EDITORIAL : TRANSIT TURNABOUT THE MTA BOARD APPROVES A SETTLEMENT TO IMPROVE BUS SERVICE AND FREEZE OR ?7 LOWER FARES.

THREATENED with a lawsuit, the MTA has wisely backed off plans to raise bus fares, cut service and eliminate monthly bus passes.

While the settlement approved by the Metropolitan Transportation Authority board is an encouraging step, we are saddened it took legal action to force the MTA to do the right thing for the 1 million passengers who ride buses each day.

The suit, filed in August 1994 by the NAACP Legal Defense and Education Fund in behalf of low-income bus riders, charged that the MTA was slighting those bus passengers in favor of expensive rail projects that served mostly white suburban residents.

There is a mountain of facts to support the plaintiffs' case.

For example, the Southern California-based Reason Foundation found that for every taxpayer dollar spent on MTA bus riders, $64 will be spent to subsidize rail passengers. Meanwhile, those bus riders must make do with some of the most overcrowded buses in the nation, the foundation said.

To alleviate that inequity, the MTA agreed to roll back the basic monthly bus pass price, from $49 to $42, for three years, or until the agency creates a ``needs-based'' pass for low-income riders only. The MTA also agreed to discount 75-cent fares for nonrush hour use on popular lines and to freeze for two years the current $1.35 cash fare, the 90-cent token fare and the 25-cent transfer charge.

In addition, the settlement requires the MTA to put more security officers on buses.

The agreement still must be approved by the four organizations and four individuals that were named as plaintiffs in the suit before it is final. We hope that will only be a formality, since the settlement appears to be fair and reasonable.