Test Buses Begin Runs on the Orange Line Extension Today

A three-week testing period will begin Monday on the soon-to-open four-mile Orange Line busway extension in the western San Fernando Valley from Canoga to Chatsworth.

Metro drivers will start without picking up passengers at the four stations on the route. Buses will run from 4 p.m. to midnight between Vanowen Street and the northern terminus at the Chatsworth Metrolink station, according to the Los Angeles County Metropolitan Transportation Authority

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 opens in June, it will be the first significant transit project to be finished with funding from the Measure R half- cent sales tax approved by voters 3 1/2 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. to 3:30 p.m. during the testing phase.