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Southern California Transit Advocates is a non-profit organization dedicated to the promotion, development and improvement of public transportation in the Los Angeles metropolitan area.

SO.CA.TA comments on proposed LADOT service changes

We recognize that LADOT, like virtually every public transit agency in California, has been hard hit by actions of the Legislature that eliminated the State Transit Assistance fund, which is the only state funding source that can be used for transit service operations. Nevertheless, we hope that whatever changes need to be made as a result will be those which impact the fewest number of passengers.

That said, we support the changes to, or cancellation of, the following routes:

  • Commuter Express Route 413
  • Commuter Express Route 419
  • Commuter Express Route 575
  • DASH Central City East
  • DASH Downtown Route C
  • DASH Downtown Route D
  • DASH Highland Park/Eagle Rock
  • DASH Hollywood/West Hollywood
  • DASH Hyde Park Shuttle
  • DASH Northridge
  • DASH Wilmington
We specifically note that the proposed change to DASH Highland Park/Eagle Rock will provide more direct service to Eagle Rock Plaza.

In addition, we have specific comments on five of the recommended changes:
  1. We object to the complete cancellation of Commuter Express Route 430, and suggest that, since it shares the northernmost two stops of Route 431, that the latter be extended on half of its trips to Pacific Palisades via the route of the 430. This would still provide some operational savings to LADOT while continuing to serve the far Westside.
  2. We suggest that Commuter Express Route 142 operate a 60-minute service level between 9:00pm and 11:00pm, rather than total elimination of late night service; we further suggest that service continue to be provided to the Customs House during weekday peak-hours by passenger request.
  3. We object to the removal of Commuter Express Routes 422 and 423 from Thousand Oaks Transit Center, as connections can be made there to Thousand Oaks Transit and VISTA service that cannot be made in Westlake Village. We suggest that the routes use the Transit Center as their northern terminal (we do not object to the elimination of service to Oaks Mall or to the Newbury Park park-and-ride lot) and instead cutback the service in downtown Los Angeles to terminate at 7th St./Metro Center. We note that DASH Downtown Route F service south of this point on Figueroa St. is available for passengers continuing to USC, at no additional charge when using a LADOT pass.
  4. We suggest that, rather than canceling DASH Van Nuys/Studio City outright, that the recommendations of the 2005 restructuring study be implemented, creating three new routes: DASH Van Nuys/Kester, DASH Studio City/North Hollywood, and DASH Van Nuys/Whitsett. We particularly support the Van Nuys/Kester circulator route as it would provide service on Kester Ave. in a highly transit-dependent neighborhood. (Note: Online links are to the Transit Insider website which archived the LADOT study referenced.)
  5. We propose a different alignment than that recommended for reconfigured DASH Lincoln Heights/Chinatown, operating primarily along College St., Main St., Workman St., and Griffin Ave. (as shown in red on the map below). It is our opinion that operation on Broadway is duplicative of a higher amount of Metro service than would be the case with operation on Main St., and we further feel that service to County/USC Medical Center must be maintained.

We have no objections to the proposed changes to, or cancellation of:
  • DASH Downtown Route DD
  • DASH El Sereno/City Terrace
  • DASH Fairfax
  • DASH Warner Center (North and South)
We specifically commend LADOT for operating the DASH Warner Center routes for more than four years as circulators feeding the Metro Orange Line before making a determination that they are not viable.

We also have no objection to the fare increase recommendations for either Commuter Express or DASH, but suggest that DASH fares increase directly to 50-cents from 25-cents, without an interim one-year period that would require passengers to have ready coins of more than one denomination (one of the advantages of DASH, in our opinion, is the simplicity of the fare payment). We also suggest that LADOT consider extending the interagency transfer (IAT) to DASH when the 50-cent fare is introduced, in order to facilitate connections with Metro services. We believe that considering the inclusion of DASH in the IAT program is in LADOT's best interests, as such a move would likely help achieve eligible operator status under the Formula Allocation Procedure.