EDITORIAL RESURRECTED ZONE? VALLEY TRANSIT MIGHT STILL BE FEASIBLE.

IN the middle of the MTA strike this fall, Gov. Gray Davis tied the hands, feet and legs of Valley riders to the MTA tracks with a train barreling down on them.

And we cursed him for the villain he was.

Now the MTA wants to save the Valley from the dastardly entanglements imposed by Davis and his legislative henchmen. Will there be a happy ending to this melodrama? Will the MTA be the hero after all?

Stay tuned.

A new report suggesting a Valley transit zone might not be dead certainly raises new and interesting questions. But if you're waiting for the bus to come anytime soon, find a place to sit down.

A consultant reported that a San Fernando Valley transit zone could operate about 16 percent cheaper than the countywide agency, making it worth more study, officials said Monday.

The report, prepared for officials of the interim joint powers agency exploring the transit zone idea for the Valley and neighboring cities, revives the possibility that taking over operating local buses is still feasible despite Davis' cynical intervention in the recent 32-day MTA strike.

The legislation, Senate Bill 1101, required that any new zone be covered by the MTA's expensive union contracts.

But the new report said that despite the legislation, Valley buses could still save $16 an hour over MTA buses, which cost $98.66 an hour to run.

The problem here is that any report has to factor in the fuzzy math coming out of the MTA. Perhaps further studies can penetrate MTA's facade and find out exactly what's going on and how much the agency really takes in at the fare box and what the impact of the Metro Red Line subway and Metro Rapid bus service on the Valley is.

Any possibility that the Valley could substantially save money is remote at best. And even with a new rosy report from their own consultant, the agency still had to admit that the Valley could only realize half the savings that the Foothill Transit Zone has achieved because they aren't burdened by cumbersome, special-interest legislation protecting the union and forcing the public to pay higher costs.

Still, the public should be willing to listen to any plan that's feasible, as long as the Valley doesn't get stuck with the bill without the authority in running its own zone.

The MTA board's move to explore the possibility that a Valley zone could achieve an $11.4 million surplus in 10 years is prudent.

If nothing else, perhaps the public will finally learn the truth about MTA's finances.