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Politics & Government

Hundreds Ride the New Orange Line Buses for Free This Weekend

Metro held two separate community shindigs on Saturday, one in Canoga Park and the other in Chatsworth in celebration of the new four-mile dedicated busway and bike path along Canoga Avenue.

For two years, Jessica Salamanca took public transportation from her Chatsworth home to UCLA.

On Saturday, Salamanca joined hundreds of bus riders who checked out the new, $154-million Orange Line extension connecting Woodland Hills to Chatsworth.

“I really could have used this (extension) the past two years,” said Salamanca, who graduated two weeks ago. “But that doesn’t mean I can’t go to the Staple Center for a Clippers game or to the Hollywood Bowl for a concert in the future,” Salamanca said.

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The four-mile Orange Line extension runs north and south from Chatsworth to  Warner Center every four to 20 minutes depending on the time and the day. From there it continues east and west to North Hollywood and the Red Line subway station.

“What people like about the Orange Line is its frequency. It’s one of the most frequent lines in the system,” said Metro employee Warren Morse. “We say it’s a bus that thinks its a train.”

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Just like a train, the Orange Line bus has three doors that open all at once at the platform level. Riders also pay before getting on the bus similar to what they do when riding a train.

Mindy Acosta traveled to the Canoga Station by bus from her home in San Fernando. It was the first time Acosta, an accounts receivable administration assistant who works in Chatsworth, was ever on a bus.

“It was great. I wanted to try it,” Acosta said after getting off the bus. “It was a good experience, and I plan to use the bus more now especially with high gas prices. My mother and my sister go everywhere on the bus.”

Chatsworth resident Kristy Heizer rode the Orange Line from Chatsworth to the Canoga Station and back with a few of her friends.

“We saw places along the Orange Line that we want to take the bus to now. It’s great,” Heizer said.

Metro put on a show at the Canoga and Chatsworth stops with all of the trappings of an uplifting community event including live music, balloons,
information booths and food.

Men, women and families showed up.

Employees, wearing orange T-shirts, were positioned up and down the line handing out bus schedules, answering questions and directing people to where they needed to go.

Some visitors came out of curiosity, others for the free give-aways.

A father of two from West Hills said he isn’t sure he was going to use the new bus options because he didn’t see anything along the line or at the end that interested him.

“I didn’t see anything in walking distance for the kids,” he said without sharing his name. “I wouldn’t go to Costco on the bus.”

The Orange Line extension connects the west San Fernando Valley to the Red Line subway in North Hollywood 18 miles away. Travelers can then hop on the Red Line if they are headed to downtown Los Angeles. They can board at three new stations at Sherman Way, Roscoe Boulevard and Nordhoff Street and new platforms at the Canoga and Chatsworth stations. All stations include public art.

According to Metro, with the extension, weekday ridership for the Orange Line will exceed 27,000 passengers.

Measure R, the voter-approved initiative that raised the sales tax in Los Angeles County one cent, paid for the project.

The line, which was built on a former Union Pacific Railroad right-of-way, also includes three new or reconfigured park-and-ride lots, new signalized street crossings, street resurfacing improvements and a new bicycle and pedestrian path along the dedicated busway.

Metro estimates the new addition will add about 9,000 additional riders in the short term and hit 45,000 daily riders by 2030.

Since the project was built under-budget, about $182 million that was earmarked for the project but never spent can be applied to another San Fernando Valley transportation projects, Metro officials said.

On Sunday, riders can ride the Orange Line extension for free between 7 a.m. to 7 p.m., but come Monday, Metro will start charging regular bus fares.

For additional information, visit metro.net/projects/orangeline.

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