WOODLAND HILLS >> The Metro Orange Line busway now ferries 25,000 passengers each working day across the San Fernando Valley. But there’s a problem.

A transit dogleg that sends the giant buses to just one stop in Warner Center is mostly empty of commuters and shoppers.

So the Metro transit agency has proposed swapping it with a Warner Center shuttle bus that would swing by numerous offices and malls from Woodland Hills to Canoga Park as part of a pending $1.7 billion Orange Line makeover.

“We feel these improvements will help the Orange Line operate more efficiently and meet our customer needs better,” said Dave Sotero, a spokesman for the Los Angeles County Metropolitan Transportation Authority. “It’s basically a concept.

“We’re gathering responses from Warner Center and local stakeholders.”

Sweeping upgrades for the Orange Line, approved by passage of the Measure M sales tax in November, include ways to speed up the nearly 15-mile bus rapid transit line from North Hollywood to Warner Center. An extension then hooks north to Chatsworth.

Voter-approved improvements include building bridges or underpasses to create grade separations between cars and buses, then an eventual conversion to light rail.

Groundbreaking for the $286 million Orange Line grade separations is set for 2019. Construction of the $1.4 billion rail line is scheduled to start in 2051.

Until then, the transit agency announced this week on its Source blog some key interim developments.

They include zero-emission electric buses, travel time increases, the Warner Center shuttle bus, and a new “shortline” route between the North Hollywood and Reseda stations to help carry the brunt of workday commuter traffic.

The improvements, to be discussed Monday at the MTA during a legislative briefing downtown, are now being vetted by the agency’s San Fernando Valley Service Council. If the shuttle is approved, officials say, it could begin running as early as December.

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“We’re extremely excited,” said Stuart Waldman, president of the Valley Industry & Commerce Association, which helped officials zero in on $4 billion in upgrades for the transit measure, including the Orange Line boost. “We knew things would move when Measure M was passed; we didn’t think they were going to move this quickly.

“It’s going to speed things up, which is good. Makes for better commutes. And makes the Orange Line capable of carrying more passengers. And get people out of their cars.”

The dedicated Orange Line busway, which opened in 2005, has since borne some 74 million passengers across the Valley, according to the MTA, peaking at 29,000 daily Monday-to-Friday commuters.

But the busway has been slowed by having to cross streets packed of cars. So last year Metro began instituting measures to speed up the buses. It’s now studying five major intersections to potentially install grade separations to speed the buses even more – and prepare in the decades ahead for a full Orange Line conversion to rail.

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The busway intersections under consideration include Fulton Avenue and Burbank Boulevards; Woodman Avenue and Oxnard Street; and Van Nuys, Sepulveda and Reseda boulevards.

Other improvements could include in-pavement safety lights and parking-style gates to prevent illegal right turns across the Orange Line.

“I pushed successfully to have the Orange Line grade separations moved up from 2026 to 2019, and I am thrilled that Metro is already working to make it happen,” said Councilman Bob Blumenfield, whose district includes the Warner Center, in a statement. “This change and signal timing changes will increase capacity and speed, so more people will use the Orange Line and fewer will drive on the 101 and nearby streets.”

He said if Metro moves forward with Warner Center transit changes, he will make sure they result in better service, performance and ridership. Any shuttle routes that gets riders closer to their workplaces and shops, he said, will cut traffic and improve quality of life.

• Related Story: At 10 years old, Valley’s Orange Line busway needs more juice, officials say

But while the Orange Line has been hailed as the premier bus rapid transit line in the nation, and the only one of its kind, ridership has flagged in recent years.

Daily workday boardings have fallen to 25,000 — with ridership dropping significantly west of Reseda station, and only 750 a day in and out of Warner Center. And they must all get on and off at Owensmouth Avenue across from the Promenade.

Those wishing to head toward the Westfield Topanga or Village malls or distant offices throughout the Warner Center must walk for blocks, or take a bus. Which means more shoppers now go to work and shop by car.

So Metro has proposed exchanging the hinged Orange Line buses that now circle Warner Center with two potential shuttles that could stop throughout the west Valley commercial and shopping hub. The shuttles would run every eight minutes during peak periods, and every 16 minutes off-peak.

One would traverse a large circle between Oxnard and Vanowen streets down Owensmouth and Canoga avenues, halting at 11 stops.

The other would run a similar route, with a second loop around Burbank Boulevard and De Soto Avenue, with additional stops as far as Kaiser Permanente Woodland Hills Medical Center.

Commuters were agog at the possibilities.

“I hate this,” said Kevin Lee, 43, a father of five who commutes from Palmdale to Warner Center for a records job at AIG, while waiting at its only stop. “I have a bum leg and have to walk blocks just to get to where I want to go.

“With a new shuttle, it would be great. I could just get off — bam! — around the corner. And I could cross the street and go to work.”