OXNARD : Metrolink Funding Concerns Officials

In anticipation of a county Transportation Commission decision whether to continue Metrolink service to west Ventura County, officials in Ventura and Oxnard are lobbying commission members to protect their limited transit dollars.

Oxnard City Council members late Tuesday said they support continuing the commuter-train service, but only if it would not cost the city additional funds.

“The buses serve a lot more people than Metrolink, and the streets serve even more people,” Mayor Manuel Lopez said in an interview. “So it becomes a matter of where our (transit) priorities are.”

The county Transportation Commission is scheduled to decide Friday whether to continue funding Metrolink train service to west Ventura County. Neither Oxnard nor Ventura has a representative on the countywide panel.

Commission staff say they have $500,000 set aside to pay for the local share of the train service if federal or state funding falls short.

Oxnard city staff recommended that the council support continuing the service, which was extended to Camarillo and Oxnard months after the Northridge earthquake in January, 1994.

But across the Santa Clara River, Ventura City Council members voted late Monday to oppose Metrolink service to west Ventura County due to low ridership, if the service costs any extra funds.

“The possibility that a major funding shortfall could occur . . . is of major concern to the city of San Buenaventura,” Mayor Tom Buford wrote to the panel.