Council Orders Bus Ridership Study

The Calabasas City Council has ordered a ridership study for a proposed shuttle bus service designed to improve mass transit in Calabasas and two neighboring cities.

Under the plan, Calabasas, Agoura Hills and Westlake Village would contract out to a bus company, which would provide shuttle service tailored to the cities’ needs. It would replace the Los Angeles County Metropolitan Transportation Authority’s Route 161, which has been criticized as inadequate.

The city plans to apply for a $420,000 MTA grant to help fund the service, said Robert Yalda, Calabasas’ traffic and transportation engineer. The shuttle service would be the centerpiece for Yalda’s proposed regional transportation plan.

Renee Berlin, an MTA planner, said she realizes the service provided by her agency “is not meeting a lot of the needs out there.” To remedy that, she said, it has designed a grant program to meet gaps in MTA service. No decisions have been made yet on who will get grants, she said.

Yalda said he plans to meet with representatives of the city’s gated communities and the Las Virgenes Unified School District to enlist their support. He said many potential riders exist in gated communities--particularly students and domestic workers commuting to school and work. But the communities--closed to outside traffic--would have to agree to allow buses in, Yalda said.

The three cities are working on a formal agreement, with hopes it could be launched as early as July, he said.