A photo set of BRU members at the MTA meeting on Thursday, June 11th.  

The Bus Riders Union (BRU) was successful in halting a Los Angeles County MTA Board of Directors vote to adopt the 2009 Long Range Transportation Plan (LRTP), a $270 billion, 35-year blueprint for regional transportation. This came just 2 days after the MTA notified the public about a scheduled vote at a Special Board meeting, misleadingly titled a LRTP “workshop.” And less than 24 hours after MTA staff made this 60-paged document available for the public to review. On behalf of MTA Chair Antonio Villaraigosa, Director Richard Katz asked the Board to hold off on the vote in order to provide the public sufficient time to review the 2009 LRTP. The Board moved to revisit the 2009 LRTP at the July Board meeting.

BRU members testified before the Board marking objection to an overall framework that includes: 1) billions spent on highway expansion despite the ecological necessity to move away from an auto-centered transportation system; 2) fare increases over the next 30 years aimed at reaching an arbitrary yet draconian 33% fare box recovery ratio; and 3) criticism of the MTA “biting” (building) more than they could “chew” (operate).