Free ride is over

Just when inhabitants of the Valley were getting used to enjoying the fourteen-mile-long commuter short cut, bike route and skate path known officially as the Orange Line busway, The Man goes and spoils the party. It seems that after spending $330 million on the Orange Line, the MTA wants to start training bus drivers in advance of the busway's Oct. 29 opening. Tickets are being written to anyone who gets in the way or just tries to use the concrete ribbon that winds from North Hollywood to Woodland Hills. The Daily News reports that four sheriff's motorcycles do nothing but patrol the busway, looking for interlopers. Photo from Cathy Cole.