Laws Won’t Fix Mass Transit

The California Legislature will try to bring some order and consistency to the administration of mass transit programs in Los Angeles County. Eight bills under consideration in Sacramento attest to that. There’s just one problem: This will mark the fourth time in 33 years that state lawmakers have tried to author a Los Angeles solution, and oh, what paltry success they have had.

This time the Metropolitan Transportation Authority and its board of directors are the targets of legislative interest. In 1964 the lawmakers decided that the Southern California Rapid Transit District would be the needed fix. The RTD was supposed to bring order to a hodgepodge of failing bus companies and develop a coordinated transit system. By 1976, the RTD was a morass of flawed management. But the Legislature was ready with yet another option, the Los Angeles County Transportation Commission, formed to oversee rapid transit plans and budgets.

The county ended up with two feuding and ineffective transit agencies. Local elected leaders composed the agencies’ boards of directors, but they routinely delegated their authority to designees and alternatives. That insulated the board members from accountability and tough decisions.

Four years ago, the Legislature felt compelled to intercede again. The RTD and LACTC were merged to create the MTA, a single agency that was supposed to end the bickering and save taxpayer dollars by reducing duplicative departments and services. The 13-member MTA board was supposed to increase accountability. But to date the MTA and its board have fared no better than their predecessors. Has that dampened legislative enthusiasm? No. . . .

Now, state Sens. Quentin Kopp and Tom Hayden want to abolish the MTA and create three separate successor agencies. Surely they aren’t serious; this must be just some twisted joke.

Bills that would specify a four-year term for the MTA chief executive and outline the limited circumstances under which the CEO could be fired might be useful, but we’ve had only two CEOs so far. One was sacked, the other resigned.

Three of the new bills would change the size and/or the geographical influence of the MTA board. Assemblyman Steven Kuykendall, for example, would reduce it to nine appointed voting members, three each by Los Angeles City, the L.A. County supervisors and the county’s independent cities. Hayden and Assemblyman Antonio Villaraigosa want the board to abide by a code of conduct. Villaraigosa also presents one of the best ideas: a state-appointed inspector general to keep a close watch on the agency.

Consideration of these bills will continue this week, but the legislators would do well to remember this: History shows that they can devise any number of frameworks or new agencies, but it will matter little unless the collective leadership of Los Angeles County comes together and proves that it can run a transit system.