Asked to grade the transitway's bus lanes, given that ridership is less than 5% of the total promised by Caltrans, Failing said: "I can't answer that."
Transportation experts who work outside the two public agencies give more frank assessments: They say the transitway's bus lanes are a failure.
As evidence, they cite the El Monte busway, the 31-year old bus and carpool lane that connects downtown Los Angeles to El Monte and boasts as many as 34,000 daily boardings a day, according to the MTA.
One key to the El Monte busway's success is design, said Tom Rubin, formerly a top official at the Rapid Transit District. Rubin said that the El Monte busway terminates in downtown Los Angeles. By contrast, the Harbor Transitway ends roughly a mile from downtown, requiring buses to complete the trip on city streets and costing riders valuable time.
Rubin also noted that the El Monte busway runs parallel to the San Bernardino Freeway, but operates largely in roadway that is separate from the freeway. As a result, bus stations are buffered from traffic and freeway noise.
Another obstacle to success on the Harbor Transitway, said experts, is competition. The nearby Long Beach Blue Line, a popular light-rail route that opened 14 years ago, also connects the harbor area and downtown Los Angeles. The Blue Line tallies about 70,000 boardings a day and many riders say they would rather be on a smooth-running train than a freeway bus.
Moreover, Los Angeles has done little to encourage dense housing around the transitway's stations, a key element in boosting transit ridership, according to Mark Pisano, director of the Southern California Assn. of Governments.
"It's a huge Achilles' heel," said Pisano. "This is a perfect example of what happens when you build something and don't pay any attention at all to creating neighborhoods and jobs that can support the investment."
Finally, there is the bus station design. Architecturally, the stations are handsome, built with a touch of the postmodern sensibility popular in the 1980s and 1990s. But their hard surfaces echo the freeway traffic noise on the platforms, making it difficult to hold a conversation.
The stations have an unpleasant atmosphere that keeps riders away, said Shahab Rabbani, an adjunct planning professor at USC.
"It's not a place people feel comfortable with, even getting there," Rabbani said. "And once you are there, often all alone at some station in the middle of the freeway, you feel like you are in the middle of nowhere, not connected to anything else around you."
Until changes are made, Rabbani said, the system will remain a massive public investment that "is hardly being used."
For now, the MTA has slashed fares from $3.35 to $2.25 for the longest trip, and has offered weeks of free rides. Officials have talked about adding more bus service and creating a connection with the El Monte Busway. So far, nothing has helped, and there are no plans to redesign the freeway stations.
Whatever the agency tries, attracting new riders is going to be tough, say the system's few riders.
Natasha Simons recently stood at the station near USC and offered this evaluation, shouting to be heard above the traffic:
"The way it is now, who wants to be here?"
