MTA Trying to Trim $10 Million

Los Angeles County transit officials said Wednesday that they will try to trim $10 million in administrative costs from their security budget next fiscal year.

The proposal is the latest effort to reduce the Metropolitan Transportation Authority’s $131-million operating deficit without raising fares or cutting services.

Roger Snoble, the agency’s chief executive officer, said he plans to work with Sheriff Lee Baca to reduce the $60-million annual contract for transit security, which expires July 1.

Baca spokesman Steve Whitmore confirmed that negotiations are ongoing. “There are options we will present to meet their goals without sacrificing the safety and security of the MTA,” he said.

The agencies have not yet worked out how the proposed cuts might affect transit riders, officials said.

But Snoble said Baca can reduce costs -- such as spending on detectives and helicopters -- without reducing the number of deputies assigned to patrols.

“We’re very hopeful that this can be done from an administrative standpoint,” Snoble said.

The MTA began examining the option late last week after a preliminary report by a national transit group showed that -- at 40 cents for each person boarding a train -- the agency spends about twice as much on rail security as the nation’s other major municipal transit agencies. Its costs for bus security are much lower.

A peer review panel put together by the American Public Transit Assn., the national group, also urged the MTA to install turnstiles or other barriers in its rail stations to improve security and possibly increase revenue, an option that Snoble said is being explored.

The agency estimates that it loses as much as $500,000 annually from the 6,000 or more passengers who ride the Red Line each year without buying tickets. More than 10% of the 36,000 daily passengers on the Green Line also break the law and ride for free, according to MTA estimates. The fine for fare evasion is $250. Snoble said Baca’s staff -- which includes a group of “fare inspectors” dedicated to checking tickets and citing violators -- has “done a great job for us” but that all contractors must follow the MTA’s own lead in reducing overhead expenses.

Earlier this month, MTA directors urged Snoble and his staff to find more cuts within the agency’s $3-billion budget proposal, which dips deep into reserve funds to eliminate the operational deficit.

Snoble is proposing saving an additional $2 million next year by leaving 13 non-union jobs vacant and delaying the purchase of 40 hybrid vehicles.

The MTA board is expected to approve the proposed budget at a meeting today.

Also Wednesday, lawyers representing bus riders asked U.S. District Court Judge Terry Hatter to extend his authority over the MTA for four more years to ensure against overcrowding on buses.

The federal court order, known as a consent decree, is set to expire in October, a decade after Los Angeles County transit officials agreed to sweeping reforms aimed at making bus travel safer, cheaper and more convenient.

Advocates for bus riders say the MTA has failed to live up to its promises to end bus overcrowding and add service to schools, jobs and healthcare centers. They said those goals would be ignored without continued court oversight.

MTA officials say they have complied with the federal court order, spending $1 billion over the last decade to improve bus service.