Settlement of Bus Suit Approved

A federal judge Monday gave final approval to an out-of-court settlement requiring the Metropolitan Transportation Authority to put more buses on Los Angeles County streets and provide cheaper and safer rides.

Passengers will see the first improvements promised by the consent decree in late November when the December pass goes on sale at $42, down from $49.

That is expected to be followed in December by the first test of a 75-cent off-peak fare, on a line from downtown Los Angeles to the South Bay.

U.S. District Judge Terry J. Hatter Jr. signed the settlement before a packed courtroom of bus riders, ending a two-year legal fight triggered by a civil rights lawsuit accusing the MTA of pursuing costly rail projects while slighting a bus system that serves 10 times as many riders.

Under the settlement reached last month, the MTA will freeze the cash fare at $1.35 for two years, offer a new $11 weekly pass and put at least 152 more buses on the streets over the next two years. More officers will be assigned to patrol the bus system.

In court papers, a team of plaintiffs’ lawyers led by the NAACP Legal Defense and Educational Fund said the settlement will provide “hundreds of millions of dollars of bus fleet expansion and improvements and fare reductions that directly address the violations of civil rights laws that plaintiffs have alleged.”

An MTA official said Monday that the agency expects to spend $100 million to expand its fleet by 275 buses over the next six years, plus up to $25 million a year in increased operating costs while losing $5 million a year in revenues.

Dana Woodbury, deputy executive officer for scheduling and operations planning, said the additional costs will not affect rail construction. But he said the cost of putting more buses on the streets could involve funds that otherwise might be available to help rail construction.

John Walsh, a critic of the MTA, sent a letter suggesting that the settlement be held up until the transit agency specifies how it would pay for the bus improvements.

Plaintiffs’ attorneys responded in court papers that while “sympathetic to the concerns . . . that it might be prudent in light of the MTA’s checkered funding history to work out beforehand a financial plan,” the settlement contains safeguards to ensure compliance, including court supervision.

Plaintiffs’ attorneys will seek to recover their expenses from the MTA, which already has spent more than $1 million on the legal fight.

The case ended on a strange note with the plaintiffs’ attorneys, led by the NAACP Legal Defense Fund, urging approval of the settlement as several of the plaintiffs and their new lawyer objected to one provision.

Fifty-six bus riders filed written objections to a provision that could lead to implementation of a special transit pass for low-income riders. They maintained that such a requirement could stigmatize poor people and, by requiring documentation, scare immigrants away from public transit.

Eric Mann, director of the Labor/Community Strategy Center, a plaintiff, said after the hearing that he supported the settlement after receiving assurances that the MTA would not implement such a pass system without first taking it to a group made up of bus riders and transit officials.

The agreement calls for establishment of such a group to try to resolve any disputes involving the consent decree. If disputes persist, they eventually will be referred to a “special master,” Donald Bliss, the Washington lawyer who served as a mediator in the case, and, if necessary, to Hatter.

“Now, we can celebrate a victory,” Mann said.

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Bus Settlement at a Glance

Under a settlement between the Metropolitan Transportation Authority and a coalition of groups representing bus riders, the transit authority agreed to:

*Maintain the current cash fare of $1.35 or a 90-cent token for two years.

* Put more transit police on buses to increase security.

* Continue the sale of monthly passes for three years, cutting the

price from $49 to $42. Sell 15-day passes for $21 and weekly passes for $11.

* Cut off-peak fares to 75 cents on some lines used chiefly by those

dependent on public transit.

* Add 102 buses by the end of June 1997.

* Add 50 buses on heavily used lines in the next two years to improve access by those dependent on public transit to reach destinations such as medical facilities, job sites and vocational schools.