Advisory Panel Report Faults MTA Organization

An advisory panel of public transit executives recently concluded that the Metropolitan Transportation Authority’s financial planning and controls are “rudimentary and confusing,” its organizational structure is “mushy” and its appreciation of the importance of bus services inadequate, according to a report released Monday.

The executives, who were commissioned by the MTA’s new chief executive to conduct a “peer review” of the agency, recommended that the agency drastically overhaul its management system to better focus on serving customers, take steps to resolve the “dissension and discord” remaining from its creation in a merger of city and county agencies three years ago, work immediately to wring wage concessions from powerful labor unions and impose a “moratorium on publicity” until it achieves results in these quests.

“Unless steps are taken soon to put MTA on a sound footing and credibility and respect can be established, the agency and its funding may well be in jeopardy,” concludes the report, which was sent to Chief Executive Joseph E. Drew on April 1.

The three authors of the report--the deputy director of the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey, the general manager of Long Beach Transit and the former president of New York City’s transit agency--were unavailable for comment.

*

Drew said Monday that he “embraced” the panelists’ suggestions to shake up the organization’s hierarchy by creating two deputy CEOs: one to handle customer service, construction and transit operations, the other to focus on finance and administration.

He said he would also act on their suggestion to create a chief of staff to “unify” the handling of employees with special tasks, such as those who handle the board of directors, labor relations, internal audits and safety.

In addition, Drew said he would correct an omission in the organization’s operation by creating a position for an executive officer in charge of regional transportation.

“Our mission statement doesn’t even address our regional transportation planning responsibility,” he said.

Noting that 80% of the board’s budget goes for wages and benefits, the panel recommended a “careful auditing” of union contracts to find savings and a close look at privatizing some operations. “Transit unions are now aware of their vulnerability . . . and there is a once-in-a-generation opportunity to bargain hard and realize dollar savings and improved productivity,” the panelists said.

*

The report singled out for special criticism the ongoing ill will between former employees of the Los Angeles Rapid Transit District and the Los Angeles County Transportation Commission--the two agencies that were joined to create the MTA.

Former RTD employees, the report said, believe that the MTA is “trying to dismember and decentralize bus service,” while the transportation commission faction “believes bus service is too costly and inefficient and incapable of streamlining itself.”

Drew said he called a meeting of the entire organization in the lobby of the MTA’s new Gateway Plaza on Thursday and pleaded for an hour for staff members’ help in “bringing this family together.”