A CITY IN CRISIS : Riots’ Disruption of Bus Routes Adds to Inconvenience : Transit: Curfew limits travel times as residents run low on supplies. Some commuters face being stranded in hostile areas.

As the dusk-to-dawn curfew lifted Saturday morning, Juan Manuel boarded his Southern California Rapid Transit District bus in downtown Los Angeles and headed for the construction site he has not seen since the outbreak of rioting disrupted his daily commute.

With his own neighborhood struck by looting and burning--and bus service temporarily curtailed--a stranded Manuel had been absent from his $60-a-day laborer’s job on the Palos Verdes Peninsula.

Dependent upon public transportation, the father of five children forfeited his day’s paycheck each time he failed to show for work. So, after boarding the southbound express, Manuel was smiling.

“I felt good that I could finally make some money today,” he said in Spanish.

As it turns out, Manuel was the only passenger to climb aboard in Los Angeles for the first weekend run of Line 444. In contrast, the bus is usually filled with riders on most Saturdays, many of them black, Asian or Latino men and women departing early for their jobs as maids, gardeners and dayworkers on the Peninsula. But not today.

“It’s usually filled,” he said of the empty bus. “Maybe they don’t know it is working. I just took a chance.”

For some of the 1.3 million daily passengers of the RTD, the disruption in service from the riots following the Rodney G. King verdicts may have been an inconvenience. But for many riders--particularly those in the areas hardest hit--the diversion of bus routes or the cancellation of service exacerbated an already grim situation faced by residents with dwindling supplies of food and other necessities.

“The stores burned down in my neighborhood, and I need groceries for my family, but you couldn’t find a bus,” said Mary Williams of South Los Angeles after her bus on Central Avenue was restored to service Saturday.

“Now we got a bus, but you got to be back home at night because of the curfew, so we still can’t travel much,” said another passenger, Alice Smith.

Curfews, blockaded streets, closed freeway ramps and sudden detours have combined to test the patience of bus riders, but some have improvised.

Another RTD passenger said he was visiting his uncle in Inglewood when rioting broke out and buses were rerouted. Unable to find a bus to take him home, the 41-year-old man--who asked not to be identified--said he took a taxi to another city where he could make connections to his home in Long Beach.

Service was canceled on 27 bus lines in South Los Angeles after Mayor Tom Bradley imposed a curfew last Wednesday evening. By Saturday, four lines in South Los Angeles had been restored, 13 were still not ready and 10 had partial service, RTD officials said. Earlier in the day, four other bus lines in the Echo Park were suspended when a sniper was reported shooting in the area, they added.

Alan F. Pegg, RTD general manager, said the remaining lines--some of which go through the heart of the most devastated neighborhoods--will remain closed until law enforcement deem the ravaged areas safe.

In anticipation of reopening the lines, Pegg said RTD inspectors spent the day traveling through communities in the restricted areas removing debris and other impediments to bus traffic.

Pegg said detours and rerouting of buses were still commonplace Saturday on lines that were in operation, particularly in Hollywood where fires, looting and vandalism had raged two days earlier.

But he said that overall bus service was more than 80% restored.

“We’re shooting for full service on Monday. That’s our objective,” he said.

Although no ridership figures were immediately available, RTD officials said it was down considerably, and several drivers on differing routes said they were carrying fewer passengers on their weekend runs. But all agreed that the tension accompanying last week’s disturbances had subsided.

“I was scared to death a few days ago,” said one driver whose line goes through South Los Angeles. “People were banging on the side of the bus, and I saw guys with guns on the rooftops before I got out of there.”

According to RTD officials, four drivers, one supervisor and a passenger were injured. Most were assaults, including the beating of the supervisor who was pulled from his car, they said.

“As far as I’m concerned, the unsung heroes in all this were the drivers and supervisors,” said RTD board President Marvin L. Holen. “They were out there by themselves. Others were out there with guns--the police, the firefighters who got police protection and the National Guard--but these guys were out there by themselves.”

With bus service in the curfew areas still halting at dusk, passengers who rely on public transit will still be scrambling until the restrictions are lifted.

Public transportation is a lifeline for Juanita and her family. Her 23-year-old son has not been able to travel from their Los Angeles home to his job as a cook in Santa Monica since the curfew was imposed.

Juanita, who asked that her last name not be used, said that she also depends on the 444 bus, the same bus that carries Juan Manuel. On Saturday, she was taking the northbound trip home from her job as a maid and was relieved to find that the bus was running.

Clutching a plastic bag that served as her suitcase, the 50-year-old woman said the rampage she had seen on television reminded her of the clothing store she once owned in El Salvador that was looted and burned.

“I did not think I would see it here,” she said of her adopted country.

Even before she left the Peninsula where she has been staying for the past week, Juanita received a call from her son who informed her that the grocery store in their Los Angeles neighborhood had been ransacked leaving no where to shop for food.

“I’m not there, and it’s already affected me,” she said. “I haven’t even been home yet.”