Want a good laugh? Read the Santa Clara County Civil Grand Jury Inquiry into the Board Structure and Financial Management of the Valley Transportation Authority posted at http://www.sccsuperiorcourt.org/jury/GJ.html. It concludes the VTA Board is "too large, too political, too dependent on staff, too inexperienced in some cases, and too removed from the financial and operational performance of VTA". Sound familiar? (a hint--spelled M-T-A B-O-A-R-D of D-I-R-E-C-T-O-R-S). I would laugh but it is too true to be funny...

At the Oct. 27 MTA Citizen Advisory Council meeting Mark Maloney, Director of Transportation Contract Services for the agency, an interesting presentation on Access Services and Purchased Transportation. Maloney stated much progress has been made in the past year to improve the quality of MTA contact operated service (which heretofore has been notoriously unreliable). I am glad to hear things are getting better, but am puzzled why the Metro Operations Report for August shows contacted services as having essentially 25% more complaints per 100,000 boardings versus the UTU Divisions during June-August (with the exception of a spike for Division 8 in July).

Curious how much the anti-Orange Line NIMBYs (Citizens Organized for Smart Transit) are costing MTA? The estimate is the recent construction delay cost $8-$10 million and a recovery plan to allow the project to, open as originally scheduled in August 2005 would cost anywhere from $5.9 to $7.9 million. Since MTA doesn't have extra funds likely these overages will be funded by reductions in some of the amenities of the project, like landscaping (cost estimate source: MTA Chief Capital Management Officer report to the Oct. 2004 Construction Committee meeting).

The November issue of Wheel Clicks notes the new Palmdale Metrolink station should be finished by January, although it may not open until Metrolink's spring schedule changes go into effect.

I'm quoted in a Oct. 25 L.A. Business Journal article on the Wilshire Bus Lane controversy ("Wilshire Bus Lane Blocked by Opponents Across City Limits") that it is hard to promote the concept when the initial study reveals a 30 second improvement over a mile of street running. That just isn't enough to convince people of the benefits. Hopefully some of the subsequent tests will be over greater distances and produce more substantial results that prove out the concept.

Reading the Oct. issue of Transit Times published by the Action Committee for Transit in Montgomery County, Maryland I was struck by an article that summarizes a report on the chronic funding problems of the Washington Metropolitan Area Transit Authority. We often don't appreciate how relatively lucky we are in this state in re funding thanks to TDA and the local sales taxes. By the way, I was dumbstruck that the sales tax renewal effort in San Bernardino County got an 80% yes vote. Way to go SANBAG! (on the downside the Ventura tax lost and the San Diego Transnet renewal is a cliffhanger).

BRU tidbit of the month: Bus Riders Union spokesperson Manuel Criollo in the Sept. 2 Downey Herald American ("Bus Riders Union Wants MTA to Pay for Violating Court Order") states if in their view MTA continues violating court orders "... We will ask the court to charge and arrest several members of the [MTA] Board and officials of MTA". Words fail me...

Evidently MTA is seriously mulling changes to the Formula Allocation Process by which funds are divided among the local included/eligible transit operators. If true this could generate a true firestorm of controversy with political fireworks galore. Golly, gee!

political double-talk of the month: Congressman Henry Waxman in the Oct. 21 L.A. CityBeat on whether the Red Line will ever be extended to the westside: "I hope so. The big hold-up is the poor planning by the people involved and the lack of money as a result. We need to have a system that will allow people to travel long distances, not just the most expensive subway system in the history of the world, which won’t really cover that much ground. There has been a legislative barrier to tunneling through the Wilshire area, because of the methane gas risks, and that may be lifted if they can show that the tunneling can be safe. The biggest problem is that the system had too many cost overruns, and the taxpayers and the city didn’t want to pay those extra taxes for a system they didn’t think was going to work."

South Pasadena councilman David Margrave, one of the most vociferous critics of the Gold Line, is reported by the Pasadena Star-News as having shown up at the recent accident involving the Gold Line and demanded to inspect the train's emergency brakes. Needless to say he wasn't allowed near the accident scene and eventually was threatened with arrest if he didn't leave. I have also been told Margrave seemed to be inciting the crowd at the recent PUC hearing on the noise complaints. It should be noted the main issue Margrave campaigned on to win his council seat was alleged concerns about Gold Line noise and safety. Certainly an incentive for him to try and keep the issue overheated.

Faithful Reader recently queried why I have never mentioned the often stinky elevators in the MTA rail stations. What is there to say? The often reek for reasons I'd rather not contemplate. I have noticed in some cases the rubber mat florring has been replaced with steel plate, which I would guess is easier to clean and non-absorbent. Overall, yuk!

Also Faithful Reader noted how quickly Mr. Villaraigosa vanished from the MTA website and that presently the list of Board members doesn't even note a vacancy exists as if 12 members is a full compliment. P.S. - no one seems knows how long it will be before Mayor Hahn selects a new appointee.

The minutes of the Sept. 27 Antelope Valley Transit Authority meeting have members of the Senior Advisory Committee complain about an AVTA staffer telling them not to air "dirty laundry" by making comments at Board meetings without following protocols. SAC member Althea Hogue dramatically announced she was resigning so she could do and say what she wanted to. The staffer responded by noting the recent upheavals at the agency and suggested having a SAC report added to the Board agenda. This assuaged Ms. Hogue sufficiently to withdraw her resignation. Stay tuned for any further developments…

More fun in the San Gabriel Valley: leaders in Baldwin Park and West Covina are contemplating withdrawal from the San Gabriel Valley Council of Governments, citing various "fair share" issues and complaining the COG should use weighted voting (i.e. that larger cities should have a greater say in COG affairs than smaller cities such as Bradbury or Duarte). West Covina hasn't even paid its COG dues for 2004/2005. We'll be keeping an eye on this intra-regional skirmish.

In other San Gabriel Valley funnies, Citrus College trustee Edward Ortell in a op-ed titled "With half a Gold Line, it/'s still Valley's turn at bat" in the Sept. 16 San Gabriel Valley Tribune touts the cost savings the Gold Line foothill extension has due to being along an existing right-of-way while claiming the Expo Line "requires displacement of many homes and businesses". Excuse me? Last I looked Expo has a dedicated right-of-way for most of its length and I am mystified where Ortell got the impression Expo would involve significant relocation of structures.

A rare victory for reason happened this month. At the Nov. 3 San Fernando Valley Service Sector Council Meeting MTA staff presented the Metro Transit Policy Update. As before this included the infamous dictum that buses unable to sustain 30 minute service during peak hours on their trunk shall be discontinued or handed off to another operator. Council member (and ex-SO.CA.TA President) Kymberliegh Richards questioned why this clause as worded gave Sectors no flexibility in the exercise of their oversight of service. After other members of the Council expressed similar concerns staff promised to rework the wording and by the next day the new version was in place providing the needed flexibility. It took about 18 months but finally this wrong-headed policy has been given an escape clause. On behalf of the all MTA customers, I wish to express my sincere appreciation to Ms. Richards for making this happen.

Amidst the nonsense going on in the San Pedro area I am gratified resident Jean Tucker had a letter published in the Sept. 22 Daily Breeze giving accolades to the bus system.

I'll conclude by noting according to MTA Deputy CEO John Catoe's presentation to the Sept. 16 MTA Operations Committee meeting 91.9% of active ASI riders using the service at least once during April 2004-June 2004 filed no complaints while the top five complaint filers submitted an average of 6.5 complaints per month and between April and June one rider filed 24 service complaints.