BUS RIDERS UNMOVED BY MOTTO.

Byline: Steven J. Gorman Daily News Staff Writer

A consultant found that the MTA's new slogan - "Travel Smart - Take Metro" is obscure and unclear.

Bus riders gave it a different verdict Tuesday - unnecessary.

"I take it because I have to, so it doesn't really matter what they say," said Suzanne Thomas, 25, of Canoga Park who was waiting for an MTA bus at Sherman Way and Topanga Canyon Boulevard.

Thomas said she takes the bus because she doesn't have a driver's license.

In downtown Los Angeles, bus commuters said they weren't even aware of the new slogan and didn't really know what to make of it.

"I'd rather see them lower the fares," said David Robles, who commutes to downtown from West Covina.

Prestonia Dotsch, a Los Angeles city worker, said the slogan would have no impact on her ridership habits.

"I've been riding buses all my life," Dotsch said. "The slogan's OK. But I don't have a real choice."

The "Travel Smart - Take Metro" slogan is the centerpiece of a $700,000 advertising campaign being launched this month by the Metropolitan Transportation Authority to boost bus ridership, which hit a new low last year.

MTA spokesman Steve Chesser acknowledged that people who take public transportation out of necessity represent the "core" of bus ridership, and he said the ad campaign is "by no means an abandonment" of them.

"We're trying to reach people who do have choices and get them to choose Metro also," Chesser said.

MTA opted for "Travel Smart" over several alternatives even though a majority of focus group participants in an outside study found the slogan came across as negative or confusing.

The preferred motto of the focus groups was: "We Take You There." For those interviewed at random Tuesday, the overwhelming favorite was: "We Keep L.A. Moving."

MTA officials said they went with the "Travel Smart" slogan because it elicited responses that seemed the most provocative and the most likely to change perceptions.

Still, most of those waiting for buses Tuesday at Sherman Way and Topanga Canyon Boulevard in Canoga Park expressed the gap between MTA slogans and reality.

"I don't think you can get around L.A. efficiently taking buses, as compared to other options, like car pooling or your own transportation," said Marc Klein, 26, of Woodland Hills. "I think the only way they're going to be able to boost ridership is to increase their bus service."

He and others complained that they found MTA buses overcrowded, dirty, inconvenient and sometimes dangerous.

At late hours, "You're either running into borderline kooks or gangbangers," said Mark Hurlbut, 52, an unemployed factory worker from North Hills who said he takes the bus to save money.

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Photo North Hills resident Mark Hurlbut takes MTA buses to save money. David Crane/Daily News