RTD Will Offer 50-Cent Fare to Ease Post-Riot Travel Problems : Transit: The program is designed to increase access to stores and services. It will last through September.

To help people forced to travel farther to buy food, do laundry and obtain services because of riot damage to their neighborhoods, the Southern California Rapid Transit District board voted Thursday to temporarily offer a special 50-cent fare throughout the county.

The June-through-September fare--less than half the regular $1.10 and the lowest since 1985--was approved 10 to 0, even though board members conceded that the district does not yet have the $9 million needed to pay for it.

To take advantage of the new fare, passengers will have to buy 10-ride coupon books for $5 from RTD monthly pass vendors. Pass users and passengers paying cash will not receive a discount, nor will Metro Blue Line riders, many of whom are inner-city residents.

Nonetheless, the RTD staff expects the lower fare to attract an additional 500,000 riders a month to the system, a 2.2% increase that will require more buses on the streets.

“Affordable public transportation is needed now more than ever,” RTD General Manager Alan F. Pegg told the board. “Shopping and employment opportunities in some neighborhoods are now severely limited. Residents of these areas may be required to travel farther from home in search of Laundromats, convenience items, food and employment.”

The reduced fares and added service are expected to cost the district $2.26 million a month. About $2 million in funding is lined up, all of it in one pledge of public funds by County Supervisor Kenneth Hahn.

Pegg said that assistance also could be sought from local cities and from the Los Angeles County Transportation Commission. He said the district already has asked federal transit officials to help pay for the added service as part of Washington’s overall riot-recovery package.

As part of its own such program, the RTD board also called for a series of public meetings across the county next month to reassess public attitudes toward mass transit and to gather suggestions for improvement.

Pegg recommended the hearings because a special 25-cent post-riot shuttle in South Los Angeles prompted many people to suggest ways in which improved bus service might speed the economic recovery of riot-affected areas.

RTD board member Antonio Villaraigosa proposed the temporary fare cut last week, and it was quickly endorsed by others. Mas Fukai, Hahn’s appointee to the 11-member board, indicated then that the supervisor would partially pay for the proposal with transit funds at his disposal.

The $2 million offered Thursday will come from a half-cent sales-tax surcharge. One quarter of the money from that transit tax is shared with cities to pay for local transit improvement.

The other four county supervisors, who also get shares of transit funds for improvements in unincorporated areas, are considering similar actions.

Before the temporary fare cut is implemented, the district plans to print new coupon books distinct in color from regular 10-ride coupon books, which sell for $9. The new coupons will have expiration dates printed on them, to prevent people from hoarding discounted coupons for use after fares return to normal.

Board members promised that the new coupons will be available by June 1--ironically, the day that the RTD until recently had planned to reduce service by about 1.5% because of continuing financial problems. Another 1.5% service cut was planned in September, the last month of the new fare reduction.

The service cuts, which may return after the special fares disappear, were planned to cope with the RTD’s continuing financial problems. The recession has reduced the number of people riding buses while biting into a special sales-tax surcharge used to subsidize the service. This has sharply reduced income while the district has been left to pay more for spare parts, salaries and new, low-pollution buses.