Orange County Voices : COMMENTARY ON TRANSPORTATION : Transit Center Is a Win-Win Project for the Public and Disney : It is about time that Orange County receive its fair share of federal fuel taxes from its 2 million vehicles.

The Orange County Transportation Authority has a reputation for being innovative and responsive. As the public member on the board of directors, I receive many compliments on our creativity. This creativity, however, is sometimes the cause of misunderstanding and criticism.

A case in point is how some members of the public and the media view OCTA’s proposed intermodal transportation center, which is to be located near the planned Westcot expansion of Disneyland in Anaheim.

Lately this proposed project has been captured in newspaper headlines as the “Disney Garage.” After a thorough analysis of this project, I can genuinely say that support of the proposed intermodal transportation center is warranted.

The OCTA’s intermodal transportation center project is entirely about public transit. The center will provide a linkage between local buses, express buses, proposed urban rail, commuter rail, airport shuttles, local area shuttles, car pools and van pools at a single, centralized location at one of the most important activity centers in the Orange County region.

The center will also include a state-of-the-art traffic control and operations center, 1,000 parking spaces for park-and-ride and intermodal use and 11,000 paid public parking spaces.

Above and beyond this, the project creates a means for sustainable revenue to support public transit. An initial investment of $32 million by OCTA is expected to generate $7 million to $9 million annually, above the costs of running the parking operation. The entire revenue will be invested by OCTA in public transit that will serve all parts of Orange County--not just Anaheim. Knowing that we will be receiving this revenue each year will be of vital importance in planning the purchases and operations of commuter buses to help keep Orange County moving.

The project is a public-private partnership among the Orange County Transportation Authority, the city of Anaheim, the state of California and the Walt Disney Co. The project meets the objectives spelled out in recent laws that promote intermodalism and public-private partnerships.

For a public-private partnership to work, there has to be a benefit to both parties. Disney is not giving away this money-making opportunity for nothing. The intermodal transportation center would be built with an investment of public money, but Disney’s share would be approximately $20 million.

Patrons of Disneyland and of the proposed Westcot Center, if built, will undoubtedly use the intermodal transportation center, as will other visitors to the Disneyland and Convention Center area in Anaheim. But mere use of the intermodal transportation center by Disney visitors would not give Disney ownership. The facility will be publicly owned by the OCTA, and all the revenue would be sustained by the OCTA.

The key aspect to making the project work is federal financing. There would be a major involvement of $131 million of federal capital. These funds come from the federal gasoline tax.

Prior to this project, Orange County had never received a dime from these transit funds.

It is about time that Orange County receive its fair share. There are 2 million motor vehicles registered in Orange County, and Orange County is a major producer of federal gas and diesel tax.

At the time the intermodal transportation center project was created, Disney was seeking federal funds for transitway connectors near the proposed Westcot project. And OCTA was in the process of preparing a $318-million federal transit-way grant request. The application was for transitway connectors joining high-occupancy vehicle (HOV) lanes on the Costa Mesa (55) and San Diego (I-405) freeways.

The 55-405 project, proposed to be 75% federally funded, also included $131 million for the purchase of several hundred commuter buses to use the Orange County HOV-transitway network and park-and-ride facilities.

OCTA’s new proposal was to invest the $131 million for buses and park-and-ride facilities in the intermodal transportation center and parking facility, creating two projects for the price of one and developing ongoing revenues decades into the future to buy commuter buses and keep them operational.

These commuter buses will use a high-occupancy vehicle system of car-pool lanes and transitways that is second to none in the nation and already includes three direct HOV-lane connectors at the El Toro Y, the 55-5 freeways, and the 5-22-57 freeways, funded by our half-cent sales tax, Measure M and state funds.

While there is great concern that Disney drives a hard bargain and might gain inordinate benefit amounting to a giveaway of public funds, it is actually the OCTA that has made a good bargain. This project is truly a win-win not only for OCTA and Disney, but also for the people of Orange County.