Foothill Transit

Foothill Transit officials announced last week that they are opening new express and local bus lines, adding more buses to existing routes and beginning Saturday service for some lines. Line 482, a new express route with stops in Pomona, Hacienda Heights and downtown Los Angeles, begins today and will run seven days a week. Fare is $1.90 for a one-way trip from Pomona or $68 for a one-month pass. Beginning Jan. 4, Saturday service will be offered on lines 185, 192/194, 274/276, 291/293, and 178.

Today is Presidents Day. The following schedule will be in effect: Government: City, county, state and federal offices will be closed. Mail: No delivery; post offices will be closed. Libraries: Most will be closed, including Los Angeles city and county branches. Banks: Most will be closed. Schools: Public campuses will be closed. Public transit: MTA buses, Metro Rail and Metrolink lines will provide regular weekday service. Foothill Transit will run limited routes.

Foothill Transit has expanded its bus service, extending the eastern limit of its Downtown commuter line from Claremont to Montclair. Sunday service, with buses passing every hour, also has been added for lines serving the cities of El Monte, West Covina, Pomona and Montclair, officials said. The changes were made in response to a recent ridership survey. New route schedules are available on all Foothill Transit buses. Information also can be obtained by calling toll-free (800) RIDE-INFO.

Today is Presidents Day. The following schedule will be in effect in observance of the holiday: Government: City, county, state and federal offices will be closed. Mail: There will be no delivery; post offices will be closed. Libraries: Most branches will be closed. Banks: Most financial institutions will be closed. Schools: Public campuses will be closed. Public transit: MTA buses, Metro Rail and Metrolink lines will provide regular weekday service. Foothill Transit will run limited routes.

The City Council voted unanimously Monday to take the first step toward joining Foothill Transit, which serves 250,000 commuters in the central and eastern San Gabriel Valley, replacing the Metropolitan Transportation Authority. The city agreed to contribute $45,000 toward expanding Foothill's services to Alhambra, San Gabriel, Monterey Park, Montebello, Rosemead, San Marino, Sierra Madre and South Pasadena.

Despite strong appeals from San Gabriel Valley officials, the Southern California Rapid Transit District has indefinitely postponed consideration of a low-cost, privately run transit agency to operate in the area. The RTD board of directors last week tabled a motion by Charles Storing, a La Puente councilman and the San Gabriel Valley representative on the RTD board, consenting to the formation of a Foothill Transit Zone until the RTD's lawyers can review the district's legal liability.

The people on the bus go up and down, but the fares have stayed the same for eight years. Facing increasing routes and decreasing federal subsidies, Foothill Transit announced that it will be holding public hearings throughout the month to discuss changes in what it charges its San Gabriel Valley riders.

Roger Chapin, deputy executive director of Foothill Transit, has been named executive director for the transit zone. He replaces William Forsythe, who will remain as a consultant. Before joining Foothill, Chapin was with Omnitrans, the public transit agency in San Bernardino County. Foothill Transit provides bus service for portions of the San Gabriel Valley. Vernette Pemberton of Hacienda Heights has been elected the first woman president of the La Puente Lions Club, a service organization.

Foothill Transit, the county's second-largest bus operator, implemented a new fare system Tuesday raising the regular fare, but lowering the cost for those with passes. Passengers who use a pass called Metrocard can now ride for 75 cents. The cash fare, however, will rise to from 85 cents to 90 cents, transit officials said. Metrocards cost $10 to $50 and each fare is deducted from the card electronically, officials said.

A strike by Foothill Transit bus drivers continued into a second day Friday, with no talks scheduled in the labor dispute. Only 37 buses out of the usual 104 rolled out of the Upland yard, forcing San Gabriel Valley riders to endure long delays and crowding on buses. The striking 150 drivers, represented by Teamsters Local 848, are involved in a dispute over pay and health benefits with Laidlaw Transit Services, a private bus company that contracts with Foothill.

As traffic congestion through the Pomona and San Gabriel valleys worsens, the promise of a quicker commute -- and amenities such as free wireless Internet service -- should lure some solo motorists onto the new Silver Streak rapid buses. But the success of the new service from Montclair to downtown Los Angeles, which started Sunday, rests on whether the 60-foot buses will be able to bypass traffic by racing down the San Bernardino Freeway carpool lanes.

For the first time in its 15-year history, Foothill Transit is seeking to cut service because of persistent declines in ridership. The agency, which runs 34 bus lines throughout the San Gabriel and Pomona valleys, had beefed up service by nearly 20% during the last three years in anticipation of the region's population growth. But instead, ridership fell steadily in that period, by 10%.

L.A.'s Metropolitan Transit Authority management has come up with a potentially revolutionary proposal to transform the agency's poorly performing bus services. According to the plan, bus-service operations would be divided into five geographic semiautonomous "sectors." Small-scale sector operations could lead to local control, better bus service and lower costs. That was the promise of transportation zones, too, a previous MTA idea that languished for reasons of politics and indecision.

When ideology, rather than economics, determines the model by which public transit services are supplied, it is the passenger, as well as the public purse, who loses out. In blocking privatization, California Democrats have preserved the Metropolitan Transportation Authority's poor service and management structure.

The L.A. transit strike has disrupted the city's immigrant-driven economy, touching the lives of nearly every resident. It has been a game played at the public's expense that neither the Metropolitan Transportation Authority nor the unions deserve to win. Both sides have systematically exploited taxpayers. The strike has induced the public and the political establishment to contemplate the unthinkable: Los Angeles without the MTA.

Mayor Richard Riordan wants to establish additional "transit zones," which is seen as an attempt to "break the union" (Sept. 28). While establishing a transit zone may achieve his objective, it would be a major disservice to the bus-riding public. One of the major problems with bus service as it exists in the L.A. area is the fractionalization of service. In addition to the MTA, there are Gardena, Torrance, Long Beach, Orange County, Santa Monica and Foothill Transit bus lines, just to name a few. None of them coordinates schedules or routes.

The governing board of the fledgling Foothill Transit Zone, which lacks the $5 million needed to buy 30 more buses, has asked the Los Angeles County Transportation Commission to pick up the tab. But the commission's staff has recommended against the request, citing the uncertainty surrounding the zone's future.

Despite the myopic "facts" asserted by Richard Katz ("You Say You Want a Revolution in Mass Transit?" Valley Perspective, Oct. 31), the main obstacle to a transit zone being established in the San Fernando Valley isn't a scheming cabal of City Hall insiders but the likely inability of the proposed zone to meet the cost savings requirements of the Metropolitan Transportation Authority's Zone Guidelines. Provisions in contracts MTA has with its labor unions will require any zone to use current MTA employees.

Imagine: A mass transit agency that has increased bus ridership by 120%, increased hours of service by 126%, reduced costs by 55% and generates more money from the fare box. Now imagine a graffiti-free bus, because the operating company is fined if graffiti isn't cleaned off within a specified time. On top of all that, imagine a bus fare 34% cheaper than the Metropolitan Transportation Authority's and an unlimited senior pass that's also 34% cheaper than the MTA. You can't imagine any of that?