Commuting

City officials are optimistic that a recently approved transportation grant will ease commuting problems and help residents breathe a little more easily, they said Tuesday. The city expects to receive $500,000 in federal funds next year to launch its first Smart Shuttle program. It anticipates using the money to buy three vehicles powered with natural gas.

High cost of gasoline getting you down? Your employer may be willing to help. "Companies are embracing techniques to reduce commuting time and expense," said Mitch Barnes, principal at Mercer, a New York-based benefits consulting firm. "It used to be that they did this to balance work-life issues. Now it's becoming more of an employee-driven economic issue." As gasoline prices soared into record territory this year, many companies began adjusting benefit programs and workplace policies to provide at least some relief, according to a recently released Mercer survey of more than 300 major employers.

"Commuters Putting Mettle to the Pedal," your May 28 article on bicycle commuting, points out two things: the lack of drivers' awareness of cyclists and the lack of adult cyclists' awareness of basic bicycle safety. Commuting on city streets is dicey enough--potholes, parked car doors flying open into your face and fumes are constant obstacles. Add cyclists riding on the wrong side of the street without running lights or safety gear and you are simply asking for accidents. Adults riding on the sidewalk create hazards for pedestrians, automobiles (when the cyclists ride off the sidewalks into the crosswalks)

A program that offers workers at City Hall days off and other incentives for car-pooling, walking or riding a bicycle to work will be expanded to two outlying sites. The program began a year ago. According to a city staff report, about 20% of the people working at City Hall and at police headquarters now regularly use alternative forms of transportation or walk to work. The city has about 1,100 employees, and some travel from as far as Riverside and La Verne, the report says.

When 4-year-old Brandon Kavanaugh started kindergarten this fall, he grabbed his Power Rangers lunch box and backpack and climbed into the car with his parents for an 18-mile commute. Like many schoolchildren, he's used to it. Ever since he was born, his parents, Lou and Mike Kavanaugh of Chino Hills, have been taking him--and later his two younger sisters--with them to Fullerton where they work. The children stay with her mother and now Brandon has enrolled in school there.

I don't know how I missed them, the Kiss 'N' Ride signs at various rail stations in the L.A. area. Being quite interested in the subject, and the possibility, of kisses, I asked around and was told these were signs posted at short-term parking where one might drop off one's spouse or very good friend, sending them to work with a kiss.

Spirited debate Tuesday night greeted an Encino group's proposal to restrict turns through their hillside neighborhood to thwart commuters using a shortcut. A meeting at Lanai Road Elementary School drew more than 120 homeowners and commuters to discuss the proposal by the Encino Hillside Traffic Safety Organization. The group hopes to persuade the City Council to try to route Westside-bound solo drivers out of their neighborhood.

It's economical. It's good for the environment. And it's pretty rare. A scant 1% of Los Angeles-area residents have given up their cars for commuting by Bicycle, Transportation officials say. But some local governments are hoping to improve that figure. Several bike trails are proposed and some already approved for construction.

Cycling, skating, running and walking--the human-powered alternatives to car commuting--are attracting a wide range of workers, especially those who are being rewarded by their companies to not drive to work. Incentive programs from cities and major corporations are aimed at reducing the number of people who drive. While most alternative commuters began cycling, skating and walking for health reasons, they now get incentives for reducing the number of cars on the road.

A two-seat Cessna 140 was all John Van Arsdale Sr. needed to christen Provincetown-Boston Airlines on Nov. 30, 1949. Thirty-five years later, a plane crash that killed 13 people was what it took to put the airline under. The nation's first regional commuter carrier grew into its largest in the early 1980s after Van Arsdale turned control over to his expansion-minded sons. Then came back-to-back fatal accidents in 1984.