Reduced Cost Versus Transit Services

* Re “Backers of New Transit Zone Are Skeptical,” Sept. 8.

People who advocate running a reduced-cost transit system in the San Fernando Valley overlook the fact that such a cost-saving continues the Valley’s perceived image as [having] second-class service.

If the Valley ever becomes an independent city, it will become the sixth-largest in the country, with a growing commercial and industrial base. Such a city should not seek to slash transit costs.

If a bus driver currently makes $50,000 a year, he earns every penny of it. Long hours, split shifts, gargantuan vehicles with limited visibility and overly crowded; demanding passengers; and poor braking systems are the lot of the bus driver. This is a tough and demanding job.

To reduce salaries by half says the Valley does not deserve good service or competent drivers. The Valley is just a bedroom suburb with second-class facilities.

Why should I care? For 20 years I taught a half-time load at one-fifth salary in the night division of the L.A. College District. My final (1989) salary of $8,100 a year for two classes and 100 students a semester compared poorly with $45,000 for my full-time colleagues. I had no health benefits and was never sent to the in-service workshops my colleagues went to, so as the needs of our students changed over time, full-timers kept up but part-timers didn’t. So night-school students got a second-class education.

Let’s not let MTA follow suit.

RICK ROFMAN

Van Nuys