Mass Transit Cuts

Author

By Noel Gallego

Publish Date

Nov. 16, 2009

At a Friday, November 13, news conference held at the 12th and Imperial Avenue trolley station, Metropolitan Transit System representatives announced plans to make cutbacks to service.

According to transit-system spokesman Rob Schupp, “Sales-tax shortfalls and the improper elimination of state transit-assistance funds are forcing MTS to reduce its expenses by more than $7 million. To preserve the network of weekday services and to impact as few riders as possible, [we are] proposing to substantially reduce service on Sundays. All routes will be affected.”

“Boy, this is a bummer,” said transit user Mark Bower. “I use the bus a lot on Sundays to go to the beach! I also depend on the MTS routes to get to school during the week.”

At the conference, Jeff Wagner of the California Transit Association announced plans to negotiate the reinstatement of transit-assistance funds that have been diverted by the State of California.

To inform the public and gather input, MTS will host public outreach meetings at various transit stations and centers throughout the week (see below for places and times).