BUS FARE HIKE IN MTA BUDGET; BURKE SAYS INCREASE MAY BE DROPPED.

Byline: Eric Moses Daily News Staff Writer

MTA chief executive Julian Burke on Wednesday released a $2.51 billion balanced budget for 1998-99 that includes a possible 10-cent increase in bus fares despite his assertion last week that one was not needed.

Burke also said the balanced budget should help the agency secure approval of its restructuring plan, required by Congress as a condition of getting federal funding for the Metro Red Line subway to North Hollywood.

``It is an important step and certainly signals a change in focus and emphasis on what we are going to spend money for,'' Burke said, adding that the Metropolitan Transportation Authority intends to emphasize bus service.

The spending plan for the coming fiscal year is $65 million more than the current year's, but $99 million less than what the MTA spent in 1996-97.

Burke said the increase in the $1.35 bus fare could be dropped from the budget if the MTA can save money on its workers' compensation insurance coverage.

If approved, the fare increase could take effect as soon as Nov. 1. In any event, the cost of monthly bus passes would not rise from $42. The budget presumes $7.5 million in higher fares will be collected.

The Bus Riders Union, which has successfully sued the MTA to relieve overcrowding and add more buses, will fight any proposed fee increase, said union organizer Martin Hernandez.

``As far as I can tell, there is not a guarantee they are going to get the other (savings), so there is no guarantee that there will not be a fare increase,'' Hernandez said.

To comply with the court order, the agency would have to add 800 buses each of the next two years, Hernandez said. The MTA budget calls for 161 new buses in 1998-99.

The budget also includes money to extend 11 pilot bus lines through the next year. Three of them are in the San Fernando Valley, including a Los Angeles city-run express bus from Thousand Oaks to downtown and the Laurel Canyon shuttle.

However, no new ``smart shuttle'' routes are slated for the Valley.

A public hearing on the budget is scheduled for June 18, and the board will consider it at its June 25 meeting or a special meeting in the last week of June.

In November 1997, Burke projected the agency would have a $90 million shortfall. He revised that to $24.7 million earlier this month, but said that with one-time federal grants and other savings, the deficit has been removed.

The $21 million in grants originally was slated only for improvements to the bus operation. Those projects were paid for with other funding, Burke said.

The spending plan includes no funding for rail projects to Pasadena, the Eastside and Mid-City. Construction of the Metro Red Line to North Hollywood will continue, and the MTA plans to open the subway to Hollywood in May 1999.

Most of the emphasis is on trimming the overhead throughout the agency - including the loss of 198 jobs, 114 of which are filled - to provide better bus service, Burke said. However, no money is budgeted to start up a transit zone to oversee bus lines in the San Fernando Valley.

Also included in the budget are plans to:

Close the MTA's in-house transit library to save $240,000.

Slash most of the overhead from a high school intern program to save $595,000. However, the budget still includes $391,000 in funding for that program.