Relieved Riders Climb Back on Buses

Out of the pearly morning fog they barreled down city streets, like knights in shining armor, like the cavalry--the buses of the Metropolitan Transportation Authority were back.

After enduring a 32-day strike that forced bus riders to walk, scramble for car rides or pay expensive cab fares, the arrival of the buses--giving free rides, no less--was practically a religious experience.

“Oh, praise the Lord!” said Norma Spearman, 61, boarding a bus headed eastbound on Venice Boulevard. At first she had resented the striking bus drivers. “But then I said, ‘What would I do?’ Ever since then, I’ve been praying and walking,” she said.

Riders mostly greeted returning drivers with smiles and feelings of relief. The 450,000 MTA users stranded by the strike got their buses back before dawn Wednesday and the first subway train carrying passengers rolled out of Union Station at 3:55 p.m.

Some buses were jammed to the doors. Others were nearly deserted. Ridership was at a five-year high before the strike, partially because of high gas prices and service improvements.

Returning riders got a thank-you gift from the MTA on fare boxes: signs in English and Spanish proclaiming, “Welcome Back! Free Fare through October 22, 2000.”

In addition to the free service through Sunday, September bus passes will be honored through the end of October.

MTA estimates 75% of subway and light rail service will be restored today. Drivers have been given 72 hours to return to work, so it may take that long for all vehicles to be running again.

But vendors already were benefiting from the restored service. Juan Jose Basquez, whose catering truck has served bus commuters at the intersection of Topanga Canyon and Ventura boulevards for 18 years, said he experienced a 50% drop in earnings during the strike.

“Before the strike, I made $700 a day, and when nobody came to the bus stop, it was $350 a day,” he said. Business seemed to be better Wednesday morning, as dozens of commuters bought hot coffee and muffins.

Riders alternated between sympathy for and annoyance at the bus drivers.

Waiting for the bus in front of the Cafe Tropical, a coffeehouse in Silver Lake, Jeff Moffett and roommate Kris Knight argued about which side was to blame. Moffett, 31, who works for a brokerage firm, said the drivers weren’t at fault. “They have to make a living,” he said.

Knight, 29, an aspiring actor who works as a waiter, said he was angry at the drivers. “I can’t forgive them for what they did,” Knight said.

He wasn’t alone.

“I’m still angry at the drivers because they went on strike and left us hanging,” said Juliana Griffin, 21, who juggles classes at West Los Angeles College with her job in Marina del Rey. She didn’t spare management either. “I think the MTA has lots more work to do to make customers feel more comfortable. The MTA has to do more to make customers want to ride. They need to lower fares and find a way to better control some passengers.”

Her sentiments weren’t much different from those of Eric Mann, the leader of the Bus Riders Union. The union is demanding that the MTA make improvements but not raise rates.

Drivers themselves are returning to work with mixed feelings. Leonard Jefferson, a bus driver for 19 years, said the new contract isn’t good enough for all drivers. He wasn’t surprised, however, that union members went along.

“They didn’t vote to accept the contract,” said Jefferson. “They voted to get back to work and try to catch up on their bills.”

First-day-back buses drew a varied ridership, including Mayor Richard Riordan, in suit and tie, getting a ceremonial lift to his restaurant, the Original Pantry Cafe. The mayor showed up for his bus ride the way a celebrity shows up for a first-class plane flight. Ferried to the Cypress Park depot in a red SUV, he hopped on the waiting bus with his security guard at 5:50 a.m., and bus driver Betty James immediately took off. His presence turned the bus into a traveling media show. Bleary-eyed riders waiting in the dark morning, content simply to have a bus pull up to the stop, were startled to find themselves being glad-handed by the mayor and bathed in the lights of TV cameras.

“I didn’t know what was going on when I got on the bus,” said rider Esther Ramos, 17. “But it was nice meeting the mayor.”

Most buses weren’t so celebrity- and media-filled. Across the city, it was the usual mix of office workers, students, gang members (“My street name is Mr. Whisper”) and the elderly.

Some buses were late. And although bus riders often develop the patience of yoga devotees, having to wait Wednesday morning--after a month’s strike--proved irritating.

David Casteneda waited--45 minutes, he said--to catch a bus on Venice Boulevard to his job at a downtown dental lab. Casteneda, 35, said he was chronically late during the strike and sometimes absent. Often he walked an hour and 20 minutes. His bosses were understanding. “They said yesterday, ‘With the buses running, maybe you’ll be on time,’ ” he said.

But after checking the street, yet again, for sign of his bus, he said, “Sometimes you feel like you want to move to another state.”

When the bus finally arrived, Casteneda wedged himself onto a step in the back doorway. Steven Sanker, a 17-year-old student, tried to stand behind him but the doors wouldn’t stay closed. So Sanker hopped off, and the bus rolled on.

Sanker’s 1990 Mustang was in the shop. “Every day people pushing you, every day buses passing you by,” he said. “That’s why I got my car.”

Surprisingly, another bus appeared--with plenty of seats.

Driver Cecilia Green welcomed him aboard. “People were happy to see us,” said Green, 36.

On Green’s earlier morning run west to the beach, her bus was so jammed with riders that a few little fights broke out, she said. But Green doesn’t mind. “I’m glad to be back. These are my people. They pay my salary.”

Some marooned bus riders found that the strike had given them an unexpected benefit: exercise. Danielle Porter, 18, said the half-hour walk from her Ladera Heights home to West Los Angeles College got her in great shape. “But it was not by design,” she said. On Wednesday, she rode the bus.

Staff writers Jeannette Sanchez-Palacios, George Ramos, Jeffrey L. Rabin, Annette Kondo, Grace Jang and special correspondents Gina Piccalo and Richard Fausset contributed to this story.