Plan to Merge County Agencies Endorsed : Transportation: Supporters say consolidation would save money and streamline operations.

The on-again, off-again efforts to consolidate Orange County’s major transportation agencies received a boost Tuesday, as the county’s Transportation Commission voted to endorse a proposal that would merge the agencies by the end of 1991.

The action came less than a week after county supervisors voted to reject the consolidation proposal supported by state Sen. Marian Bergeson (R-Newport Beach). Supporters say the consolidation of the transportation commission and the Orange County Transit District would save money and streamline the county’s transportation efforts.

Supervisor Roger R. Stanton, the board’s leading proponent of consolidation, said Tuesday’s reversal was the result of changes made to the proposal that help ensure “genuine consolidation.”

“What we’re getting now is real consolidation and not just the illusion of it,” Stanton said. “I’m satisfied with this.”

Under the amended proposal, the transportation commission and the transit district will have until December, 1991, to develop a consolidation plan. Once that plan is submitted, the two agencies will merge their boards.

The previous proposal would have merged the boards first, and supervisors--who will be in the minority on the new organization--worried that it would not be followed by consolidation of the agencies. The result, board members feared, would be that they would give up their political parity and still not see any cost savings.

Stanton communicated those objections to Bergeson in a four-page letter sent Monday, and the senator joined Tuesday’s transportation commission hearing by speaker phone. Once the amended version was agreed upon, Stanton and Supervisor Thomas F. Riley, both of whom are commission members, withdrew their opposition and voted for the consolidation.