Non-MTA Bus Lines Happy to See Strike End

After more than a month of rerouting lines, scrambling for extra buses and accommodating about 310,000 additional passengers, Jack Gabig, transportation director for Montebello’s bus system, is breathing a sigh of relief. It’s finally over.

Playing the part of unsung heroes during the 32-day MTA strike has been daunting for Montebello and other non-MTA bus systems, such as Santa Monica and Foothill Transit. They have felt obligated to pick up the slack caused by the stoppage.

After directing their buses to shuttle downtown-bound riders to and from their suburban homes each workday for more than a month, Gabig and the others are ready to get back to normal.

“We have a lot of tired people who have been working a lot of extra hours,” Gabig said. “We’re finally getting a break. We couldn’t be more relieved.”

He’s so happy he’s throwing a celebratory barbecue today for his staff and bus operators.

Montebello ridership skyrocketed by more than 65% after the strike started. Ann Lock, a Montebello resident who works at Pacific Bell’s downtown offices, used to take an MTA bus to get to work each day. The strike forced her to turn to the Montebello transit system. It worked. Now, after more than a month of relying solely on Montebello buses, she’s not ready to go back to the MTA line that left her stranded.

“This has been a lifesaver,” she said while struggling to get on the 7:03 a.m. bus as it pulled in front of the Montebello stop. “I’m staying with this line. It’s worked for me the whole time. . . . I’m not going back to MTA.”

It is still too early to determine whether former MTA passengers will continue to use other transit systems, but some transportation officials expect to retain some of those riders.

Santa Monica’s Big Blue Bus has always had a strong ridership on its No. 10 line, which runs between Santa Monica and downtown Los Angeles. However, bus operators didn’t expect a 130% increase in passengers.

“During the peak hours, it’s crazy,” said John Catoe, transportation director of Santa Monica and general manager of the Big Blue Bus. “It’s the only link to the Westside for most people.”

The number of riders in Santa Monica shot up so much that 10 buses were added during the morning and afternoon rush periods, including a 60-foot, 128-passenger bus the transit system borrowed from Orange County. There were at least 150,000 new riders on the two busiest bus lines, the No. 10 and the No. 7, which runs along Pico Boulevard.

Overall, the Santa Monica system’s passenger total went up 15% to 20% during the strike.

“Our buses couldn’t take it much longer,” Catoe said. The increased use of the vehicles would have caused bus maintenance problems, he said.

Bus upkeep wasn’t as big a problem for the Foothill Transit system, another non-MTA line that filled the gap the strike created. Fortunately, Foothill had just gotten new buses and was able to use those when officials determined that 15 additional buses were needed each day. Before the strike, the average daily passenger load for Foothill was 51,000 riders; during the strike, the average rose to 74,000.

“There’s really nothing we could have done different,” said Julie Austin, executive director of Foothill Transit. “We did everything we could do. . . . It was a challenge to get the additional bus operators, but we worked through it.”

Montebello, Santa Monica, Foothill Transit and other lines honored MTA passes during the strike to make commuting easier. Negotiations for reimbursement are still being worked out, Gabig and Austin said.

“We’re not going to recover completely from this strike,” Catoe said. “The MTA reimbursement won’t take care of the full costs we’ve incurred. Extra buses mean additional costs. Plus, it’s all on overtime.”

Receiving a word of thanks from happy customers makes those extra costs bearable, transit officials said. Catoe said that he received a postcard last week from a woman who was thankful that the Santa Monica line was there to take her to work each day.

“People are happy, and that makes us happy,” he said.