MTA Approves Hearing on Rerouting Buses

The Metropolitan Transportation Authority board on Thursday voted to hold a public hearing Nov. 18 to consider changes in routes and schedules on about 15% of the agency’s bus lines across Los Angeles County.

The decision came despite protests from Bus Riders Union members and Compton high school students, many of whom feared the changes would reduce service.

Students from Centennial High School called on the MTA to provide more bus service, not less.

History teacher Stanley Call said most of his students rely on the bus to get around Los Angeles. Call said later that attendance in his classes fell and students who did attend school often arrived late during the recent 32-day strike by MTA bus and train operators.

The board, meeting in public for the first time since before the strike began, got an earful of criticism from riders angry about the walkout. Other speakers criticized the board’s appeal of a federal court order directing the agency to buy more buses.

The hearing on the proposed modifications to bus routes that serve Los Angeles, the South Bay, the San Fernando and San Gabriel valleys will be held at 10 a.m. Nov. 18 in the boardroom at MTA Headquarters, One Gateway Plaza, in downtown Los Angeles.