A Better Way for the RTD

This is not the time for a fare increase on the massive bus system operated by the Southern California Rapid Transit District. Nor is it the time for emergency funding from the Los Angeles County Transportation Commission. The RTD has adequate resources to maintain its present level of service and balance its budget without a bail-out.

RTD officials complain that they have already tightened the agency’s belt by about $35 million and that any further cuts would be damaging. We are not convinced. The budget is only 1% out of balance. The commission, going beyond its normal obligations, has offered a helping hand with proposals of further savings that the RTD could implement. The final cuts may be painful, but they are possible in the judgment of experts.

The RTD has two problems. The first is to build public confidence after a series of incidents, reports and audits indicating poor management. The second is to develop an expansion plan to serve the region more adequately. When those are taken care of, there will be better reason to review district finances. Only in that context could increased outside grants or a fare increase be justified.

Some RTD board members have sought to make the balancing of their budget a responsibility of the commission. The issue, one said, was “whether or not they are going to impose a fare increase on the elderly, the disabled and the poor.” Nonsense. The responsibility belongs to the RTD. It has received its fair share of federal, state and sales-tax subsidies. The other operators, while small by comparison, are making ends meet without special funding. RTD management can do the same.

In the meantime, the county Transportation Commission should be taking a hard look at the distribution of sales-tax funds to cities for what sometimes are tangential transit projects. Controls need to be tightened so that all funds are directed to priority public transportation projects.