Service Cut Back on 2 Bus Routes

The city Department of Transportation has scaled back service on two express bus routes in San Fernando Valley and altered them to try to pick up more ridership.

Three trips were cut this week from the 549 express bus, which links Encino with Pasadena, and two were cut from the 409 route from Sylmar to downtown Los Angeles.

In a move aimed at serving the Media District better and avoiding traffic snarls, the 549 express began running along Burbank Boulevard instead of the Ventura Freeway this week, according to transportation officials.

The transit agency was flooded with more than 300 calls after it announced in July it would cut three of the eight runs of the 549 route, said supervising transportation planner Philip Aker. The angry input spurred the agency to reshuffle the remaining five runs and change the route, he said.

“Essentially, we’re keeping the best five of the eight trips,” Aker said. “In the middle of doing all this, we found that section from Encino to the Burbank district (along the Ventura Freeway) wasn’t doing us any good.”

Transit planners have been trying to boost ridership on the 549 route, which it inaugurated two years ago to entice San Gabriel Valley residents to use mass transit for their commute to work in the east and central San Fernando Valley. The route is the second leg of a “Commuter Express” connecting Claremont with Pasadena, Burbank and Encino.

The Department of Transportation also has cut two of the six runs of the Sylmar-to-USC 409 express, but added three stops in Sun Valley, Tujunga and east Glendale in response to calls for more service there, Aker said. The stops are at Foothill and Sunland boulevards, the Lowell Avenue park-and-ride lot, and at Colorado Boulevard and the Glendale Freeway, respectively.

Aker acknowledged that cutbacks may not sit well with Valley residents, especially those in the northeast, who have called for more bus service during a series of hearings on bus restructuring this year. But he said the transportation officials are confident the added stops will increase ridership, while the cutbacks won’t seriously affect commutes.

“The riders know we haven’t had a lot of riders, so they want to keep the line running,” Aker said.