Transit Agency Is Moving in Reverse : Route 786 was first commuter bus from Antelope Valley to the West Los Angeles business districts. Now, with quake damage repaired, service is canceled.

The Antelope Valley Transit Authority has ended Route 786, the first-ever commuter bus to the West Los Angeles business districts. Unless the decision is reversed, the last bus ran on July 15. The reason: The interchange at Interstate 5 and California 14 is repaired, and the Federal Emergency Management Agency is no longer subsidizing the route.

What is wrong with this picture? The fact is that the main road to the Westside, the San Diego Freeway, has been the scene of gridlock and congestion for 20 years. Many of the drivers stuck in that congestion are from the Antelope Valley.

The question should not be why is Route 786 being canceled at this time. The question should be why haven’t the county Board of Supervisors, the Metropolitan Transportation Authority and the Antelope Valley Transit Authority acted prior to 1994 to provide commuter service to West Los Angeles? The answer is obvious: Because they did not have to--until the earthquake mandated action.

Now, with the earthquake damage repaired, these entities want to put the genie back in the bottle and have all of us pretend that it is not possible to solve the problems of expensive commuter travel, unmeasurable stress and maddening, unnecessary hours, beginning at 5 a.m., sitting dead still among the rocks of Agua Dulce.

The answer is simply that these agencies did not have to act. The single event capable of motivating anything governmental to move is an election. Short of the threat of losing one’s spot at the public trough, there is no need for government to bother trying to improve the quality of day-to-day life for the citizenry. The citizens know there is no money to spend on their needs, and they just do not ask anymore.

*

Until, that is, when Mother Nature creates such an emergency that government is forced to reveal that it is not the sluggish, penniless, inept government its citizens had grown accustomed to. To the contrary, this government is actually creative and talented--and has some money stashed away.

The nature of American citizens is to move forward, to progress beyond where they were last year. That is why the commuters who have learned to enjoy the trip down the 14 and 405 in a bus, marveling in appreciation, safe from accidents and breakdowns, at a cost no greater than the monthly automobile fuel bill, now find it impossible to accept that they must revert to the old way of getting to work.

One agency of government pleads with commuters to leave their cars for public transportation and will impose fines on employers of a certain size that fail to accommodate van-pooling. On the other hand, we have the Antelope Valley Transit Authority sending out press releases announcing that there is no longer a need for commuter lines to West Los Angeles and Van Nuys because the freeway reopened!

On what basis is the transit authority requiring commuters to get out of the bus and back into their cars? A lack of money of course. Without FEMA money there is no money. Forget that the voters recently passed a half-cent sales tax to fund transit activity. The transit authority has indicated that the half cent is not enough to fund such extravagances as one or two buses to Century City. It requires a full cent to afford transit to the Westside.

You cannot put the genie back in the bottle. The transit decision-makers must take a clear look at the need to move the public from the Antelope Valley to its business in West Los Angeles and, with courage, take the necessary action to solve this problem.

*

Next year will see federal mandates imposed on L.A. County to meet clean-air requirements. If the county of Los Angeles intends to continue receiving federal funds, it will have no choice except to provide Antelope Valley commuters with an attractive and affordable alternative to their automobiles. Route 786 from Lancaster-Palmdale to Century City-Beverly Hills was such an alternative. But inexplicably, in the absence of a 6.8 shock, the county cannot see the importance of doing everything possible to continue an efficient, convenient, affordable service that makes everyone happy.

As many commuters as possible plan to take off work to attend the transit authority board of directors meeting Monday at its headquarters in Lancaster and exhort it to restore at least one scheduled bus to the West Los Angeles business districts. The outcome of the meeting may be predictable. We must, however, do all we can to succeed in this quest.