On the subway with Zev

As I intimated earlier, there were no long, awkward silences during my subway ride this morning with L.A. County Supervisor Zev Yaroslavsky. The supervisor, who represents much of the western county, had lots to say about transportation, the November sales tax proposal and his relationship with the mayor. It's all below.

There was also a little news. Yaroslavsky was going to North Hollywood for a news conference he had quickly called at the Orange Line terminus there. Ridership for the busway hit a new record in June with a weekday average of 26,596 riders -- up from 24,451 in May. The previous high average was 25,618 last September.

Yaroslavsky was, not surprisingly, delighted. He was one of the major proponents for the busway and also offered some news. He said that Metro is trying to add express service on the busway that would shave about five minutes off the end-to-end travel time.

The supervisor said that he also believes that the ground has shifted in the Los Angeles area, with people driving less because of high gas prices and taking transit more. "This is a real opportunity -- maybe the first opportunity in my lifetime -- to change the paradigm of public transit use," he said, his point being that people who don't have to take mass transit are beginning to do so and may very well keep doing so.

With that thought in mind, here are the highlights:

*In fact, he's one of the people who has shifted to mass transit. Yaroslavsky said that he's using mass transit once or twice a week to commute to work downtown at the County Hall of Administration. He lives in the Fairfax district and takes the 714 rapid bus to downtown, which drops him 2 1/2 blocks from work. To avoid the worst of the outbound traffic, he goes home via subway to Vermont Avenue, where he catches the 714 or 14. The typical commute time is 25 to 30 minutes, which Yaroslavsky said is competitive and sometimes better than driving.

"One reason that I've started to take public transportation is to prove to myself that I could do it," Yaroslavsky said. In particular, he said that when talking to civic groups he often asks people if there is any way that they could take mass transit to work one day a week. He also added that people are "kind of shocked to see a public official on a bus."

I don't think the Bottleneck comment board will argue with him on that one.

*"I'm a believer that in the long term we'll have to reduce demand on our streets," Yaroslavsky said. "I've been thinking about this for 25 years, although for the last 20 years I've kept my mouth shut about it because politically it's not popular."

Yaroslavsky mentioned that he learned a pretty good lesson in the 1980s when he did talk about road rationing and the Daily News "creamed" him in a headline. Yaroslavsky didn't mention specific proposals, but he's a big fan of the Rapid buses and the busway and pointed out how many people buses can move compared with cars. Many transit advocates have long touted the benfits of bus lanes.

*Another big motivator for switching to mass transit, he said, was that his son is an avid fan of transit and doesn't own a car. Instead, he takes mass transit to downtown from his home in the Fairfax district -- a habit that carried over from his days at UC Berkeley and from an interest in his father's work on transportation issues. "One day in February or March I called him up and said, 'If you're taking the bus to work, I'll come with you,' " Yaroslavsky said.

*And how does he think the transit system works? The supervisor thought it worked pretty well, although could use some tweaks. In particular, he noted the aforementioned 714 bus stops running at 6 p.m. and that it could run later.

He also mentioned the state of the streets in the region -- something that will be music to the ears of regular Wilshire Boulevard bus riders. His verdict: the streets are in disrepair and that anyone boarding an MTA bus better expect to get bounced around. Anyone with a weak stomach, he said, is in danger of "leaving a deposit" behind on the bus.

Yucky but true, in my view.

*I also asked him what he thinks of the half-cent sales tax hike that is being talked about for the November ballot. Public officials are currently fighting over what transit projects would get funded -- and the legislative brawl is threatening to doom the whole effort. In particular, public officials in the San Gabriel Valley and the South Bay have been most vociferous complaining that their regions aren't getting their fair share of the expected revenues.

"I can't believe that any responsible legislator from Los Angeles County would deny any voter in the county the right to vote on a plan to expand mass transit," Yaroslavsky said. "This is the best chance in a generation to grow our system."

However, Yaroslavsky said that he's concerned about aspects of the legislation that would allow the sales tax proposal to go forward. In particular, he mentioned that less than half the revenue would fund new projects -- something that could make voters leery.

He also said that he believes that money on mass transit should be spent where the needs are the greatest, which in his view is currently the Westside of Los Angeles. He finds some of the criticism about the inequality of the revenues to be disingenuous, saying that money to fight crime is not spent equally everywhere -- it's often funneled to the crime hotspots.

*For probably the umpteenth time in the last several years, I asked Yaroslavsky about his 1998 ballot measure to prevent the MTA from spending money on more subways in the county. Now, of course, some people are clamoring for a subway -- and accuse him of delaying the project for a decade. These days, Yaroslavsky has been a vocal supporter of extending the Wilshire line because of the area's high job and population density.

"I thought long and hard about it [the ballot measure]," Yaroslavsky said. "I make no apologies for it."

Yaroslavsky has consistently answered this question every time I've asked it. It's a multi-fold answer: there was already a federal ban on tunneling on the Westside, the ban precluded subway tunneling across the county and the money saved by the MTA was poured into other worthy projects, such as the Orange Line, rapid bus lines, the Gold Line east and the Expo Line.

Yaroslavsky said that he thinks the MTA has turned itself around in the last decade -- one reason he can support the subway going forward. He also said that one overlooked aspect of his ballot measure is that it allowed money from the 1990 sales tax increase to be used on rail and busway projects, which helped build the above projects.

*And, finally, I asked him about his relationship with Los Angeles Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa. Specifically, I asked the supervisor what he thought of Villaraigosa's negotiations with other public officials over the sales tax proposal -- deal-making which may lead to congestion pricing being moved from the 210 to 110 freeway.

"I've been talking with the mayor and he's been talking with me," Yaroslavsky said. "The challenge we have is to come up with a package that addresses the greatest needs...we have priorities and we have to stick with them."

That, of course, is a reference to preserving funding for the Expo Line light rail to the westside and ensuring that funding comes in a timely manner -- so the Expo Line gets built first.

It's well known that Yaroslavsky and Villaraigosa have had a sometimes frosty relationship. I told him that it seems to me that given their political skills -- these are two guys who have been doing their jobs for a long time -- and many relationships, there seemingly is a lot more to be gained by working together.

"I think when the mayor and I work together, it's better than when we don't," Yaroslavsky said. "I think that we both bring something to the table in terms of strategy and working out the way that things should be done. I'm glad we're working together on this one."

--Steve Hymon

photo: Steve Hymon / LAT

Comments

[Donald Stanwood]

Zev is always good at articulating his position du jour. About ten years ago, he wrote a column in the "Times" explaining how curtailing subway construction was all for the best, that the Union Station to North Hollywood route was a sufficiently strong "Backbone Line" for the entire system. "In planning for the future, let us look back to the glory days of the Red cars." Meaning what? That we can go bombing through the orange groves sounding our air horn?

[calwatch]

And, to his credit, Zev doesn't put out an item on the City News Service wire every time he rides the bus. That does get old.

[Spokker]

"How much revenue is lost this way? I've never seen anything like it."

The revenue lost is less than the cost of installing fare gates at every station.

Fines are designed to "make up" for the evaded fares. People who continually evade the fare will eventually get caught. Just give it time.

[Lee Stranahan]

I just happened to be riding the Metro yesterday with my family when this interview was conducted. I recognized Zev and then noticed the LA Times badge on the guy sitting next to him talking. (Note: Steve Hymon looks much scruffier / cooler in real life then in his bio pic.)

I live close to my job on purpose so I'm not a daily commuter. We took the train as an 'adventure' for my 7 and 9 year old. Day passes are $5 - for everyone, the kids included...$20 for 2 adults / 2 children. It's silly to charge kids this high price.

But even sillier - nobody ever checked our tickets. So, really...we didn't HAVE to buy them. It's the honor system...unless a sheriff stops you. How much revenue is lost this way? I've never seen anything like it.

And here's another revenue source lost...allow businesses in the stations. Magazine / newspaper stands or a Starbucks or Jamba Juice or whatever. It makes the stations better places, not worse.

[Dana Gabbard]

TonyR I understand what you are saying. But that is all in the past. Sometiems you have to grit your teeth and be prepared for yesterday's foe to being today's key ally (e.g. Hilda Solis and the El Monte busway). It isn't easy but is necessary. Already ranting contrarians and the dubious pronouncements of right-wing/libertarian think tanks are circling to kill the proposal, all on the dubious basis that nothing is better than something. Gird yourself, the next few months won't be pretty.

http://www.laweekly.com/news/news/do-you-trust-mta-with-40-billion/19239/

http://www.dailynews.com/editorial/ci_9822096

[Rubber Toe]

The Orange Line previous high was in February of 2008 with 26,688 daily riders versus the 25,618 mentioned by Steve, which is correct but not the high. Steve, if you like I can e-mail you the spreadsheet that tracks all MTA lines back to 2004. Let me know.

[NP]

Tell Zev that just last week Metro extended the 714 Rapid service from 6pm to 8pm... A major improvement, especially for downtown workers heading west after work!

[TonyR]

Sorry Zev, I'm still bitter. Not as bitter as I am with Henry Waxman, but still bitter. It's great that you're riding the bus though.
Dana - I'm not sure I totally agree, but I think that you're right that the MTA did need some time for reflection about what worked and what didn't work with the original work on the red line.
From a historical point of view, however, I think that the Zev and Henry's work getting the subway's original north/south course changed from going up Fairfax to going up Vermont did far more damage than any legislative act/proposition they later advocated. Halting subway work once it was completed was one thing, but rerouting it during actual construction was a financial and operational disaster. All of our subway disasters - the street subsistence in Hollywood, the laughable two station "spur" on Wilshire, the cost overruns - are all a direct result of the rerouting, not the subsequent tunneling bans. If the subway had actually made it to Fairfax on its way to Hollywood, I don't think we would have had to wait for $4 gas to establish the political will to continue it to the westside.

[Dana Gabbard]

When Kymberleigh Richards told me a while back Zev had mentioned he is now commuting a few times a week via public transit, I had to put a shout-out of praise in my monthly column for the Transit Advocate newsletter. While I have some bones to pick w/Zev at least he is walking the walk (a lot of people who extoll transit haven't ever ventured to actually use it). BTW, former Metro Board Chair Pam O'Connor regularly rides transit.

I don't think the 1998 ballot measure delayed the Wilshire subway project. Frankly after building the Red Line downtown to N. Hollwyood, I was sure the agency needed a breather to pay down the bonds it had issued and also concentrate on some of the key light rail projects that are now underway. I knew eventually we would be at a place where a subway extension would regain political viability. And what do you know? Here we are!