Peace on the RTD

The more than 1 million Los Angeles-area residents who ride the Southern California Rapid Transit District’s buses each day can relax now that local transit unions have approved new labor agreements with the district. For the first time in years there will be no bus strike.

The contract approved Monday by the district’s 1,800 mechanics and maintenance workers is similar to agreements that transit officials had negotiated earlier with drivers and clerks. All will run well into 1988, and provide salary increases of approximately 4.5% over that period. In exchange for these raises the unions agreed to give management more flexibility in using such cost-saving measures as part-time workers and automation.

District officials are expected to approve the latest pact on Thursday--a vote that will mark the first time since 1969 that local bus passengers have not had to face a costly and disruptive strike. Both the RTD management and the leaders of the three unions representing RTD workers deserve praise for this refreshing change. When negotiations began in February it looked as if the transit district might have to endure its sixth recent strike. The unions were demanding increases in both wages and fringe benefits at a time when the district was facing major revenue losses because of the impending termination of a $43-million local fare subsidy and the threat of major cutbacks in federal transit assistance by the Reagan Administration.

Federal cutbacks are still possible, although the transit district’s lobbyists are working to persuade Congress to give them more than President Reagan wants to give. The loss of the local subsidy cannot be reversed, because it was mandated by local voters when Proposition A, the local sales tax for new transit projects, was approved three years ago. Thus the July 1 increase in the basic RTD fare, from 50 cents to 85 cents, is inevitable. But at least local bus riders can be sure that, no matter what a ride costs them, a bus will actually come along.