The Smart Shuttle demonstration project -- operated by LADOT and begun on September 15, 1997 in the West Valley and October 6, 1997 in the East Valley -- was based upon the "check point" route deviation lines from the San Fernando Valley Transit Restructuring Study.
In the West Valley, Line 645 (Canoga Ave. Shuttle) was operated as originally proposed and a combination of Line 667 (West Hills Circulator), Line 668 (Calabasas-Warner Center Circulator) and Line 669 (Warner Center-Valley Circle Circulator) was implemented as an overlay of MTA Line 245 providing check point deviation. In the East Valley, service was operated on Line 631 (Sylmar Circulator) as a check point deviation overlay of MTA Line 94, and Line 632 (Hubbard-Sayre Circulator) as originally proposed.
The original routes were described in the Daily News as serving:
- West Valley: Topanga Plaza, Warner Center, Pierce College, California State University, Northridge, Chatsworth Metrolink.
- Northeastern Valley: Pacoima Library, Van Nuys City Hall, Olive View Medical Center, Sylmar-San Fernando Metrolink and Canyon Plaza.
MTA planners have said the reason the "smart shuttles" were introduced as an overlay, rather than as a replacement for fixed-route lines, was that LADOT proposed to operate a shorter span of service than the lines they were to replace, which would have eliminated evening and weekend service, and therefore MTA was loath to cancel the duplicative service. Ironically, in the case of the West Valley, Metro ended up operating that same shortened span of service on Mulholland Dr. and Valley Circle Blvd. when they replaced Line 245 with Line 645 eight years later.
The service switched to fixed-route "circulators" operating on major arterial streets, combined with "zones" of flexible-destination service. On August 17, 1998, West Valley Smart Shuttle added new routes on portions of Fallbrook Avenue, Sherman Way and Roscoe and Reseda Blvds., as well as routes to CSUN and the Northridge Metrolink station. They kept their flexible destination service zone in Woodland Hills and added new such zones in Chatsworth, Northridge and Reseda:
On September 20, 1998, they further extended "routed" service to the Porter Ranch area and the Chatsworth Metrolink station. This map from March 1, 1999 shows the routing of the "North-South Valley Connection" (renamed from "Woodland Hills-Canoga Park Circulator"):
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At the same time, the "Canoga Park Circulator" was made into a loop route ("East-West Valley Connection") operating on Sherman Way and Victory Blvd. between Fallbrook Ave. and Reseda Blvd., and the "Northridge Metrolink Station-CSUN Connector" was extended farther west, apparently to maintain a connection with the north-south line.
By that time, East Valley Smart Shuttle had abandoned the circulators in the Sylmar area and started operating a line along Van Nuys Blvd. between Sylmar/San Fernando Metrolink Station and the Van Nuys Civic Center, coupled with a loop route via Sherman Way and Victory Blvd., while keeping all of its previous flexible destination service in Sylmar, San Fernando, Arleta, and Pacoima and adding zones in Van Nuys and Sun Valley:
A line was subsequently added on Sepulveda and Brand Blvds. between Mission College and Sherman Oaks.
A March 20, 2000 LADOT memo on efforts to obtain funding for the project's future operation explained why those changes were made. The contractors were apparently in charge and they were focused on "stealing" ridership from MTA's key arterial lines:
During the conceptual stages of the Smart Shuttle program, LACMTA had proposed elimination of its poorest performing routes and replacement with Smart Shuttle flex routes. Unfortunately, LACMTA was unable to cancel these services, so when Smart Shuttle operators introduced service on these poor performing LACMTA routes, they were unable to achieve ridership they had projected in their business plans. Therefore, the operators suggested refocusing their flex routes on heavy ridership LACMTA routes where they would be able to meet their ridership projections.
Smart Shuttle has demonstrated that it is very effective at providing overcrowding relief on LACMTA routes and route segments that are currently operating at capacity. In addition, it has become a viable option for LACMTA riders that are taking shorter trips along these overcrowded route segments. The best performing Smart Shuttle routes, in terms of passengers and subsidy per passenger, all operate on overcrowded LACMTA route segments. In fact, the majority of Smart Shuttle routes ... operate along heavily utilized LACMTA route segments.
These maps, from the LADOT memo, showed precisely that:
Note that, with the exception of the Northridge route, service essentially duplicated MTA Lines 163 (Sherman Way), 164 (Victory Blvd.), and 243 (De Soto and Winnetka Aves.)
Once again, we see the duplication with MTA service on Lines 163 and 164 (with the exception of the far eastern and western ends, these lines were entirely duplicated by the two Smart Shuttle services), as well as Lines 233 (Van Nuys Blvd.) and 234 (Sepulveda and Brand Blvds.).
In September of that year, Smart Shuttle's primary supporter, the Southern California Association of Governments (SCAG) released a model report in which they finally realized that shuttles, although "helpful", could not produce the number of boardings they had projected in their 1998 Regional Transportation Plan (RTP). Nevertheless, by then Smart Shuttle had drained a sufficient amount of funding that could have been used to increase Metro Bus service frequency on the heavy ridership MTA routes Smart Shuttle was then duplicating portions of (Smart Shuttle operating cost per hour in the Valley ranged from $36.11 to $40.03, using equipment that seats 20 at best; MTA's system-wide operating cost per hour was then $82.63, using equipment that seats 43). SCAG's 2004 Regional Transportation Plan (RTP) admitted that, even though a "review of the Smart Shuttle progress to date [showed] a significant promise that innovative services can increase the transit mode split ... the assumptions of the 1998 RTP were overestimated and the 'third tier' transit goals have been scaled back and adjusted." (The chart at the right was taken from an article in the April, 2000 issue of the trade publication Metro Magazine titled "How Smart is L.A.'s Smart Shuttle?" in which the conclusion drawn was that the service could not achieve self-sustainability without charging a fare at least twice that of MTA service.)
Smart Shuttle did manage one noteworthy achievement when, in November 2000, they reintroduced service to Sylmar Juvenile Hall from Olive View Medical Center and Sylmar/San Fernando Metrolink Station, as a replacement for MTA Line 94 "alternate route" service that had been cancelled two years previous.
In 2001, support for Smart Shuttle declined at the MTA. In June, the MTA board of directors approved an interim funding plan, to halt after September unless LADOT agreed to modifications. MTA staff proposed that LADOT cancel the duplicative Smart Shuttle service on Sherman Way, Sepulveda Blvd., Victory Blvd., DeSoto Ave., and Winnetka Ave.; operate Van Nuys Blvd. service only between Sylmar/San Fernando Metrolink Station and Van Nuys Civic Center; realign its West Valley service to operate flexible destination service on Ventura Blvd. between Tarzana and Warner Center; and improve flexible destination service in the Sylmar area, increasing service to Olive View Medical Center and Sylmar Juvenile Hall. However, LADOT (or its contractors) apparently refused to make the changes MTA staff proposed, and City Councilwoman Cindy Miscikowski's September "E-News Monthly" reported that Smart Shuttle service was to be discontinued in the West Valley after September 28 and in the Northeast San Fernando Valley after September 30.
During public comment at the MTA board meeting on September 26, one of the Smart Shuttle contractors made a plea for continued funding, but the board refused to do so; Supervisor Gloria Molina suggested that if LADOT wanted to continue the service, they could use their Proposition A local sales tax return funding. City Councilman Hal Bernson tried to define Smart Shuttle as a MTA service, rather than a LADOT service, but he did not sway anyone's view ... so the end was confirmed.
There was one exception: Acting on the March, 2000 LADOT report, the Los Angeles City Council authorized funding to restructure the Northridge circulator as a DASH route; since that took place on July 1 of that year, it continues to operate beyond the end of Smart Shuttle.
A postscript: The one original "smart shuttle" line that had performed reasonably well -- even though it was abandoned by its contractor one year into the experiment -- was reintroduced by Metro on June 25, 2006 as Line 634.
The 2001 MTA staff report is in PDF format.
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