MTA: No News Is Good News

The Los Angeles Police Department is not the only public agency being tested by the Democratic National Convention. So it’s good news that halfway through the event, we have heard hardly a word about the Metropolitan Transportation Authority’s performance in moving people to the convention site, to hotels and around the city. The very routine-ness of the operation is evidence of improvement at the MTA.

One good performance is not going to let the MTA off the hook on its long-standing problems, including its federal court battle with aggrieved bus riders. Nevertheless, the agency appears to be handling convention transport on top of regular service without any serious problems. Certainly the buses are helped along by lighter-than-usual traffic away from the immediate Staples Center area and big party locales.

Some delegates who tried out the light-rail and subway lines said they were pleased by the convenience. “This is great, especially with all the heat,” one delegate on the Red Line said Monday. The convention’s director of logistics said Tuesday that the MTA is “fulfilling its commitment, doing fine, and everything’s on track.”

Even so, members of the Bus Riders Union marched Tuesday in protest against the MTA’s overall bus service and demanded that Vice President Al Gore support a moratorium on building new rail systems and instead back $1 billion for new clean-fuel buses in Los Angeles.

There have been a few expectable problems. Rerouting bus lines around the convention security area turned Monday night’s downtown rush hour into gridlock for motorists attempting to connect with the 10 Freeway. Most bus drivers blamed protesters for other delays.

Here’s hoping the MTA remains a nonstory for the rest of the convention.