Local News in Brief : Dial-a-Ride in Agoura Hills Gets Off to a Crawling Start

Although a community survey indicated that public transportation is needed in Agoura Hills, the city’s first attempt at its own municipal bus service got off to a slow start Monday, officials acknowledged.

Only three persons took 50-cent trips in a new dial-a-ride service being operated by the city in a six-month experiment. The bus service is subsidized with Proposition A sales tax money, the half-penny sales tax created by a 1980 Los Angeles County ballot measure.

The three passengers were participants in a ceremony marking the program’s kickoff, according to Cheryl Duesterhoft, owner of Thousand Oaks Cab Co., operator of the service for the city.

The service is scheduled to run from 7 a.m. to 7 p.m. Monday through Friday. Besides trips within the eight-square-mile city, rides to Westlake Community Hospital and a Westlake Village airport bus stop will also be available, city hall aide Pat Manning said.

Rides are available to Agoura Hills residents who call 707-3500 at least 20 minutes in advance, Manning said.

The cab company won the contract to provide the service by offering the low bid of $28,080 when city officials decided to initiate a dial-a-ride program because of the survey of residents.