A three-week testing period will begin next week on the soon-to-open, in the western San Fernando Valley from Canoga Park to Chatsworth, the Los Angeles County Metropolitan Transportation Authority announced Thursday.
Metro drivers will start operating the buses intermittently without picking up passengers at the four stations on the route beginning Monday. Buses will run from 4 p.m. to midnight between Vanowen Street and the northern terminus at the Chatsworth Metrolink station.
The testing is intended, in part, to prepare motorists, cyclists and pedestrians in the area for the new transit route, Metro spokesman Dave Sotero said.
When the $215.6 million line opens in June, it will be the first significant transit project to be finished with approved by voters 3½ years ago. The route includes stops at Sherman Way, Roscoe Boulevard, Nordhoff Street and the Chatsworth Metrolink Station.
A new bikeway and pedestrian path will also run alongside the busway extension.
Sotero said the project is expected come in well under budget, at a cost closer to $182 million.
Construction on the line is scheduled to continue from 6 a.m.-3:30 p.m. during the testing phase.
