Metrolink Station Funds Guaranteed : Transit: County agrees to front $1.9-million first-year cost for Camarillo site while waiting for emergency funding.

Guaranteeing Metrolink commuter rail service to Camarillo, the Ventura County Transportation Commission on Friday agreed to pick up the entire $1.9-million cost of building and running the station for a year if expected federal and state subsidies fall through.

With the station’s Feb. 14 target opening date little more than a week away, commission Executive Director Ginger Gherardi reaffirmed the county’s promise to extend commuter rail service to Camarillo on schedule.

“We’re confident we can get this done,” Gherardi said.

The Federal Emergency Management Agency has asked the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers to begin construction today of the platform and paved parking lot of the station planned for Lewis Road and Ventura Boulevard, Gherardi said.

She said the county expects to receive about $1.3 million from FEMA and $500,000 from the California Office of Emergency Services to operate the Camarillo station for a year.

The request for funds is part of a larger application being submitted by the Los Angeles Metropolitan Transportation Authority to set up a number of emergency Metrolink stations to help relieve traffic congestion on freeways damaged by the Northridge earthquake.

Since the Jan. 17 quake, daily Metrolink ridership has surged from 8,100 to 19,000 throughout its four-county region.

To meet the demand, Metrolink has added four emergency stations in the Antelope Valley, bringing the total number of stations to 26. Another station is scheduled to open Monday at the Sylmar-San Fernando city line, Metrolink spokesman Brendan Shepherd said.

If the state and federal emergency grants are approved, the Ventura County Transportation Commission will pay about $110,000, or 6.25% of the total cost of the Camarillo project, as required under federal emergency funding guidelines.

The city of Camarillo is expected to pay about $10,000 to maintain the station during its yearlong emergency operation.

If the state or federal aid falls through, the commission will make up the difference with federal transit dollars set aside for future bus service. The commission agreed to front the money to construct the Camarillo station out of the bus funds until the emergency aid is granted.

County Supervisor Vicky Howard, who is chairwoman of the Transportation Commission, said she is certain that the funding will be approved.

“All of us are in the same boat, but we have to go on trust,” Howard said. “We’ve been assured by the director of FEMA and the President himself that we will be reimbursed.”

Harry Sherwood, a spokesman for FEMA’s public assistance program, said funding for the Camarillo station is well on its way to being approved. “The Camarillo extension is in the works,” Sherwood said. “It is being taken as seriously as any other emergency transit project.”

Gherardi told commissioners she already is planning a celebration on the morning of Feb. 14 to publicize the new, no-frills station.

Camarillo station plans call for a concrete platform, a paved 240-space parking lot, lights and a pay phone.

The train is scheduled to make two daily round-trip runs to Camarillo, leaving for Los Angeles at 5:44 a.m. and 6:35 a.m. and returning at 5:46 p.m. and 6:23 p.m.

Since the earthquake, ridership on the Ventura County Line has jumped from 1,000 to 3,000 passengers a day, said Mary Travis, manager of transit systems for the county’s Transportation Commission.

The commission agreed to follow the lead of the Los Angeles Metropolitan Transportation Authority by allowing riders to use their February passes through the month of March.

“Because of the disaster, people are thinking about new ways to travel,” said Thousand Oaks Councilman Frank Schillo, who is also a county transportation commissioner. “This gives us a chance to strike while the iron is hot.”

Schillo said the Thousand Oaks City Council on Tuesday will consider running shuttle buses to the Camarillo and Moorpark Metrolink stations as a way to boost ridership.

Gherardi said the commission should seize on the heightened interest in Metrolink to begin looking for ways to sustain the Camarillo station beyond the one year of emergency service.

But Nazir Lalani, transportation engineer for the city of Ventura, warned the commission that running Metrolink to Camarillo for more than a year could jeopardize local bus service.

“When FEMA (money) runs out we fear you will raid the cities’ transit funds,” Lalani told the commission. “You will either be faced with cutting the train or telling cities you are going to cut bus service.”

Howard said the commission would closely monitor the use of funds to make sure local bus service is not sacrificed to keep the commuter trains running. “We have to be careful not to get into the position of trains versus buses,” Howard said.

The commission also agreed to continue seeking FEMA funds to extend Metrolink to Oxnard, but director Gherardi was skeptical of the plan. And, she discouraged the commission from advancing any money for an Oxnard station.

“There is a very strong possibility that you would not be reimbursed” if the county extended Metrolink to Oxnard, Gherardi said. “You would end up paying 100% of the cost.”