Super Transit Unit to Replace RTD Proposed

An ambitious proposal to abolish the troubled Southern California Rapid Transit District and shift responsibility for Los Angeles’ bus and rail operations to a powerful new agency was unveiled Tuesday by county officials.

A key element of the plan, which ultimately would require approval of the state Legislature, would be to separate control of existing RTD bus operations from the Metro Rail subway operations.

The county proposal, the latest of several plans being advanced to deal with local transit problems, also would eliminate the Los Angeles County Transportation Commission.

The plan was quickly embraced by Los Angeles County Supervisor Deane Dana. Last year Dana chaired the commission, which has oversight authority over many county transit operations and funding but has virtually no control over the RTD.

The county proposal would create a Los Angeles Transportation Authority headed by a board of elected officials and chaired by a gubernatorial appointee. Unlike one idea being advanced by state Sen. Alan Robbins (D-Van Nuys), the board would consist of officials holding other public offices, such as a county supervisor or a city councilman. Robbins supports a separately elected governing body.

Robbins also favors merging the RTD with the Transportation Commission, a plan rejected by county officials because they say it could lead to conflicts between the regional bus system and smaller municipal lines. Under the county plan, the municipal lines would retain their independence.

Dana said he will meet today with Robbins to discuss the county proposal.

Under the county plan, the new agency would have broad policy-making powers over three separate subagencies, each headed by a general manager and an advisory panel, that would focus on bus and rail operations, construction and planning. Within the bus and rail subagency, separate managements would oversee the two systems. Currently, the RTD management has responsibility for all phases of both its bus system and the Metro Rail project.

There was no estimate of the fiscal impact of the plan, or whether it would save money.

The transportation agency plan was proposed by a task force created by outgoing Chief Administrative Officer James C. Hankla in response to a Board of Supervisors directive last November.

Members of the RTD board, RTD general manager John Dyer and members of the transportation commission said they would meet later this week to review the plan and would withhold comment in the meantime. The Board of Supervisors is to take a position on the plan at a meeting next Tuesday.

Other reorganization plans include Robbins’ proposal and another by Assemblyman Richard Katz (D-Sepulveda), chairman of the Assembly Transportation Committee.

Any reorganization plan faces several hurdles, both locally and in Sacramento. Ultimately, the Legislature--which created the RTD in 1964 and the Transportation Commission in 1976--would have to agree before those bodies could be replaced.

Since last spring, the RTD has come under criticism by local officials and members of the public as a result of a rash of bus accidents and news articles exposing such problems as high absenteeism, drivers without valid credentials, poor expense account reporting and phony injury claims.