Another Spanking for the MTA

One of Federico Pena’s parting shots as U.S. Transportation secretary last year was a scolding of the Metropolitan Transportation Authority and its board of directors. Simply put, he wanted the MTA board members to stop behaving like classroom kids with a substitute teacher. He expected a proper code of conduct. Most important, he demanded a realistic plan for the North Hollywood, Eastside and Mid-City rail projects in Los Angeles.

What did the MTA offer? More whimsical slapdash. Listen to how Federal Transit Administrator Gordon J. Lynton assessed the plan the MTA came up with: It’s riddled with “serious deficiencies and questionable assumptions.” The plan contained little detail on how it would comply with a court decree requiring major improvements in bus service.

Lynton said there must be no more MTA juggling of funds to and from rail and other transit projects. And he described his colleagues as incredulous that the MTA board was contemplating other costly rail extensions “despite the engineering and financial difficulties on the construction already underway.”

Lynton said that the MTA’s governing structure was “not functional” and that “management issues have to be dealt with.” You’ve heard it all before, but never so strongly from the federal government.

At this point, it’s difficult to know what it will take to get a cooperative MTA board behind a strong chief executive who won’t mince words about what changes are needed. The only thing that seems to get action is a swift kick in the pants, and the feds just provided another one.