MTA Unveils $2.7-Billion Budget

With Metro Rail ridership higher than ever and demand for bus service increasing, the Metropolitan Transportation Authority on Monday unveiled a proposed $2.7-billion budget that will throw more buses and rail cars into the fight to relieve the nation’s worst traffic congestion.

In addition to adding 117 more buses and longer trains on the Blue and Green lines, the MTA budget will provide millions of new dollars to advance expansion of the rapid bus program, light rail and a possible Wilshire Boulevard busway.

The new budget, which would increase current year spending by $183 million, or 6.7%, anticipates that significant numbers of commuters will continue to move from their cars to trains or buses.

Subway ridership rose 5% in April, a one-month jump attributed to the rising costs of gasoline. Bus ridership is up 100,000 boardings a day compared to a year ago.

Later this summer, the MTA’s popular Blue Line, which runs two-car trains between downtown Los Angeles and Long Beach, will begin running three-car trains. Platform extensions to handle the longer trains are under construction, and are expected to be completed in a few months.

Plans also call for the Green Line, which now runs one-car trains between Norwalk and El Segundo, to add an extra car.

The new budget details how the MTA, like everyone else in California, is being hit by soaring energy and fuel costs.

The MTA in recent years made a huge investment in buses fueled by compressed natural gas. More than half the MTA’s bus fleet now is powered by the cleaner burning fuel, with as many as 20 new buses arriving at MTA yards every week.

With compressed natural gas prices soaring, the cost is now one of the MTA’s fastest rising expenses.

In the new budget, the transit agency’s bill for the fuel is expected to grow by $17.5 million, or 169%.

When the MTA decided to switch its fleet to the cleaner-burning fuel, it was advertised as a less costly, more environmentally friendly alternative to diesel.

“I don’t think anyone had insight at that time that natural gas prices were going to go like they’ve started to go,” said MTA Chief Executive Julian Burke.

The costs of electricity are expected to soar on the light rail lines served by Southern California Edison. Electricity that powers the subway, supplied by the city-owned Los Angeles Department of Water and Power, is expected to grow by only 4.2%.

MTA officials say they believe they can stay within the budget without increasing fares.

Currently, MTA fares are among the lowest in the nation. A one-way MTA train ride covering 35 miles from North Hollywood to Long Beach costs $1.15 if you use a token. The MTA likes to advertise you can get from the San Fernando Valley to downtown for less than the cost of a gallon of gasoline.

Only about 30% of the money needed by the MTA to operate the bus system comes from the fare box. Fare-box collections are expected to recover only 22% of the expenses of light rail and 23% of subway costs.

The rest of the money to subsidize transit operations comes from sales tax collections, and state and federal revenue sharing.

Allan Lipsky, the MTA’s chief operating officer, told reporters that a fare increase is an issue that at some point “this agency is going to have to face.”

Marc Littman, a spokesman for the MTA, said the additional buses, longer trains, plus a huge investment in car pool lanes on freeways and other congestion relief measures, will help but not solve the traffic congestion problem. Los Angeles County led the nation for the 17th year in a row in a traffic congestion survey released recently by the Texas Transportation Institute.

“There is no one silver bullet,” Littman said. “All these measures are necessary to deal with the traffic mess, but no one solution will solve it.”

Debt service will take about 12.5% of the new MTA budget, or $339 million. Bus operations will receive just over $1 billion, or 38% of the MTA’s expenditures.

Metro Rail would receive $410 million, or 15% of the spending. Money going to improve streets and highways will add up to $305 million, or about 11% of the budget.

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