Your Bumpy Road
As riders face steep rate hikes, the MTA, Schwarzenegger, and local cities wrestle over threatened p
As it struggles with a $100 million deficit that is projected to grow to over $1 billion, the Los Angeles Metro Transit Authority was understandably alarmed to hear Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger propose diverting $1.1 billion away from public transit agencies in his 2007 budget. With local cities giving new attention to buses and trains, the governor seemed to be sending exactly the wrong message.
"It is very much a serious concern of ours that the government is taking money that was intended by the voters to be used for public transportation," said Michael Turner, the MTA's government relations manager.
The billion and change comes from the Public Transportation Account (PTA), which is primarily funded by fuel taxes, and is mandated to be used on public transportation projects. Schwarzenegger's plan is opposed by members of the state's Senate Transportation Committee, and transportation advocates expect the proposal to be beaten down in the May revision of the state budget.
"We have a lot of representatives who are speaking about this, so we are hopeful that the situation will change," said Josh Shaw, executive director of the California Transit Association.
The governor's proposal would allocate the bulk of the $1.1 billion to pay for school bus transportation, which normally falls under the budget of the education department. The loss of funding could be a problem for MTA, which recently cut some bus lines in the San Fernando Valley to save costs, another disturbing trend to bus rider activists groups.
"MTA acts like people in the Valley only hang out in the Valley," said Manuel Criollo, an organizer for the Bus Rider's Union. "We do not live in isolated pockets."
The same group also opposes fare hikes proposed last week buy the MTA, which would raid base fares from $1.25 per ride to $2 in 2009. Day passes would increase from $3 to $5 this coming July, and again to $8 by 2009. The monthly pass would bump up from $52 to $75 in July and then up to $120 in 2009, and the semi-monthly pass would be eliminated.
The MTA is also concerned that some of the money allocated to the agency from Proposition 1B, the $19.9 billion transportation bond issue passed by voters last November, could be used to fill the state's regular budget for the agency, rather than as a supplement to fund new transportation projects. Meanwhile, the agency has been busy fighting to get its share of the money from Proposition 1B's $4.5 million-dollar Corridor Mobility Fund that is being used to fund projects that reduce congestion on California freeways.
The MTA's highest-priority project, according to David Yale, MTA's director of regional programming, is a 10-mile carpool lane for the 405 freeway between I-10 and the 101. MTA managed to win $730 million for the project, the state's largest single allotment.
The California Transportation Commission (CTC), the state authority that distributed the funds, initially shocked the MTA and local leaders by allocating Los Angeles County only $327 million dollars, well short of the $1.8 billion requested by the MTA.
Spurred into action by this perceived snub, L.A. Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa held a press conference on Wilshire Boulevard the Monday after the initial recommendations. After he spoke, he darted into traffic during red lights, handing out pamphlets condemning the CTC's negligence of Los Angeles. The next day, the mayor jetted off to Sacramento to lobby the CTC with County Supervisor Gloria Molina and Congressman Brad Sherman (D-Sherman Oaks) in tow.
A week later, the lobbying effort paid off: the 405 project received $730 million in funding, and L.A. County as a whole received $1.2 billion.
None of that money went to the San Gabriel Valley's major project, an upgrade to the interchange between I-10 and I-605. "The Westside got the money and the Eastside got the bill," said state Senator Gloria Romero, who blames MTA for failing to lobby hard for projects in the San Gabriel Valley. "It was the MTA board that screwed us over. We may have to have a further discussion about making changes on the MTA board."
The next step to disbursement of Proposition 1B funds is divvying up money for public transportation, which will be done with a formula based on population density. This will ensure that Los Angeles County will get its fair share, which MTA estimates to be about $1 billion, but that will not be nearly enough to satisfy the desires of suddenly pro-transit Southland politicians.
With tunneling already under way on the Gold Line extension into East L.A. and funding secured for the Expo Line that is slated to run from downtown to Culver City along Exposition Boulevard, the bond money will likely go towards new projects, and leaders and agencies all over the county are working to sell their needs to the MTA.
Rep. David Dreier (R-Glendora), whose 26th District spans across the San Gabriel Valley, is insistent that the MTA should prioritize a $1.1 billion Gold Line expansion that would extend the line from its current terminus in east Pasadena all the way to the Ontario Airport.
"We are really on track because of Congressman Dreier's support for the project," said Susan Hodor, the public affairs director of the Gold Line Foothill Extension Authority, created in 1999 to plan the construction of the Gold Line. But she acknowledged it will be a struggle to get a fair share of bond money to fund the project. "We are going to have to fight really hard to make sure we get consideration for part of that pot of money."
Mayor Villaraigosa, who sits on the MTA board, has thrown his support behind a "subway to the sea" that would extend the Wilshire/Western line - to be known as the Purple Line - through the Westside. Although the planning process is not yet underway, a recent House bill sponsored by Rep. Henry Waxman has made it legal for the project to be funded with federal money.
Waxman had previously led the charge to ban federal funds for the project, citing safety concerns after a methane explosion in the Fairfax district in 1985. Some have charged that the ban reflected Beverly Hills citizens' opposition to the project rather than actual safety concerns.
Other leaders from South L.A. and the coast are pushing for an extension of the Green Line into LAX. Currently, getting to the airport from the subway line requires an additional bus trip from the Aviation station.
"Extending a key Los Angeles mass transit corridor to one of the nation's busiest airports is a no-brainer," said state Senator Jenny Oropeza (D-Carson), who was one of a dozen state officials to sign a letter to the MTA in January that urged the agency to use bond money to fund the project.
The MTA will not announce new funding priorities until the summer or early fall release of its new long-term building plan. A project cannot use federal funds unless it is in the plan, so the lobbying will only intensify in coming months.
"It is possible we could use the bond money to carry out objectives of our current long-term plan, or for operating costs, but it is not likely," said the MTA's David Yale.
Published: 03/29/2007
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