RTD Suit Says County Hurts System’s Service

The RTD sued the Los Angeles County Transportation Commission Monday, accusing the agency of deliberately seeking to undermine the quality of RTD’s bus service in order to enhance private bus operations in the county.

The Southern California Rapid Transit District says that the commission, from which it receives much of its funding, has withheld about $50 million since July. The money has been held up, RTD officials assert, because the commission is misinterpreting its own rules.

RTD is threatening a 50% cut in service, citing the fund shortage.

“The apparent objective of the LACTC is to deprive the RTD of its ability to avoid substandard service, then to point to the substandard service as an excuse to support the RTD even less, and transfer its operation to private operators,” the Superior Court lawsuit charges.

The funding dispute--once a subject of closed-door negotiations--burst into headlines in October, when RTD officials warned of the possible cuts in service. The RTD operates Los Angeles County’s bus system, while the Transportation Commission controls sales-tax funding for all transit agencies in the county.

Efforts to interview Transportation Commission officials Monday were not successful. Earlier, Supervisor Pete Schabarum, chairman of the commission, dismissed the RTD’s warnings of massive service cuts as “media hype.”

RTD board President Gordana Swanson said Monday that the RTD has “no choice but to file a lawsuit.”

“We should have done it a long time ago, but we were hoping that reason would prevail,” Swanson said. “It’s very difficult dealing with Mr. Schabarum. It’s either his way or no other way.”

Schabarum issued a statement questioning the “sincerity” of the RTD board, saying there was still “plenty of room to negotiate an agreement.”

“However, the lawsuit clearly demonstrates the RTD’s bad faith and brings into question its sincerity in resolving the problem,” he said. “I view it as a slap in the face to Supervisor (Deane) Dana and Mayor (Tom) Bradley,” who had worked to resolve differences between the agencies.

Several Points of Discord

The RTD and the commission are at odds on several issues. Among them are which of the agencies should control construction of the massive Metro Rail subway project and Schabarum’s efforts to “privatize” profitable bus service in a section of the San Gabriel Valley. RTD officials say the San Gabriel lines are financially important to the system.

The RTD board has planned a public hearing Nov. 29 concerning proposed service cuts. The RTD may also dip into a self-insurance reserve fund to subsidize service.

So far, about $50 million has been withheld, mounting at a rate of more than $2 million per week. The sum for the fiscal year would be $107.8 million, which is 22% of the RTD’s total operating budget.

The RTD and the Transportation Commission disagree over the effective date of labor contract guidelines established by the commission. The commission says the RTD violated these guidelines when it signed union contracts in late June. The RTD disputes the contention, saying that the commission guidelines did not become effective until later and that in any event, the guidelines may violate state laws.

Those guidelines pertain to certain management rights and include the right to contract out services as well as requiring that pay raises, other than cost-of-living increases, be based on merit.