Metrolink to Keep Serving Oxnard, Camarillo : Commuters: The service was to be temporary. But the commission OKs funding for another year after hearing from riders.

The triumphant toot of a train whistle would have been a fitting flourish as the Ventura County Transportation Commission on Friday approved another year of funding for Metrolink commuter trains to Oxnard and Camarillo.

The service, launched after the January, 1994, earthquake, was initially intended as a temporary measure to help commuters who could not get to work because of damaged roads.

But a small, faithful group of riders grew accustomed to the sleek comfort of the blue-and-white trains. They enjoyed whisking past rush-hour traffic to and from their jobs in Los Angeles. It was not a service they would sacrifice easily.

An intensive campaign ensued, with petitions, letters and phone calls to commissioners, urging them to keep Metrolink on track.

“The perception that the rug might be pulled out from under us affects our sense of stability,” Heidi Guedel Garafalo told the commission on Friday. Garafalo, who lives in Oak View, takes the train each day to her job as an animator in Burbank.

“I’m very much afraid of driving between here and Burbank,” she said. “I don’t know what I would do without the train.”

A majority of the commission took Garafalo’s testimony to heart. In its most enthusiastic endorsement to date, the panel voted 5 to 2 in favor of keeping the trains to Camarillo and Oxnard.

The commission is made up of five elected officials and two citizen representatives. The elected officials are county Supervisors Frank Schillo and Susan Lacey, Simi Valley Councilman Bill Davis, Moorpark Mayor Paul Lawrason and Camarillo Councilman David Smith, who chairs the panel. The citizen representatives are Michael Wooten of Camarillo and Roma Armbrust of Ventura.

In supporting the train, Smith said the task of the panel is to consider regional transportation needs, not just those in isolated pockets of the county.

“We will be a better place, having that service available,” he said.

Metrolink trains link Ventura County riders to four other counties over nearly 350 miles of track. The Ventura County Line stops in Oxnard, Camarillo, Moorpark and Simi Valley, continuing on to the San Fernando Valley and Downtown Los Angeles.

A sampling of ridership conducted by the commission showed an average of 78 passengers boarding in Oxnard each day and about 85 a day in Camarillo. Boardings in Moorpark run more than 200 a day, and in Simi Valley more than 300 residents take the train.

For the fiscal year ending in June, service cost about $1.6 million. But the cost of running trains to Oxnard and Camarillo has been subsidized in large part by emergency quake relief funds. Those funds run out in June.

The cost of running trains to all four Ventura County stops for another year is estimated at $2.5 million. Some of that money will come from other federal sources, but about $500,000 in county money will be set aside in case the federal funding falls through.

Schillo, who voted against continuing the service, said he was wary of the cost estimate. He asked the commission to postpone a decision until a more definite figure could be produced.

Lacey also opposed funding the trains, saying that eventually city bus service may be sacrificed to keep Metrolink running. Continuing Metrolink for another year, she said, was just postponing the agony of such a decision.

“I don’t want to raise people’s expectations,” she said.

Other commissioners said they would monitor expenses carefully, to ensure that bus funding is not spent on trains. They also agreed to push for a more aggressive advertising campaign to increase ridership on the trains.