CSUN Transit Center

Transit Center

The 2005 revision to the California State University Northridge Campus Master Plan called for a new transit center at approximately the same location as the previous bus-only lane (Etiwanda Ave. between Prairie and Vicennes Sts.) to provide dedicated bays for Metro local buses, Metrolink shuttles, and other services. The transit center design uses a one-block segment of Vicennes Ave. which is on University property; the street is sealed at the east end with a turnaround circle, and four bus bays are being added on the south side of the street:

Metro considered several lines that operate near CSUN for rerouting into the transit center. The public hearing was conducted as part of the June, 2010 service change program, because when CSUN made their presentation to the Metro San Fernando Valley Governance Council in December, 2009 there was a possibility that the transit center construction would be completed by the 2010-11 school year; by the time the public hearing was announced CSUN was announcing "late 2010" as the completion date and Metro had planned to make changes as part of the December, 2010 servuce change program. The project design was subsequently put on hold in the spring of 2010 due to a delay in funding and construction was rescheduled for spring/summer 2011, with operation starting concurrent with the fall semester of the 2011-12 school year; it was further delayed by difficulties in the bidding process and CSUN revised its schedule once again, saying in June that they expected to open the transit center "shortly after the first of the year". CSUN finally broke ground on February 20, 2012 and Metro now expects to implement the changes June 17, 2012.

It should be noted that, because the access to the previous bus lane had been via a very narrow residential street which caused operational problems, the new transit center access was proposed to route via Plummer St. and Darby Ave. This was an important consideration as every rerouted trip would have some additional route mileage (and therefore extra running time).

In addition to the Metro service changes, LADOT is expected to reroute DASH Northridge through the transit center via a slight deviation from the intersection of Reseda Blvd. and Nordhoff St., but no date has been announced for that change.

Lines 166 (local) and 364 (limited-stop) were considered for a deviation to the transit center via Reseda Blvd. The proposal was not approved due to the extra running time needed to deviate one-half mile from Nordhoff St. to Plummer St. on each trip. It was also noted that Lines 166-364 already serve the southern end of the CSUN campus from existing stops on Nordhoff.

Line 167 service will be deviated as there is only a relatively slight increase in mileage/running time due to the line already operating near to the access route.

Line 168 was proposed to be realigned via Reseda Blvd. - Plummer St. - Tampa Ave. as the extra mileage/running time was not much more than the existing deviation to serve Northridge Fashion Center. The realignment was approved by the Governance Council; however, Line 168 was instead cancelled due to poor performance as part of the December 2010 service change program.

Line 240 was considered for deviation to the transit center (it had been the line using the bus lane until its closure in April, 2003). However, because of the line's already long length and high service frequency, the additional mileage/running time would have significantly increased the budgeted revenue service hours for the line.

Rapid Line 741 was the strongest candidate for deviation, since a significant number of CSUN students already used the line to get to the campus from the Orange Line station some five miles to the south. While originally proposed for a simple deviation, it was determined that Line 741 ridership between Nordhoff St. and the single remaining stop at Devonshire St. was minimal and therefore the Line 741 north terminal will be relocated to the transit center.

An additional proposal to extend Line 741 to Universal City Station via Ventura Blvd. was withdrawn at the public hearing due to the negative impact on Line 750, from which running time would have been reallocated to accomplish the extension.

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