Depending on Public Transit

* Thank you for your long-overdue report on the hardships that many MTA bus riders have to endure practically every day (July 16). The buses are a special asset to the city, representing one of the few truly public arenas we have left. Perhaps they have been so overlooked because they serve the most voiceless segment of the population--poor minority women.

It is the same mentality that at least partly inspired the building of our vaunted freeway system--the desire to get from point A to point B not only sitting down, but without having to see the ugly reality in between. The car is our ubiquitous tool of escapism, but we are too enamored by it to even acknowledge the fact.

CHIN WOO JUNG

La Canada Flintridge

* What a hopelessly unenlightened attitude is presented in the article about the “car-less poor.” The people who utilize public transit are to be commended, not pitied. Their car-rich counterparts are the ones who will end up with diabetes and heart attacks because of lack of exercise and stress. They will also be inclined to more depression, having lost complete touch with their physical selves and the world outside their cars.

M. POWER GIACOLETTI

Lake Forest

* Your article was a compassionate portrayal of the difficulties many urban poor face in traveling about Los Angeles. The article, however, it failed to note some of the things MTA patrons can do to lower their transportation costs. The biggest omission concerns our tokens, one of the best transportation bargains anywhere. Sold in bags of 10 at over 400 outlets, a passenger can save 45 cents over the cash fare of $1.35. Yes, we had to raise fares last year, but in so doing a comparison of our rates to those charged by other major cities shows Los Angeles is at the low end. Before we decided to raise our fares, we held many public hearings--meetings where the majority said that between the choice of less service or higher fares, they would take the rate hikes. Our motives for eliminating the monthly pass were to bring more efficiency and equity to our fare structure. Many working poor could not afford to buy the monthly pass, and were in effect subsidizing those more affluent riders who used it.

Last year, the MTA made a commitment to invest an additional $5 million in inner-city service. We have initiated three new limited stop bus lines along major corridors to provide those with long work and shopping trips faster service with fewer transfers. Later this year, we will inaugurate in South-Central Los Angeles our Flexible Destination Shuttle, a neighborhood service that combines elements of a fixed bus route, jitney and taxi service.

RAUL PEREZ

Huntington Park City Councilman

and MTA Director