Give This Idea a Free Ride : RTD’s Current Inducement Might Woo Back Former Riders

Fresh ideas in public transportation are about as common as seats on a rush-hour bus. The only thing in shorter supply is a fresh idea that is also a good idea. At first glance, the Southern California Rapid Transit District’s notion that passengers should ride free if their bus arrives more than 15 minutes behind schedule seems to meet both criteria. It certainly is worth the test run RTD has in mind.

Of course, you have to ask why, if this is such a great idea, it hasn’t been going on for years? The RTD says that until recently its fleet was too small to even think of free rides. With 2,000 buses, however, it has a fighting chance to stay on schedule.

Chicago was appalled by the idea. A spokesman for the region’s transit authority rejected the idea out of hand as something they would never try. It conjured up pictures of buses stalled by fires on their route, traffic jams and other random ways of knocking buses off schedule.

But there is a big difference between the cities. Chicago doesn’t need such a plan. It has a long tradition of rail and bus transportation that works as well as any city, and better than most. Los Angeles is still trying to create such a history.

The idea could come unglued in several ways, but the RTD seems to have most of them in hand. People with bus passes would get a chit they could use to reduce the cost of the next month’s pass. The agency is still pondering the rider who pays his fare before the bus starts running late and then watches a parade of people get on for free.

The most appealing thing about the idea is the most difficult to quantify. It would demonstrate good faith and honest effort for riders who have stuck with the system through some rude times in recent years.

To be both a fresh idea and a good one, the word on good faith would have to get around to people who have abandoned the system. This is the only way Southern California can create a transit tradition of its own. That makes this worth trying.