L.A. County transit agency projects historic budget shortfall

Standing room only

This bus is packed, but MTA ridership overall is down. There are no firm proposals for service cuts yet. (Mel Melcon / Los Angeles Times / January 22, 2010)

According to Ari B. Bloomekatz from the LA Times yesterday, it doesn’t look good for the Santa Monica bus line and others. In the article, due to huge money problems – changes are expected…excerpts taken from Mr. Bloomekatz article…

Terry Matsumoto, the MTA’s chief financial services officer and treasurer, and other MTA officials said the main problem facing the budget was that politicians in Sacramento, trying to cope with the state’s overall budget shortfalls, withheld hundreds of millions of dollars in transportation funds slated for operating expenses.

Also….

The cuts could affect municipal bus lines in places like Torrance and Santa Monica because the MTA provides subsidies to those agencies, among dozens of others around the county.

And…

Manuel Criollo, an organizer with the Bus Riders Union advocacy group, said he wasn’t surprised that the MTA’s budget woes could be balanced on the backs of riders.
“When tough times come, the only people who feel the pain, or the people who they put the pain on, are bus riders and transit riders,” Criollo said.

For more please read from Mr. Bloomekatz article. The link is up at the top, just click on the headline.