lines (in green) on Roscoe Boulevard and Nordhoff Street. A key component is to make better connections to existing and future bus rapid transit and light-rail lines, also shown on the map.
A major objective of the North San Fernando Valley Transit Corridor Project is to shorten waiting times between bus arrivals to 10 minutes — from the current 15 minutes — on the Line 152 on Rosco, and the Line 166 on Nordhoff. These two major east-west thoroughfares are the most used.
The project would add 400 new bus shelters to protect riders from hot days, including “bus bulbs” that move the bus out of the traffic lane into a bus-length notch to stop, pickup and drop off. The bulbs will also allow vehicles to turn right.
Other plan improvements include replacing natural gas buses with zero-emission electric buses; new buses with front and rear entrances to speed up on-boarding; and buses equipped with transponders that can extend green lights.
“We can reach a lot more of the Valley population in the network improvements approach,” said Forgiarini.
Ridership on LA Metro buses and trains has fallen since the coronavirus pandemic hit in March 2020, after many businesses were shut down that year. But ridership, especially in the north San Fernando Valley where more people depend on transit than in other parts of Los Angeles, is slowly increasing.
For example, average daily ridership on the Nordhoff bus line was 6,000 on weekdays pre-COVID, and is now at 4,000. The Roscoe Line had 11,500 pre-COVID and now has about 8,000 for the same ridership categories, Forgiarini said.
The original bus rapid transit concept was dropped because it didn’t fit with LA Metro’s NextGen Bus Plan update, according to a Metro report. The new approach spreads out improvements in a more equitable manner, reaching more low-and-moderate income riders who depend on buses to get to work, school and stores.
The new version will reach four times as many people, just counting the two main bus lines, for a total of 163,000 people. Under the previous BRT plan only a single line would have reached 44,000, Forgiarini said.
A study revealed that the typical bus rider in the North San Fernando Valley rides frequently. About 66% ride five days per week. About 84% of bus riders do not own a car. Fifty-eight percent are Latinx and 50% live below the poverty line.
The project emphasizes more connectivity to other lines, such as the Orange Line BRT (now the G Line) and the future East San Fernando Valley Light Rail line. Also, the planners say the enhanced bus lines will improve the connections to Cal State University, Northridge, in part by adding larger bus shelters at two stops at the campus.
Without building a bus rapid transit (BRT) line, this project will cost about $180 million, most of it coming from Measure M tax dollars. Measure M is a half-cent sales tax for transportation projects in Los Angeles County. The previous version would’ve cost between $194 million and $316 million.
Metro officials said the new plan would go before the Metro Board this fall, and if approved, the project could be completed by the fall of 2024 or winter of 2025.
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