Legislation to Abolish RTD Stalls in Senate Committee

The latest legislative attempt to abolish the Southern California Rapid Transit District stalled in the Senate Transportation Committee on Tuesday.

Demands for changes in the measure came from suburban interests and the Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors.

“I can’t support the bill,” said Sen. Cecil N. Green (D-Norwalk), a suburban lawmaker who said small cities with their own transit lines would not be represented on the agency proposed to replace the RTD.

The Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors wanted amendments that would have weakened transit unions. Those amendments, presented by Sen. Newton R. Russell (R-Glendale), drew opposition from the unions. Their objection killed the Russell amendments, so Russell refused to vote for the bill.

Because of that decision, plus absences, a 4-3 vote in favor of the measure fell two short of the six needed for approval. But an aide to the author, Sen. Alan Robbins (D-Tarzana), said the senator expected to pick up the needed support when the committee meets next week.

Robbins’ bill is similar to a measure that was passed by the Legislature last year when the transit district was the target of intense criticism.

Charges of safety failures, inefficiency and driver drug use created a supercharged political atmosphere in Los Angeles and in the Legislature, which had created the RTD several years ago to provide bus service throughout sprawling Los Angeles County.

But Gov. George Deukmejian vetoed the RTD breakup legislation, mainly because it had done nothing to weaken strong union contracts and because he believed that it would not solve Los Angeles’ public transit problems.

Since then, the RTD hired a new general manager and, under pressure from political leaders, signed an agreement with the area’s other powerful transit agency, the Los Angeles County Transportation Commission, cooling off a long feud between the two bodies.

That incessant fighting had been another motive behind legislative moves to set up a new agency to run public transit.

Although the feud has abated, Robbins nonetheless pushed ahead with the breakup legislation this year because it is one of his longtime legislative goals.

The RTD now operates bus lines throughout Los Angeles County and is building the Metro Rail subway.

The county Transportation Commission is in charge of allocating funds to the RTD and smaller municipal transit lines. It is also building a trolley line from Long Beach to downtown Los Angeles.

The Robbins bill would create a Metropolitan Transit Authority that would take over from the RTD and the Transportation Commission. It would build all local rail transit lines and operate buses and rail transit.