‘Overhaul at RTD’

Your editorial (Jan. 19), “Overhaul at RTD,” has once again missed the point.

It is universally recognized that RTD is in trouble. Among elected officials, transit planners and the media, the quintessential question has now become how to effectively remedy the mess at hand.

General Manager John Dyer’s response is a 12-point performance plan, which he and The Times believe will solve the Southern California Rapid Transit District’s problems.

It is my opinion that the problems at RTD are not problems at all. They are symptoms. And these symptoms are not a recent phenomenon. Over the years, as these symptoms festered, RTD was able to quietly Band-Aid each to keep from exposing them to the public. Now, RTD has run out of Band-Aids.

Dyer’s $2.5-million plan is nothing more than an overpriced box of new Band-Aids, which will cover the existing sores without curing the disease.

Because RTD is a public monopoly--immune from competitive forces--internal problems will never be resolved and cost-effective transit will remain an elusive goal.

If RTD, or any other public transit agency, had to compete for the privilege of providing taxpayer subsidized bus service, it would have been out of business long ago.

We should not be comfortable with Dyer’s 12-point plan or any other concocted scheme to reorganize RTD unless such a reorganization allows for the increased use of competitive contracting for public transit provision. Otherwise, what guarantee is there that RTD’s present problems, including its enormous operating deficits, will ever be resolved?

Privatization of bus service in Los Angeles County is a realistic, cost-effective alternative to RTD. The City of Los Angeles contracted its downtown shuttle service--now known as DASH--to Diversified Paratransit Inc. Ridership has increased by 10% while operating costs have been reduced by 38%. This translates into a net savings of $400,000 over what it had previously cost RTD to operate the same service.

In the San Gabriel Valley, a recently completed study to form a Transportation Zone indicates that 32%, or $14 million annually, could be saved by contracting service presently operated by RTD.

Let us not continue to apply Band-Aids to the RTD. The riders and taxpayers deserve better.

PETE SCHABARUM

Supervisor, First District

Los Angeles