Yaroslavsky Seeks Cut in Rush-Hour Bus Fare

In a move that could yield important minority support for his expected mayoral bid, City Councilman Zev Yaroslavsky proposed Wednesday spending nearly $21 million to lower the rush-hour bus fare to 50 cents in Los Angeles.

The 39-year-old mayoral hopeful told a crowded news conference that by reducing the current 85-cent fare, the city could cut traffic congestion and air pollution because an estimated 17,000 cars would be eliminated on city streets during morning and evening commuting hours.

Even if Yaroslavsky’s ambitious proposal failed to achieve those lofty results, hundreds of thousands of mostly minority, low-income riders of the Southern California Rapid Transit District would benefit. That, in turn, could translate into votes of appreciation next year in the Westside councilman’s expected battle to unseat Mayor Tom Bradley.

According to the RTD’s latest ridership survey, the bulk of the district’s riders also are constituencies that Yaroslavsky might need to wage a viable campaign against the four-term mayor. The survey showed nearly four out of five of the RTD’s 1.3 million weekday boarders are members of minority groups, the largest share being Latino (45%) and black (24%). Nearly 75% of the riders have household incomes of less than $20,000, and 78% have no available vehicle other than a bus.

Bradley has counted heavily on blacks and Latinos in each of his successful citywide campaigns. The mayor is on a trade mission in Australia this week, but Deputy Mayor Mike Gage said there would be no comment on the Yaroslavsky plan until the City Council has completed deliberations on Bradley’s $2.9-billion spending proposal.

Yaroslavsky’s bus fare subsidy plan is contained in a package of counter proposals to Bradley’s proposed budget. Another, announced last week, is that the council pay for 150 more officers than Bradley had suggested.

The full council will consider both plans beginning next week.

Consulted With Dyer

Yaroslavsky said his bus fare idea was hammered out during private talks with former RTD general manager John Dyer, who resigned last year after heavy criticism of his management but who until recently served as a consultant for the transit district. Until Wednesday morning, Yaroslavsky--who chairs the council’s finance committee--and his staff had kept the bus fare idea secret.

RTD officials themselves were caught unaware Wednesday and were forced to scurry to City Hall to find a copy of Yaroslavsky’s plan.

Yaroslavsky appeared exasperated when asked by a Times reporter whether the bus fare proposal formed part of a campaign strategy.

“Look, why don’t you guys ever ask that kind of question when (Bradley) proposed child care (programs)?” he asked. “The fact is that (the bus fare reduction) will reduce the number of cars on the streets and it will help not only the existing transit-dependent population, but it stands to increase the number of people riding public transit, which is in the community’s interest and the public’s interest.”

The main features of Yaroslavsky’s bus fare proposal include:

- A 35-cent reduction, starting Sept. 1, on the basic fare--presently 85 cents--on rides originating within the Los Angeles city limits during the rush-hour periods of 6 to 9 a.m. and 4 to 7 p.m. If the RTD boosts the basic fare to $1, Yaroslavsky’s plan would still call for a 35-cent reduction.

-Financing for the 35-cent subsidy during the final nine months of the fiscal year beginning July 1 would come from two sources: $10 million from the city’s general fund and $10.8 million from a Proposition A account. Proposition A was a voter-approved 1/2-cent sales tax set aside for transit purposes.

Yaroslavsky said any dipping into the Proposition A trust fund would not affect current money set aside for Metro Rail or other rail programs.

With the bus fare subsidy and police officer plans that would be warmly greeted in the city’s minority, heavy-crime areas, Yaroslavsky is showing he is unwilling to concede any portion of the electorate to Bradley.

By proposing a fare reduction, Yaroslavsky has gone a step further than Bradley, who is simply opposed to the 15-cent increase now under consideration by the RTD board of directors.

In addition to the 150 more police officers, Yaroslavsky on Wednesday proposed nearly doubling the amount of police overtime for gang and drug-trafficking task forces that Bradley had suggested. The mayor had proposed $11 million; Yaroslavsky countered with $10 million on top of that.

Yaroslavsky also proposed other additions to Bradley’s spending plan, including an expansion of an experimental citywide recycling program from 10,000 homes in two council districts to 50,000 homes encompassing all 15 districts.