50,000 Enroll in Transit Program

About 50,000 senior citizens and disabled persons have enrolled in a two-month-old citywide transit program, despite some complaints about lack of advertising, city transportation officials said Wednesday.

The number of participants in the new program, which is called CITYRIDE, has surpassed the 35,000 who actively participated in several city transit programs previously operated by the city of Los Angeles.

CITYRIDE, which replaces a patchwork of subsidized city transit systems, provides participants with universal transit scrip that can be used like cash to pay for taxi, dial-a-ride and bus services.

The program has been in great demand in the San Fernando Valley, where more than 23,000 senior citizens and individuals with disabilities are registered to participate in city-subsidized transportation programs.

Several senior citizen activists have complained that the program has not been promoted enough throughout the city. But transportation officials said the program has been advertised in several local newspapers and radio and cable television. In addition, applications and information packets were sent to 77,000 people who had previously participated in city transit programs.

Those eligible for the program--at least age 65 or disabled--can buy a book of transit scrip for $15 that will be good for $60 worth of transportation services.

The tickets are normally valid for one year, with an expiration date of June 30. But because the new program began on April 1, many participants complained that the new tickets were good for only three months. In response to such complaints, city transportation officials decided last week to extend the deadline to Dec. 31, 1993 for those scrip books purchased before June 30.