MTA Keeps Free Rides for the Poor

The Metropolitan Transportation Authority board Monday decided to save a popular program, formed after the 1992 riots, that provides free bus tokens and taxi vouchers to the needy.

The debate over the $5-million Immediate Needs Transportation Program was the liveliest part of a three-hour meeting at which the board approved a $2.9-billion budget for 2004-05.

In closed session, the board also approved last week’s proposal from an arbitration panel on the healthcare dispute that sparked a 35-day strike last fall.

The plan, which asks the MTA to provide $4 million more in contributions to the healthcare plan for bus and train mechanics, was overwhelmingly supported by union members in a vote Monday night.

The Immediate Needs program subsidizes rides for at least 30,000 people a month who need to get to senior centers, hospitals and after-school programs.

In May, MTA staff proposed cutting the program.

A few weeks later, three board members introduced a motion to save it, but trim the administrative fee from 20% to 15% or less.

On Monday, about 100 people showed up to support the program.

They booed when board member and County Supervisor Gloria Molina said she couldn’t understand why the fund spent so much on taxi vouchers and why more people did not ride buses. One elderly woman shouted, “Because you’re not old!”

A board majority approved the fee cut, then voted 12 to 0 to restore the program.