MTA Bus Service a Bust, Union of Riders Complains

Leaders of the Bus Riders Union charged Tuesday that the Metropolitan Transportation Authority has failed to comply with a landmark federal court order requiring dramatic improvements in service on the nation’s most overcrowded bus system.

Marking the first anniversary of the signing of a consent decree, the riders group said the county transit agency continues to favor costly subway and rail projects while delaying improvements to the aging bus fleet, which carries the vast majority of MTA riders.

Overall, the group gave MTA a grade of F+ in meeting the terms of the agreement reached after civil rights and community groups sued the agency, alleging that it discriminates against the poor and minorities by heavily subsidizing subway and commuter rail lines at the expense of bus riders.

There was an occasional bright spot on the report card. The riders gave MTA an A for keeping its promise to offer discounted weekly and monthly passes and to create a late-night off-peak fare. And they praised a recent board decision to purchase 278 new clean-fuel buses, although the order has not been placed yet because of the agency’s financial troubles.

“We’re on the edge between progress or a double cross,” said Eric Mann, director of the Labor/Community Strategy Center, the union’s parent organization. “We don’t know. That will all become apparent in the next two to three months.”

MTA Chief Executive Officer Julian Burke and chief of bus operations Dana Woodbury could not be reached for comment, but spokesman Marc Littman said the agency is committed to complying with the consent decree.

“No one is debating the need to improve Metro Bus service or the fact that we are making progress,” he said. “The pace of those improvements is the issue. What sets the pace is the budget. The MTA can’t write a blank check for more buses without money in the bank to cover it.”

Mann said the MTA’s board has the opportunity to improve its failing grade by shifting its financial priorities from constructing rail lines to improving the bus fleet.

A week after the MTA completed digging the first of two tunnels beneath the Santa Monica Mountains, Mann said the subway line from downtown Los Angeles to North Hollywood must be the last.

“The rail building is over,” Mann told reporters. “The next 15 years must be the period of building a first-class bus system.

The consent decree requires that by the end of this year, no more than 15 passengers be standing on MTA buses in any 20-minute weekday peak period. That figure must decrease to no more than eight by June 30, 2002.

Chris Mathis, an organizer for the bus riders group, said if the agency does not meet the goal, the group may be forced to go back to federal court to force the MTA to comply.