Group’s Bid for MTA Restraining Order Rejected

Chief U.S. District Judge Terry J. Hatter Jr. denied a temporary restraining order Monday sought by bus rider advocates to force the MTA to abide by the directive of a court-appointed special master to buy 481 more buses.

Without comment, Hatter denied the motion of the NAACP Legal Defense and Educational Fund and the Bus Riders Union, but set a June 24 hearing on the larger issues raised by the groups and the Metropolitan Transportation Authority.

In an appeal filed last Thursday, the MTA asked Hatter to reject the conclusion of Special Master Donald T. Bliss that the MTA must buy the additional buses to reduce overcrowding and improve bus service.

The agency contends Bliss does not have the authority to order the purchase of the additional buses--above and beyond the 2,095 new buses the agency plans to buy over the next five years. MTA officials argue that the order is excessive and a waste of public funds.

The request that Hatter overturn Bliss’ decision is part of the MTA’s newly aggressive legal strategy of challenging the consent decree it signed in October 1996 to avoid a trial in a federal civil rights case filed by bus rider advocates.

Since the MTA has refused to abide by Bliss’ recent orders, attorneys for the Bus Riders Union sought a temporary restraining order directing the transit agency to comply. But Hatter denied the request in a three-paragraph order.

MTA attorney Patricia L. Glaser welcomed the denial. “It’s good,” she said.

Civil rights attorney Constance Rice said she could not respond to Hatter’s denial because “we don’t know the basis of it.” But Rice said it is clear from the MTA’s recent actions that “this agency has decided to shred” the consent decree.

The denial came on the same day that the MTA put 66 additional buses into service during peak hours on its 20 busiest bus lines to reduce the number of passengers forced to stand.