Transportation Needs and Bus Conditions

Thank you for an outstanding article by Kevin Starr (“What the MTA Debate Is Really About,” Opinion, Sept. 7) on the MTA and attendant issues. It provided an interesting insight into the political infighting and hidden agendas that have historically accompanied public works projects.

Unfortunately, the article did not address the real issue, which is whether or not Los Angeles has a transportation problem. If the answer is yes, it is because we have saturated our existing resources and need a truly alternative capability that does not compete for those same resources. If the answer is no, we need to stop all construction immediately.

HUGH A. BARNWELL

Hawthorne

The acting MTA chief and the board (Sept. 4) are doomed to failure if they do not recognize the main problem with MTA governance: themselves!

Let them try to get to work when buses pass them by because they are full or when regularly scheduled buses break down. Let them be threatened by gangbangers who get on buses without paying their fares. Let them sit on the graffiti-stained seats and get paint and dirt on their business suits. Let them stand up all the way home on a bus packed to the gills. Let them try to peer out windows so badly marred by vandals that they can’t see the stop to get off the bus.

Let them try to call the MTA for route information and be placed on hold for 20 or 30 minutes. Let them try to even find a bus to ride on a weekend or in the evening. Let them try to open those heavier-than-lead back doors. Let them get sweat stains on their pressed white shirts because the air-conditioning doesn’t work. Let them try to find a bus schedule. Let them sit on chewing gum. Let them try to get a bus to stop when the bell is broken. Let them try to find a clean bus bench to sit on while waiting for the bus to come. Let them smell the pungent odor of the homeless. Let them sit next to passengers who brazenly break every rule in the book by eating their hot dogs and spilling their drinks and playing their loud music.

Make them do these things on a daily basis for at least a year before they are even eligible to be board members. Then and only then can the MTA’s problems be addressed and solved.

STEVE NEWCOMER

West Hollywood

How civil of the MTA to throw the bus-riding public a crumb in the form of reduced fares for night riders (Aug. 29). But we must ask our fellow travelers as they exit not to stumble over the winos who believe the MTA is a hotel. Pity the poor bus drivers caught in the shuffle at the end of the line at 4:30 a.m., trying to evict the downtrodden from their warm berths.

NORM COOPER

North Hollywood