On Sept. 17 we undertook a study tour of MTA bus lines operated by contractors. In the past statistics revealed these lines as having substantially more customer complaints than any service out of the MTA yards whose employees belong to the three unions with collective bargaining agreements with the agency (UTU/ATU/TCU). Lionel Jones kindly volunteered to plan the trip so we would have a chance to ride buses operated by all three major contractors for MTA.

At 9 a.m. that we assembled at the fish tank in the East Portal building adjacent to the Gateway Transit Center. While the fish slumbered in the dark tank, the roar of buses rounding the oval of the Center could be heard from above along with a strange recording emanating from near the escalator leading up to the Transit Center playing over and over again jungle noises and a "Tarzan" yell. People briskly walked through the area, some lingering at the schedule rack opposite the fish tank before continuing on their way.

Members present were Ken Ruben, Armando Avalos, Kent Landfield, Lionel Jones, Dana Gabbard and Carlos Oscuna. We adjusted our initial plan as it became clear we hadn't allowed sufficient time to get from Union Station to where we would catch our first bus. We made our way to Vignes and Cesar Chavez to catch the MTA line 79, a low floor NABI #7644, at 9:17 a.m. Riding through downtown we marveled at the beautiful summer weather before arriving at Grand/Washington at 9:26 a.m. Meeting us there joining the tour was Alan Michelson.

The bus stop was absolutely filthy and we were glad indeed when the first bus of our study tour, line 603 (operated by Transportation Concepts), arrived at 9:51 a.m. It was an EZ Rider #12566 with 2 passengers at departure (all ride counts exclude trip participants). We made our way along residential backways (23rd Street), then turned onto Hoover. At Hoover/Washington we had 5 passengers, at Hoover/Pico 10 passengers. Hoover is a vibrant commercial street lined with businesses and schools which before this line started operating was unserved between Venice and 7th Street. By Hoover/8th we had 20 passengers.

While normally we would have proceeded east along 7th Street we instead were detoured onto 8th Street due to street closures around MacArthur Park. About 7-8 deboarded at our Westlake stop adjacent to the Wilshire/Alvarado Red Line station. As can be imagined the street closures caused
chaos and gridlock for street traffic. Adding to the congestion were two fire trucks and a paramedic truck working their way through the intersection of 6th Street and Westlake. At 6th and Alvarado we had 22 passengers. This rose to 28 passengers by the time we were at Coronado (a residential street) and Sunset. All through this stretch we had standing loads including clusters of kids riding with their parents. Amidst all this Ken Ruben made his weekly phone call to the web-based Let's Talk Trains, having to call twice on his cell phone due to drop outs.

We made our way along Glendale Blvd., and turned at Allesandro paralleling the Golden State Freeway along Riverside. Making our way on San Fernando Road we passed through an industrial area, then entered the downtown business district of Glendale before being dropped off at the last stop on the backside of the Glendale Galleria mall. We walked a few blocks to Central/Broadway to catch the bus that would take us to our next contracted line. MTA route 180, a NABI
low floor #7156. We had 23 passengers and went eastbound toward Pasadena past a Borders Books, a number of Armenian shops and the mall formerly known as Eagle Rock Plaza. When nearing Pasadena we did a short freeway jaunt to bypass the historic Colorado Street Bridge (which has a weight limit). Soon we were passing through Old Town Pasadena, past the famed Norton Simon Museum and the recently completed Paseo Colorado open-air shopping complex. We arrived at Lake/Colorado at 11:58 a.m. A Kinko's at that corner provided a chance to do a quick check of e-mails, use the restroom or purchase refreshments before the next contracted bus arrived.

At 12:20 p.m. we caught MTA rt.256, operated by Southland, a National/El Dorado #12520 with 3 passengers. To our delight this smaller bus set off by crossing the Colorado Street Bridge we had so recently seen from afar. Soon we passed San Rafael Park and were winding along through hills. At Figueroa/York we had 6 persons board. Continuing we passed through the residential area known as El Sereno. One business had a sign proclaiming "Hermon est. 1905". Next
we passed the layover for the 45/252 at Monterey/Huntington which appeared a nice place to sit and contemplate.

Much to our surprise we spotted the 3rd bus at a rail crossing with gates down suddenly pull around the gates to cross. At 1:20 p.m. we arrived at the end of the route at the Cal State University-Los Angeles bus terminal, which has pull-ins and benches plus an information kiosk on local bus service. Via overpass and elevator we made our way to the Cal State station on the El Monte busway. This location had cement benches and a coke machine. At 1:35 p.m. we piled onto an
already packed MTA rt.490 (NABI low floor #7669) for the 3 minute trip to the USC County Hospital busway station. Via elevator
and overpass we made our way to the adjacent barren stretch of road from which we would catch our next bus.

This is the layover of MTA rt 254, adjacent to a parking structure. We boarded another El Dorado/National, #12511. As with the 256, this is operated by Southland. At the County Hospital transit center we had 2 boardings (amenities at this location included shade, benches and newspaper racks). We continued
through the Hospital complex, followed by more hills and then an industrial area (signified by razor wire protecting some of the buildings). Ken Ruben waxed a bit nostalgic as these were some of his old stomping grounds from his youth. We continued through a residential area and passed the Garfield Community Adult School. Much of the route duplicates that of the El Sereno/City Terrace DASH. We spotted an MTA rt.30 bus going to its layover at terminal 44
(also used by shortline rt.68 trips). Midroute we hopped off to take a lunch break.

At 3:40 p.m. we caught another southbound rt.254, an El Dorado #12503. By Lorena/Whittier it had 7 passengers. Lorena is lined with businesses and churches; at one point sign was spotted announcing en español an AA meeting. As we continued south we entered the industrial city of Vernon. Then we entered Huntington Park, passing residences along Gage. At Gage/Pacific 8 passengers boarded. We continued along Santa Fe through a commercial district. We were also
shadowing the Blue Line and several times crossed the alignment from one side to the other. Our driver surprised us when she suddenly pulled over and ducked into a small mart for a snack. We were running on secondary streets through residential areas before arriving at Imperial/Wilmington-Rosa Parks station at 4:20 p.m. At this point Carlos departed. the rest of us made our way up to the Green Line platform for an eastbound train (#215A) at 4:25 p.m. which arrived at the Norwalk terminal at 4:38 p.m.

The Norwalk station transit center has some benches, some shade, and newspaper racks. After a lengthy wait we caught the last contracted bus of the tour, MTA 125, operated by First Transit, at 5:10 PM. It was an Orion 6 low floor #11022 with a busted stop requests cord. The bus had 6 passengers and left 20 minutes late (the driver spent some time talking shop with a fellow operator after pulling into the transit center). Along the Rosecrans commercial district we started to pick up passengers and soon had a seated load of 25. We passed parks, schools, industrial areas and some residences. Ridership this segment was quite healthy. We passed the Compton Transit center. We also passed the First Transit yard at Central/Rosecrans.The mid-segment (between the Blue Line
and Vermont) had much less ridership. But the bus moved along at a fast clip. By Crenshaw/Rosecrans we were down to 2 passengers. The only memorable incident during this part of the trip was some idiot pulled his car in front of us and forced the operator to make an abrupt stop. Soon we were in El Segundo running seaside, past refineries and power plants to the end of the route. By then the bus was empty except for us.

We caught a RTS (#1300) running downtown bound on the MTA rt.439 with 5 passengers. Alan Michelson hopped off at LAX Transit Center, Ken Ruben departed at Fox Hills Mall Transit Center, Dana caught a MTA 217 from West L.A. Transit center, while others continued to downtown.

Probably only the last operator (by making us late while he idly chatted) made a bad impression. Otherwise the service was fairly good and on schedule. But any conclusionsregarding contracted service probably would call for us to undertake further rides to have a more representative sample of the service to base any such opinions upon. Should we do a follow-up tour in 2006?