Proposal Targets Better Bus Service : Simi Valley: City Council will consider a 5-year plan focusing on efficiency, convenience and meeting federal air-quality requirements.

Future bus service in Simi Valley will be more efficient, convenient and environmentally sound, according to a five-year transit plan the City Council will consider tonight.

If the council approves the plan, over the next year the city will refine bus routes, replace computers, install bus shelters and buy a new van for the city’s Dial-a-Ride service.

And, within five years, the city will begin running buses that don’t need gasoline, in order to comply with federal air-quality requirements.

The plan, formally called the Short-Range Transit Plan, is required of all jurisdictions that use state and federal transit money to fund government-mandated programs.

Simi Valley uses transit money to help pay for its four bus lines and will also use the funding to pay its share of the Ventura Intercity Transit Authority, or VISTA, scheduled to begin service in July.

That service is designed to make it easier to take the bus from one city to another in Ventura County and northern Los Angeles County.

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The city has also received $1.9 million to buy an entirely new fleet of buses that are fueled by something other than gasoline.

If the council approves the plan, the city will begin looking for a contractor to study fueling alternatives, which include electricity and compressed natural gas, said Judy Collins, deputy director of community services.

“We’re in the same situation as most other cities right now,” Collins said. “Everybody is looking for ways to get into compliance with these federal requirements to improve the air quality.”

The plan also calls for six new bus shelters, five new computers for transportation workers and a new van for the Dial-a-Ride service, which caters to disabled residents.

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In addition, the city will assemble new bus schedules and survey residents to find ways to improve service on its four bus lines.

Ridership has increased steadily over the past five years. Last year, riders took about 360,000 trips on the system, according to a staff report that will be presented to the City Council tonight.

In January, the council agreed to cut midday fares to 1989 rates to encourage even more residents to take the bus.

Between 10 a.m. and 2 p.m., regular fares are reduced from 75 to 50 cents. The fare for senior citizens and disabled riders drops from 25 to 20 cents.

The system operates Mondays through Saturdays from about 5 a.m. to 8 p.m. throughout the city and to Chatsworth.

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Councilman Bill Davis, who also serves on the Ventura County Transportation Commission, supports the alternative-fuel bus service but thinks some of the federal money should be diverted to help fund the Metrolink commuter rail service.

“Every few years the Feds come along and tell us about some new way to improve our buses that costs millions of dollars,” Davis said. “Meanwhile we’ve got a great train service that will take us into the next century that need funds now to keep going. The train seems to me like a more sensible way to spend the money.”