Toward a Mass Transit Solution

Here’s some good news for those who depend on mass transit in Los Angeles County. Four local members of Congress have worked out an agreement to support the Metropolitan Transportation Authority’s call for greater choice in how to use about $600 million in federal transportation funds. This is important on many levels.

Right now, the MTA is so cash-strapped that the only project it can complete is the one on which it’s made the most progress--the Red Line extension to North Hollywood. There are huge debts and scant federal funds available for other planned subways, such as the Eastside and Mid-City extensions of the Red Line.

But local officials could move forward on far less costly and probably more effective mass transit projects in those locations. That’s if the Southern California congressional delegation is united in trying to free up federal heavy-rail funds for alternatives such as dedicated busways or light rail.

That unity was in doubt as recently as late last week, with various threats to hold up federal funding for the North Hollywood Red Line unless the MTA made a firmer commitment to help the Eastside. But now Representatives Esteban Torres (D-Pico Rivera), Xavier Becerra (D-Los Angeles), Julian Dixon (D-Los Angeles) and Lucille Roybal-Allard (D-Los-Angeles) have found common ground with the MTA, and the rest of the delegation should go along with them.

The four representatives sent a letter to the conference committee completing work on the $217-billion federal transportation bill saying that the MTA needs fiscal flexibility. That should increase the odds of getting a mass transit solution into the Los Angeles communities that most need it, particularly the Eastside.