Transit Systems Los Angeles County

For nearly three years, a debate has been raging in the San Fernando Valley that has split residents and elected officials into warring factions: whether to build a mostly underground east-west rail line across the Valley or an elevated line over the Ventura Freeway. Homeowners formed four lobbying groups, each of which spent thousands of dollars to oppose the rail project that would most affect their neighborhood while supporting the rival line.

Harbor-area activists want to break away from Los Angeles. So do their counterparts in the San Fernando Valley. Others hope to cleave chunks from the city's oversized school district, which last year divided itself into subdistricts in an attempt to raise test scores and reduce red tape. Now comes the giant transit system, which announced last week that it is drawing up plans to split into regional sectors to improve bus service.

There's a new parade in Pasadena, though it doesn't involve floats or flowers, equestrian units or marching bands. On New Year's Day, a new regional transit agency was born with a simple goal: to make good on the old promise to build a light-rail line between downtown Los Angeles and Pasadena.

The Pasadena Blue Line project that was supposed to help set the standard for on-time, on-budget efficiency in local mass transit now faces the most elemental kind of problem: It rushed into construction without all the necessary regulatory approvals. The much-anticipated Blue Line is being built by an independent authority that was supposed to spare it the many cost overruns, safety hazards and management miscues that plagued the city's subway construction.

After driving buses for 30 years, Walter Wadlington has pretty much mastered the rules of the road. But a few months ago, the veteran Southern California Rapid Transit District driver found himself going back to the basics. As one of 43 train operators selected for the new Long Beach-to-Los Angeles Light Rail, Wadlington had to acquaint himself with the rules of the rail and with operating a train. "The class was the hardest part of the training," Wadlington said.

Responding to increasing ridership, the Antelope Valley's new public transit agency decided Tuesday to add a sixth daily commuter bus round-trip between the Antelope Valley and downtown Los Angeles. The board of the newly created Antelope Valley Transit Authority voted 3 to 0 to authorize the extra trip on Line 785, which runs Mondays through Fridays, starting July 6.

Angry state lawmakers were told Monday that the monthlong transit strike has already saved the Metropolitan Transportation Authority $10 million to $15 million in labor, fuel and other costs, prompting calls for a state audit and a renewed push to break up the agency's powerful governing board.

Metropolitan Transportation Authority board members, who have been called to Washington to discuss the future of the subway, are increasingly questioning whether to continue tunneling through Los Angeles at a cost of $300 million a mile. Instead, signaling what would be a fundamental shift in the county's transit plans, some key board members say they want to study taking the rail project aboveground to save money and extend rapid transit to more neighborhoods sooner.

An agreement to end Los Angeles' bus strike appeared close late Monday night, as leaders of the drivers union and MTA officials struggled to seal a deal on a new contract. As midnight neared, Rev. Jesse Jackson, acting as a mediator, shuttled between the two sides in an intense effort to get the MTA and the union to accept a package designed to end the month-old strike. "We're close and that's what's tough," said Jackson. "The gap is too small to go another day."

Light rail systems, like the Blue Line that will begin to run between Los Angeles and Long Beach this weekend, are attractive and fun to ride, but they tend to be expensive money-losers that do little to solve urban transportation problems. That is the widely held view of academic experts who have studied the new light rail lines that have been built in various American cities in recent years. A recent U.S. Department of Transportation study of new light rail projects in Buffalo, N.Y.

Think 25 years down the road, with an estimated influx of another 3 million people to Los Angeles County. The image is a region of packed freeways and streets, far worse than even today's ugliest commuter days. It's an unsettling vision the Metropolitan Transportation Authority would like to avoid through a long-range plan that would add more freeway carpool lines, expand rapid-bus service and Metrolink trains and dozens of other transit options.

Faced with the prospect of rapid growth and mounting gridlock, transportation officials plan to unleash a wave of highway and mass transit projects unlike anything the Los Angeles region has seen since the freeway building boom of the 1960s. The MTA is crafting a new long-range transportation plan that envisions spending tens of billions on highway, street, subway, light rail and busway projects to keep Los Angeles County moving, albeit slowly, during the next 25 years.

Last September, as they prepared for what ultimately became Southern California's longest and most expensive transit strike in more than two decades, the Metropolitan Transportation Authority's directors took a far-reaching step that may have violated the state's open meeting law. They secretly authorized a $5-million contingency fund for strike expenses, including $1 million to be spent on an advertising and public relations campaign, much of it anti-union.

In an abrupt about-face, the Metropolitan Transportation Authority plans to pave over an empty lot adjacent to the North Hollywood subway station to ease the chronic parking shortage that has annoyed commuters. Red Line riders were relieved at the news, even as they hunted for a rare empty space Friday. "It will help," said Lorenzo Guzman, 20, after circling the Lankershim Boulevard lot for nearly 10 minutes to score a spot. But, "They should build a two-story structure.

The Metropolitan Transportation Authority plans to pave an empty lot adjacent to the North Hollywood subway station to ease chronic parking shortages. Since the subway station opened in June, the 847-space lot has been filled by midday. MTA officials initially refused to consider additional parking, saying motorists should find other ways to get to the subway. The agency did restripe the existing lot, adding 72 spaces, before finally caving in to pressure from frustrated commuters.

After more than a month of rerouting lines, scrambling for extra buses and accommodating about 310,000 additional passengers, Jack Gabig, transportation director for Montebello's bus system, is breathing a sigh of relief. It's finally over. Playing the part of unsung heroes during the 32-day MTA strike has been daunting for Montebello and other non-MTA bus systems, such as Santa Monica and Foothill Transit. They have felt obligated to pick up the slack caused by the stoppage.

More than 600,000 passengers have tried the Los Angeles-Long Beach light rail service since it opened free of charge two weeks ago. Now comes the real test, RTD officials acknowledge, when the $1.10 one-way fare takes hold Wednesday. "We're delighted with the response," said Alan F. Pegg, general manager of the Southern California Rapid Transit District.

Los Angeles County and Southern Pacific Transportation Co. officials on Friday announced agreement on a landmark purchase of 177 miles of valuable rights-of-way that is expected to speed development of a regional commuter rail system.

Out of the pearly morning fog they barreled down city streets, like knights in shining armor, like the cavalry--the buses of the Metropolitan Transportation Authority were back. After enduring a 32-day strike that forced bus riders to walk, scramble for car rides or pay expensive cab fares, the arrival of the buses--giving free rides, no less--was practically a religious experience. "Oh, praise the Lord!" said Norma Spearman, 61, boarding a bus headed eastbound on Venice Boulevard.

Most people in Los Angeles, it would seem, could afford to dismiss the strike by Metropolitan Transportation Authority bus drivers and train operators as a mere irritant, an annoyance. There were complaints of more sluggish freeway commutes, of domestic help gone missing, but not much more. The big city transit strike that nobody noticed--this would be the story line most commonly attached to the 32-day shutdown of the nation's second largest bus system.