Planned Fare Hike Points Up Inequities in Bus, Rail Subsidies

On one side of the equation are the 1.1 million bus riders each day, most of whom are poor and rely heavily, if not completely, on public transportation. Every time each of them boards a bus in Los Angeles, taxpayers kick in $1.16.

On the other side are the far fewer passengers on the region’s slowly blooming rail system--one for every 15 bus riders--who tend to be more affluent and less dependent on mass transit. Each of their trips commands a taxpayer subsidy three to 8 1/2 times that of a bus ride.

Yet it is mainly bus fares that the Metropolitan Transportation Authority seeks to raise in coming months to help bridge a $126-million operating deficit.

It is a strategy that community activists such as Chris Niles believe will penalize the most loyal but least well-off of the MTA’s customers.

“It’s absolutely wrong,” said Niles, who works with the Labor/Community Strategy Center in the Mid-Wilshire district. “They’re putting the burden on the backs of bus riders (to build) very inefficient rail projects that no one’s using. These are people who are just barely keeping their head above water who will be forced to find unique ways to finance their transit needs.”

MTA officials counter that bus fares have remained untouched for six years. Even the proposed increase from $1.10 to $1.35 contained in the MTA’s new budget would simply put Los Angeles in line with what most other large cities--New York, Philadelphia, Chicago--charge. And rail projects must be launched now if the burgeoning region is to have a sensible transit network in the next millennium, officials say.

“We are about two things in this agency: providing good transportation services for today’s riders and trying to develop a transportation capability that can serve tomorrow’s riders,” MTA chief executive Franklin E. White said. “A lot of people forget that second obligation.”

In many ways, the clashing views of White and Niles epitomize the divisive debate that has sprung up over fare increases and service reductions proposed by the MTA last month. The battle has become fierce, leading one man to wage a hunger strike and local politicians to speak out with unaccustomed vehemence.

A public hearing on the fare increases is scheduled for 10 a.m. today at the county Hall of Administration. The MTA’s board of directors could decide the issue next week.

No one denies that the MTA is in alarming financial straits just one year after it was formed by merging the Southern California Rapid Transit District and the Los Angeles County Transportation Commission. The MTA faces an annual $300-million capital and operating shortfall starting next month and has had to lay off workers and delay some transit projects to balance its $2.9-billion budget.

But no fare increases are expected for the Metrolink commuter train, and a ride on the Red Line subway would remain 25 cents. Fares for Blue Line riders would be increased based upon the distance they travel, but the lion’s share of new revenue--about $50 million--would come from bus riders’ pockets.

Critics of the fare restructuring complain that it compounds disparities between the funding of rail and bus systems.

Now, the MTA subsidizes operating costs at a rate of $1.16 per passenger on its buses. Some of its most crowded routes, such as Line 204 through South-Central Los Angeles, require subsidies of only 34 cents.

By contrast, the subsidies stand at $3.15 for the Blue Line light rail system and $3.83 for the Red Line. On Metrolink trains, the public’s share is $9.86.

To Antonio Villaraigosa, an alternate on the MTA board, the solution seems obvious.

“With limited dollars, we have to go for the thing with the best bang for the buck, and the best bang for the buck is buses,” he said. “We need to build a first-class bus system, one that’s clean, safe and graffiti-free.”

Villaraigosa and other opponents of the proposed fare increases also cite the stark differences between bus and train patrons.

A recent MTA report described its bus riders as being mostly poor and non-white, whereas a Metrolink survey last year found its average passenger to be a suburban, white professional earning $63,000 annually--more than quadruple the $15,000 household income of 62% of bus riders.

Those differences make investment in rail projects at the expense of bus service unconscionable, said James Moore, associate professor of urban planning and co-director of USC’s Center for Advanced Transportation Technology.

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Transit officials point out that Los Angeles County voters approved a half-cent sales tax four years ago to raise money for commuter rail. The MTA has allocated $752.3 million for overall rail construction in its proposed budget for next fiscal year, including funding for the Blue Line extension to Pasadena and the Green Line trolley from Norwalk to El Segundo.

Not providing longer-distance commuting options for residents because they happen to be more affluent and live in the suburbs would be unfair, Metrolink Executive Director Richard Stanger said.

Suburban voters “didn’t say, ‘Here’s my money. Give it to the poor people to ride the buses and don’t give me anything,’ ” Stanger said. “That’s what the people who support the buses expect.

“To a certain extent we have an obligation as a society to do that. But we also have a clear obligation from the voting measure to provide transit alternatives to outlying portions of the county.”

Stanger also takes exception to assertions that the bus system is more cost-effective.

Because the average trip aboard Metrolink (29 miles) is longer than on the bus (3.9 miles), Metrolink moves people at a comparable cost, Stanger said. Calculated according to passenger miles, the Metrolink subsidy is 34 cents, close to the 30-cent subsidy per passenger mile for the bus system. (The Blue Line subsidy is 35 cents, the Red Line $2.95.)

MTA officials say establishing a network of rail lines now is crucial if the region is to be equipped to deal with the transit needs of a larger population 30 years from now.

But some critics question whether rail is the answer, especially in light of projections that bus riders will still form the largest group of transit users even when the MTA’s ambitious rail projects are completed.

The example of other cities that have recently built rail lines should sound a warning, they contend.

In a 1989, federal study of eight cities that have completed rail projects within the last 20 years, five cities reported gains in overall transit use, but only at significant costs per passenger. Three cities, including Miami, dropped in overall ridership because of bus fare increases and service cuts adopted to help pay for the new rail lines.

“It sounds familiar, doesn’t it?” USC’s Moore said. “Los Angeles is replicating a Miami experience.”

White disputes the charge, saying bus ridership has already been declining in recent years. It fell from a peak of 497 million annually in 1985 to 375 million this year, although some observers attribute the drop to the doubling of fares from 50 cents to $1.10 within a five-year period. By raising the fare to $1.35, MTA officials expect to lose another 7% of passengers, mostly among the poor.

Other types of transit must fill the gap left by dwindling bus ridership, officials say.

(San Fernando Valley Edition) Bus Vs. Rail

To help balance its $2.9-billion budget, the Metropolitan Transportation Authority has recommended that bus fares be increased from $1.10 to $1.35. If approved, it would be the first fare hike in six years.

Opponets accuse the MTA of turning to bus riders to subsidize costly projects that serve far fewer people. MTA officials say that, while expensive, rail systems must be developed now to serve a burgeoning population in the next few decades. Daily Ridership Comparison Buses: 1,100,000 Blue Line: 37,800 Red Line: 17,450 Metrolink: 17,400 *Operating Budget Fiscal year 1993-94, in millions Buses: $620.6 Blue Line: $36.3 Red Line: $17.9 Metrolink: $39.7 *Subsidy Per Trip Does not include capital costs Buses: $1.16 Blue Line: $3.15 Red Line: $3.83 Metrolink: $9.86 *Average Trip Length Buses Miles: 3.9 Blue Line Miles: 9,0 Red Line Miles: 1.3 Metrolink Miles: 29.0 *Subsidy Per Mile For each passenger Buses: 30 cents Blue Line: 35 cents Red Line: $2.95 Metrolink: 34 cents Sources: Metropolitan Transportation Authority, Southern California Regional Rail Authority