Incoming Metropolitan Transportation Authority chief executive Roger Snoble, in a phone interview last week from his current job in Dallas, said one of his goals upon arriving in L.A. will be to coordinate the transit schedules of the various local agencies.
It’s no secret that there’s little coordination among local transit agencies. If you want to take the bus from Santa Monica to downtown L.A., or from the San Gabriel Valley to LAX, it’s virtually impossible to mesh schedules, fares and routes.
“We need to coordinate among all the other bus providers,” said Snoble, who is winding up his stint as president and executive director of the Dallas Area Rapid Transit agency. “We need to eliminate duplication of routes, align fares and make the transition from one bus system to another seamless for customers.”
Snoble, who comes to L.A. next month and officially takes over at the MTA from retiring chief executive Julian Burke on Oct. 1, may find the road to interagency cooperation tougher than he realizes.
Smaller local transit agencies like Santa Monica’s Big Blue Bus or the Foothill Transit Agency or even the city of L.A.’s DASH system have long been suspicious of the behemoth MTA. They view the regional agency as inefficient and hogging precious tax dollars.
“We have long sought to get the MTA to coordinate their bus systems with others, but frankly, they have been reluctant to allocate Proposition A and Proposition C (sales tax funds) on a fair-share basis,” said one local transit official.
Not helping matters any was the precarious state of the MTA’s finances in the mid-1990s, which tended to focus the agency in on itself.
Now, however, with the MTA on more solid financial footing and a new leader coming in, some local transit officials are more hopeful.
“We would welcome efforts to collaborate on effective ways to deliver services as long as (Snoble) is interested in allowing municipal operators to do what they do best: provide low-cost efficient services to local areas,” said Stephanie Negriff, assistant general manager for Santa Monica’s Big Blue Bus.
Snoble said he has no intention of usurping authority from other local agencies.
“Look, I don’t care if the customers are originally captured on the Santa Monica system and end up on the MTA’s system, or vice versa,” he said. “The key is to make sure it’s a pleasant experience on both systems. Otherwise, they won’t come back.”
Snoble added that he intends to meet with new L.A. Mayor James Hahn soon. Hahn will make four appointments to the MTA’s 15-member board.
