Riders Gripe About More Than the Late Buses : Transit: Word of RTD’s late-bus, no-pay policy elicits a collective shrug. They want a safer, cleaner ride too.

John Parker was rolling south through inner-city Los Angeles. A rattling in the RTD bus was so intense that he could scarcely be heard. The passenger windows near him were cracked and scratched, making it all but impossible to see out--not that the scenery, mostly warehouses and chain-link fences, was all that scenic.

“These buses get crowded and they try to crowd even more people onto them,” Parker said, launching into a litany of complaints about commuting by bus in Los Angeles.

The morning had brought some good news for riders like Parker. Under a proposal approved Thursday, passengers will ride free when RTD buses are more than 15 minutes late. But it was hardly enough to elicit a smile, much less a cheer, from the 27-year-old loading-dock worker.

He and others who leave the driving to the RTD say that punctuality ranks lower on their list of miseries than creaky buses, cranky drivers, cramped quarters and crime. Parker especially remembered a drunk who once tried to board without paying the fare and was slow in stepping off.

“The bus driver got up and pushed him off,” Parker recalled. “He just shoved him out the door.”

On bus after bus Thursday, word of the RTD’s innovative late-bus, no-pay policy was received with a collective shrug. Many riders knew nothing about it. Others didn’t much care. According to some passengers, the transit district’s massive fleet of nearly 2,800 vehicles generally operates on time, except when traffic is bad or when the buses break down. RTD buses carry more than 1.3 million riders a day, reaching roughly 2,800 stops covering a territory of 1,442 square miles.

But many people interviewed on the buses said they enjoy the inherent convenience of mass transit--most believe it beats walking--at the expense of comfort and peace of mind. But the noise, rattling and lurching is sometimes overwhelming, they said.

Vances Dowthard, 62, was commuting to work at a senior citizens center in Los Angeles. She said she enjoys riding--”I’d take the bus even if I had a car”--but added that the buses come too infrequently and are crowded. She complained that the rear doors of many buses are difficult to open and that the rear step is too high, especially for older people.

Several passengers complained about gang members who board buses in the inner city. Occasionally, they argue or even fight. The Western Avenue route is notorious for that, according to one rider. Maria Merced, 17, a student at Bishop Montgomery High School in Gardena, said the initials RTD mean one thing in her neighborhood: “Rough, Tough and Dirty.”

“A lot of bad people ride,” she said.

A schoolmate of Merced, Michelle Parker, also 17, complained that the buses run late “and they smell.” Not only that, she said, sometimes drivers see her rushing to catch the bus and purposely take off and leave. “It’s really irritating.”

Inglewood resident Barbie Alexander, 38, said she has heard of many people who now walk, rather than ride, because of the perceived danger from thugs. She said she recently stepped aboard a bus just after a youngster had been beaten by several other youngsters. The passengers were all standing and discussing the incident.

“They said it was terrible,” Alexander said. “Everybody was afraid. I just pray to God nothing like that happens when I’m on (the bus) because I don’t like that type of thing.”

Alexander, who was traveling to a doctor’s appointment, complained that the buses are sometimes unclean. Not long ago, on bus No. 112, she was horrified to see an elderly woman “with loose bowels” create a mess on the seat. “I got some newspaper from somebody . . . and put it down and made sure nobody sat on it,” Alexander said. “I told the bus driver and he didn’t do a thing; he didn’t even pay attention.”

Some riders did express anger about waiting too long at RTD bus stops.

“Yesterday we waited 45 minutes and nothing came by,” said Penney Banks, 28, a Maryland office clerk on her first visit to Los Angeles. “We finally decided to walk.” The walk took another 45 minutes, meaning that an hour and a half of her vacation had been consumed by a short midtown trip, Banks said.

It’s no rolling picnic for drivers, either.

Veteran driver David Jones, operating Route 53 through Huntington Park, Watts and Compton, said there are times, especially on night shifts, when he fears for his life.

“We’ve had drivers shot, we’ve had drivers stabbed, we’ve had women bus drivers raped,” he said. “We drive some pretty dangerous routes. I’ve been threatened twice a week.”

Another driver, Aubrey Fort, 47, summed up the experience this way: Some buses are late, some are noisy, some passengers are obnoxious, some are dangerous.

“But you’ve got to forget about that,” he said with a laugh, pressing the accelerator. “The bills keep coming, so you’ve got to keep going.”

FREE RIDES TO START SEPT.1. A four month program of free rides on late buses is to begin Sept.1. B4.