CHP Criticizes MTA Decision to Reduce Tow Truck Patrols

The Metropolitan Transportation Authority, already under fire for its neglected bus system and costly subway project, is getting flak from the California Highway Patrol for reducing the hours that tow trucks patrol freeways looking for stranded motorists.

Traffic experts have lauded the service, saying that the speedy removal of stranded cars from the road reduces rubbernecking and traffic congestion.

But the financially ailing transit agency recently eliminated the emergency tow truck service between 10 a.m. and 3 p.m., except for four trucks in the downtown Los Angeles area. The service will continue on all freeways during rush hour.

The Highway Patrol reports that about 6,200 motorists are rescued every month during the midday hours by the roving tow trucks, and that the number of those assists per truck is comparable to those of the morning and evening shifts.

About 150 privately owned tow trucks roll out during the peak commute hours every day, while 40 had operated on the midday shift. They tow, change flat tires, do minor repairs and offer a gallon of gasoline, making about 1,200 assists a day, officials said.

The cuts will save the agency $1.7 million--roughly what the MTA spends to build about 34 feet on its $300-million-per-mile subway.

“I think the program’s benefit to the motorist far outweighs the money saved,” said Lt. Bill Pasley, of the CHP’s Transportation Management Unit.

On Thursday, an MTA panel voted to take another look at the issue, but made no commitment to restore the service, which was cut in July. It asked Caltrans to conduct a study within 60 days to determine whether the service should be restored and where it is most needed.

“We really need to look and see if there was a negative impact caused by the cut,” said MTA board member Jose Legaspi.

In July, the Highway Patrol wrote Los Angeles City Councilman and MTA board member Richard Alatorre, saying that the elimination of the midday service “will negatively impact our efforts toward traffic congestion relief and providing vital service to the motoring public.”

The $20-million program is funded from a portion of Los Angeles County’s penny-on-the-dollar transit sales tax and state highway funds. MTA officials said the midday service was added recently and “always considered extra.”

“In terms of congestion relief, it had a lesser impact,” than on other shifts, said Byron Lee, director of the agency’s highway operations support service.

The MTA established the Freeway Service Patrol in 1991 to reduce congestion and to get stranded drivers safely out of traffic. The program receives some funding and direction from the CHP and Caltrans, but is predominantly run by the MTA.

In 1995, MTA board member James Cragin touted the program in a letter to the editor of The Times: “For every dollar we spend clearing disabled vehicles, we save $11 in reduced congestion, improved air quality, motorist safety and efficient use of Highway Patrol resources.”

In an interview, Cragin expressed dismay with the cutback, blaming committee members for being unaware of how their budgetary decisions translate on the streets.

“The MTA might be saving one and a half million dollars. But the rest of us might lose more than a million and a half,” he said.

According to Pasley, a study conducted by UC Berkeley showed that for every dollar invested, an average of $8 would be saved by the motorist in fuel and work time lost. He added that it is too expensive for highly trained officers to spend their time fixing flat tires and arranging for tow trucks to remove people from lanes.

“You’ve got someone else with much less training, who you can pay less, who could do that,” he said.

Officials said the service patrols--which are constantly tracked by the Highway Patrol--arrive on average within four to five minutes of a breakdown.

“What we’re trying to do is get people out of there as quick as possible,” Pasley said. “Studies show that for every minute a car is stranded in a lane, there is at least four minutes of slowed traffic behind it. If the block is there for 30 minutes, there’s at least two hours of back up.”

He said more than half of the traffic jams in Los Angeles County are “nonrecurrent congestion,” caused by accidents, breakdowns and spilled loads. If an accident occurs during the midday hours, the bottleneck might not clear up until well into the evening commute, he said.

A simple flat tire on the Santa Monica Freeway can reduce flow from 2,400 cars per hour to 800 cars, he said.

“We hate to see this program go down the tubes,” said CHP Sgt. Joe Vizcarra.