RTD Board Renews Talk of Fare Hikes, Service Cuts

Four months after the RTD board rejected similar proposals, managers of the financially troubled transit district are again raising the possibility of fare increases and bus service cutbacks to erase red ink in their budget.

A new staff report, which will be discussed by the Southern California Rapid Transit District Board of Directors on Thursday, says the transit agency faces a deficit of up to $12.5 million in its current 1987-88 spending plan and should take steps to balance the budget.

Among the options outlined are a 10-cent increase in the basic 85-cent fare beginning early next year, increasing the price of monthly discount passes, imposing a service charge on the purchase of bus passes and/or trimming bus service.

In June, after months of repeatedly rejecting fare increases and service cuts, the RTD board adopted a series of makeshift juggling devices to balance its current budget. After more than a year of public criticism for poor management and loose controls on spending, some board members felt the timing was not right for a fare increase.

RTD board member Carmen Estrada, one of the leading opponents of a fare increase in the past, said Tuesday that increases now may be unavoidable. “If we can be shown real cuts were made and we still are facing a shortfall, then it’s a more persuasive position (for) service cutbacks or a fare increase,” Estrada said. She added that RTD fares are below those in many other major cities.

RTD managers say operating costs are running as anticipated--about $510 million for the year--but income is down. Among the problems is a ridership that is 6% less than expected, causing a projected $6.6-million shortfall in fare income. Also, delays in receiving hundreds of millions of dollars in local, state and federal funds--partly because the RTD was months late in submitting required paper work--has reduced the investment income the district anticipated.

Other problems have included significant increases in overtime costs associated with the district’s new but trouble-plagued high-tech bus repair facility near downtown Los Angeles.

An automated, robotic warehouse was supposed to greatly improve the district’s handling of its huge parts inventory. But the computer systems that run the warehouse have been repeatedly “crashing,” leaving the district unable to locate needed bus parts. Record numbers of bus runs have had to be canceled recently because parts were unavailable.