Bill to Kill RTD, Form New Agency Goes to Governor

SACRAMENTO — A bill to do away with Los Angeles County’s principal transportation agencies and place bus, commuter rail and highway authority under a superagency run by a board of high-level local officials cleared the Legislature on Friday and was sent to the governor.

The new agency would take over all present operations and future planning and construction projects of the RTD and the county Transportation Commission within the next one-year period.

After months of intense lobbying by special interests, ranging from embattled RTD officials to public transit unions and Los Angeles’ major business leaders, the measure won final approval in a largely party-line 43-33 Assembly vote.

The state Senate earlier in the day had approved the measure on a 25-10 vote after controversial provisions to exempt the new transportation agency board from the state’s strict limits on political fund raising were dropped.

“This is the most significant thing to happen in transportation in Los Angeles since the first freeways were constructed,” said Assemblyman Richard Katz (D-Sepulveda), the lead author of the bill, as the final vote was announced.

‘Under One Roof’

“This puts sense back into the planning of transportation in Los Angeles,” Katz said. “For the first time, you have someone in charge of the system. We’ve never before had highways, (commuter) rail and buses under one roof. . . . They have always been at each other’s throats.”

Under the bill, a new metropolitan transportation authority would replace the Southern California Rapid Transit District and the Los Angeles County Transportation Commission and combine them with some functions now assigned to the Southern California Assn. of Governments, a regional planning agency.

“It’s finally over,” said a relieved Sen. Alan Robbins (D-Van Nuys), who co-authored the bill and struggled with Katz to steer the measure through a mine field of political problems in the last few weeks.

Opposed Measure

Gov. George Deukmejian has taken no public position on the bill. Supporters believe a veto is unlikely, although possible, because the governor’s Republican allies in the Assembly opposed the measure. They objected to a requirement that 20% of the new agency’s contracts go to minority firms, a practice that Deukmejian has also resisted in the past. Republicans also said the measure does little to help transit riders because it protects RTD’s strong unions and fails to encourage greater use of lower-cost private bus companies.

“What started out as reform . . . will cement in place most of the bad aspects” of Los Angeles’ transit system if it becomes law, Assemblyman Pat Nolan (R-Glendale), the lower house’s GOP leader, told his colleagues.

Despite such objections, Deukmejian will be urged to sign the bill by some leading Los Angeles County Republicans who are fed up with reports of mismanagement of public transit under the RTD’s controversial general manager, John Dyer.

Endorsed Overhaul

“It’s exactly what we need,” said Supervisor Deane Dana, a Republican and longtime ally of the governor who was among the first local officials to endorse an overhaul of transportation agencies. “We can’t allow this chaos to continue. It’s worth it just to get rid of Dyer and this RTD organization once and for all.”

Dyer declined to comment. But the persuasive Tennesseean, who was brought to Los Angeles in 1981 because of his skills in delivering huge federally funded transit projects--and did so in Los Angeles with the Metro Rail subway--is expected to lose his job as a result of the reorganization.

Dyer, who has been criticized for ignoring the huge RTD bus system and poorly controlling bus drivers, contractors and costs, has become the lightning rod for criticism of Los Angeles transit.

Political Force

If signed into law, the new metropolitan transportation authority would become a powerful and highly political force in shaping the future of the rapidly growing county by helping select which freeways get extended and widened, where mass transit systems are placed and how bus service is distributed.

The superagency would oversee three new subsidiary agencies, one combining all rail construction projects, another that would operate the bus system and future commuter trains and a third that would plan highways and transit rail lines to come.

If the bill passed Friday becomes law, the RTD’s 1.4 million daily bus boarders are not likely to see a new MTA logo on the coaches for several months or more. The smaller municipal bus lines run by such cities as Long Beach, Santa Monica and Torrance will not be affected by the shake-up, and in fact receive guarantees of no-cut funding in the bill.

Consolidation of the county’s commuter rail design and construction into one unit would eliminate some of the planning conflicts of the past, backers of the bill say. For example, under the present system, RTD is building the Metro Rail subway and the Transportation Commission is building a light-rail network. Critics have said that in planning to date, the two systems do not mesh as well as they would if they were under a single authority.

The agency’s board, which would include Mayor Tom Bradley, the the county supervisors and several council members from Los Angeles and other cities, could be a unique political arena where prominent public figures who often are at odds will be forced to personally wrestle with some of the region’s toughest problems.

Reshuffling at Top

However, it remains unclear when and if bus riders and those stuck in rush-hour congestion will see relief as a result of reshuffling transit supervision at the top.

Supervisor Kenneth Hahn, for one, thinks the new transportation board might become more of a problem than a solution. After the vote Friday, he called for new legislation to make the county Board of Supervisors the region’s new transportation agency.

KEY PROVISIONS OF TRANSIT OVERHAUL BILL

Creates on Jan. 1 a new Metropolitan Transportation Authority to take responsibility for RTD bus service, construction of mass transit and planning of freeway extensions and improvements.

Abolishes as of July 1, 1988, the Southern California Rapid Transit District and the Los Angeles County Transportation Commission. Duties would be redistributed among three MTA subsidiaries. One would operate buses and future rail systems. Another would construct subway and trolley systems, a third would develop long-range plans for transit and highway improvements.

Creates an 11-member MTA governing board. Members would include Los Angeles Mayor Tom Bradley, the five Los Angeles County supervisors, and two Los Angeles City Council members, including one representing the San Fernando Valley. Also on the board would be the mayor or a council member from Long Beach, and two city council members from smaller cities.

Requires annual independent audits of the management of the new agency.

“Fresh start” provision prohibits either RTD General Manager John Dyer, who has been the focus of criticism of the current transit system, or his counterpart at the county Transportation Commission, Rick Richmond, from being hired as the new transportation agency’s executive director.

Requires a “good faith effort” to employ middle managers of the current agencies in similar jobs in the MTA.

Increases from 18% to 20% the share of professional and construction contracts that must go to minority firms. Five percent would have to go to women’s firms.