MTA OKs Plan to Buy 2,095 Buses

Under pressure to reduce chronic overcrowding and speed replacement of its trouble-ridden buses before a federal court steps in, the Metropolitan Transportation Authority board Monday approved in concept a plan to buy 2,095 new buses over the next six years.

In the face of intense opposition from organized bus riders and clean-air advocates, MTA chief executive Julian Burke also withdrew his controversial proposal that half of the transit agency’s desperately needed new buses be diesel-powered.

Burke said he was “not aware” that the MTA board committed more than a year ago to work with environmentalists and air quality officials before changing its policy of purchasing only buses powered by clean-burning fuels like natural gas.

And in yet another sign of the MTA’s long neglect of the nation’s second-largest bus system, a federal judge ordered the agency to immediately repair broken wheelchair lifts and improve access for the disabled.

Although the MTA directors still want to review how the agency intends to pay for the $700 million to $750 million bus-purchase plan, they had little choice but to approve Burke’s proposal to accelerate replacement of its aging and problem-plagued buses.

In recent weeks, the MTA admitted that the agency failed to comply with a federal court order requiring a reduction in overcrowding and improvements in the bus system. And on Monday, a court-appointed special master set a strict deadline for finding a remedy to ensure that the violations do not continue.

Burke told the board that the acquisition of new buses is essential. “The reliability of our system is so difficult that every day of the week we have trouble getting a sufficient number of buses onto the road to make any attempt to meet our schedule.”

Without a new fleet, Burke said, the agency will have difficulty achieving the increasingly strict overcrowding limits set in the consent decree signed two years ago. The board voted 8 to 2 to approve the concept of buying 2,095 new buses. The agency will immediately exercise an option to obtain 100.

Attorney Constance L. Rice, who filed the federal civil rights suit settled by the order, said Burke’s plan to buy 2,095 buses is just a policy statement until the MTA board commits the money and signs purchase orders for the new equipment.

Rice said the action is “two years too late and hundreds of millions of dollars short” of what is needed to met the consent decree’s requirements.

Although MTA board members acknowledged the agency’s neglect of the bus system that is used by 91% of its riders, they were reluctant to commit to actually buying almost 800 more buses than previously planned until they know the money can be found to pay for them.

Nevertheless, Los Angeles Mayor Richard Riordan, who heads the MTA board, said the policy commitment marked an important milestone for the MTA.

“Instead of setting policy with what each politician wants at a separate time and then zigging and zagging,” Riordan said, “we now have a clear road map to buy more buses.”

In a virtual chorus, MTA board members, whose penchant for supporting costly subway and rail projects has left the bus system in chaos, said the time had come to invest in new equipment to improve the bus fleet.

“We’ve got to bite the bullet and start to do what’s right,” said Los Angeles City Councilman Hal Bernson, another MTA board member. “Somewhere along the line we have to do what wasn’t done before.”

Glendale Councilman Larry Zarian took note of his colleagues sudden change of heart. “Since it’s so sexy to say we’re for buses, I want to say I’m for buses also,” he said.

But Zarian warned that MTA will fail to ease gridlock and encourage motorists to use mass transit if the agency abandons its efforts to build rail lines. “We can’t close our eyes and say the only way we can solve the [transportation] problems of Los Angeles County are going to be with buses,” he said.

Indeed, there was an effort by a few board members to stall a vote on the plan until the full range of transportation choices, including future rail projects, can be presented to the MTA directors.

Los Angeles County Supervisors Gloria Molina and Don Knabe expressed concern about the MTA committing to one form of transportation without knowing where the money would come from to pay for it.

In addition to the consent decree requirements to reduce overcrowding, the agency faces a new court order to improve access for the disabled.

U.S. District Judge Consuelo B. Marshall issued a preliminary injunction last week requiring the MTA to take immediate action to improve access for the disabled.

The order was issued in a case filed by the American Civil Liberties Union alleging that the MTA’s failure to repair wheelchair lifts and educate its drivers about the needs of the disabled has led to many disabled people being left at bus stops.

The order requires that MTA bus drivers stop to take the time to allow a mobility-impaired passenger to get on or off the bus. If the disabled person cannot be accommodated, the judge said, drivers must tell the individual when and how alternative transportation will be provided.

Meeting behind closed doors, the MTA board also agreed Monday to settle its case against the investment banking firm of Lazard Freres & Co. for $9 million plus attorney’s fees.

Lazard Freres, which served as the MTA’s financial advisor from 1991 to 1994, was alleged to have overcharged the agency by $3 million for investments in U.S. Treasury securities.

“This is a good settlement for the MTA and for taxpayers,” said County Supervisor Zev Yaroslavsky, an MTA board member. “It should send a loud and clear signal to the investment banking community that there is a consequence to defrauding a public agency.”