Transit War: Bus Riders in Middle Vent Rage

Faced with the threat of a 50% cutback in bus service, RTD riders Tuesday vented their rage at being caught in the middle of Los Angeles County’s transit agency wars.

An overflow crowd of bus riders--senior citizens, students, the disabled and blue-collar workers--showed up at the Southern California Rapid Transit District board room to protest the massive cuts that transit district officials have warned may occur beginning Jan. 2.

Chanting “no, no, no” and “save our buses,” speaker after bus-dependent speaker described how the cuts would make it impossible to get to work, school and church.

As RTD officials had hoped and encouraged, much of the anger was directed at the Los Angeles County Transportation Commission. RTD officials said the commission is responsible for the possible cutbacks because it has withheld $50 million in funds since July in a dispute over the RTD’s recently negotiated labor agreements.

Running Battles

That funding dispute, which has become tangled up in several other running battles between the two agencies, centers on whether the RTD met the commission’s cost-cutting guidelines in new union contracts.

As a result of recent negotiations between the RTD and commission members, both sides have been more optimistic that a settlement can be reached and that service cutbacks can be avoided. County Supervisor Pete Schabarum issued a statement late Tuesday saying a plan to resolve the dispute will be submitted to the full commission at its regular meeting today.

But the RTD’s public hearing on the service cuts proceeded anyway, partly for technical reasons and partly because it appears that the RTD wants to keep pressure on the commission to release funds.

Lynwood resident Thomas Dickson, who is blind and depends on the bus to get to the Braille Institute in Los Angeles, brought applause and cheers when he told the RTD board: “I think the (commission) ought to be slaughtered. . . .”

Others accused the commission, and particularly Schabarum, of trying to destroy the bus system.

RTD board members repeatedly tried to channel the criticism the commission’s way. Board member Marv Holen, who was chairing the hearing, told the audience several times that the commission was suffering from “institutional insanity.”

As the bus riders got rolling--their voices are seldom heard in the philosophical and political debates over the county’s transportation policy-making--they dished out a string of complaints about the commission, RTD service, the RTD board, Mayor Tom Bradley and others.

“You people sit around here in your nice offices and your (high-paying) jobs,” said Isaac Speights, a Los Angeles night school student who until recently depended on the buses. “You start playing games with people . . . with this thing with the Transportation Commission. . . .”

Hoots and Hollers

To hoots and hollers of approval, Speights berated RTD officials for playing politics with buses that they as individuals do not depend on.

“When you start cutting bus lines, make sure you leave your BMWs and your Cadillacs at home,” he said.

The dispute over the labor agreements is just one of several between the two agencies. Others include the commission’s efforts to replace some RTD service with private bus companies and to consolidate the county’s mass transit programs by taking over the RTD’s Metro Rail subway project.

Many riders at the hearing did not seem to know or care about the details of who prevails in the disputes, as long as the buses keep rolling.

“I’m just here to see what’s happening,” said Ernest Garcia, a Lincoln Heights resident who relies on the bus to get to a Veterans Administration job-training program. He fears that the cuts will mean “I won’t be able to go to school, won’t be able to get a job or get nothing.”

“I see it as being a squabble between two agencies,” said Dale Ground, a spokesman for the students at the Braille Institute, which had been alerted about the public hearing by an RTD community relations manager. “I think the buses need to run . . . I do not understand this dispute about (labor contract) clauses. . . . If they want to reorganize, there’s a lot better way to do it than cutting out half the bus service.”

Remain Divided

At the Hall of Administration, the Board of Supervisors remained divided over how to settle the funding dispute.

Supervisor Ed Edelman, who has been the district’s strongest advocate on the board, urged his colleagues to press the commission to release the funds, but he failed to win the three votes needed. Only Supervisor Kenneth Hahn backed Edelman. Hahn accused the commission of engaging in a “power play” that threatens to dismantle the transit system.

“To hold bus patrons hostage--a $108-million hostage--seems to me to be a reckless and irresponsible act,” Edelman said.