Emergency transport requests and ruptured travel arteries put MTA in spotlight after quake.

Almost immediately after the earth ceased quivering in the early morning hours of Jan. 17, Los Angeles County Metropolitan Transportation Authority (MTA) staffers began laying plans for the provision of both immediate and longer-term emergency transportation services.

As is often the case in emergencies, MTA's radio dispatchers were the first to respond. Working by the eerie glow of lanterns in a building without power, dispatchers donned hard hats and began handling the requests that were pouring in for emergency transport of people who had been displaced from damaged hospitals and homes.

"With the building rocking underneath you, pieces of ceiling on the floor around you, and everybody working by lantern light or flashlight, it was definitely a madhouse," recalled Emory Greene, an MTA dispatcher for 21 years. "The huge volume of calls we handled kept going for three days before it finally let up." It wasn't long before MTA had handled 156 requests for buses to provide emergency transportation service. MTA provided its own buses for 110 requests, and arranged for other area transit providers to honor the remaining 46 -- all while operating its regular fleet of 1,900 buses.

"A public transportation provider's first responsibility, in case of an emergency, is lending a hand where it's needed," said MTA's board chairman Richard Alatorre, a Los Angeles City Councilman. "We take this responsibility very seriously, and are meeting every day to find ways to meet the fast-changing needs of this vastly diverse metropolitan area."

"Thousands of people depended on us to get their families and friends to safer shelter," said Franklin White, MTA's chief executive officer. "And with several freeways out of commission for the near future, millions more will depend on us in the meantime to get where they need to go."

This was evident when, despite numerous debris-strewn streets in the San Fernando Valley, MTA was able to field 94% of its bus and rail service the same day of the quake.

Twenty-year MTA bus operator Willie Gibson drove a Line 424 bus that day in the south San Fernando Valley along the east-west Ventura Boulevard. Gibson described the scene along his route as "frantic" and "quite a mess."

"Ridership was light early in the day," Gibson said. "The passengers who did get on were mostly senior citizens who were hungry and looking for a place to get some food. They asked me if I knew of a grocery store, a restaurant, or hardware stores that were open. I took them to places on my route where I had seen lines of people.

"I was very proud that day. I really felt that if the buses hadn't been there, a lot of people would not have gotten the emergency help they needed. In fact, I ended the day doing volunteer service for the Red Cross -- the need was that compelling."

The next day, after safety inspections gave a clean bill of health to the city's brand new subway tunnels and overhead rail supports, MTA had virtually its entire bus and rail system up and running.

Three days after the initial quake, MTA had a new bus service in place serving the Westside, and had added 22 buses to five existing lines serving the Westside and one in the San Fernando Valley. More bus lines to serve the Westside were being added as late as Monday, Jan. 31. This was done to help commuters who normally used the damaged Santa Monica Freeway which was, until Jan. 17, the busiest freeway in the world.

Many commuters, accustomed to their beloved automobiles, looked to public transit for the first time. They called MTA's telephone information line to learn how to use the system. This resulted in a 40% increase over the usual number of calls, so MTA added 12 more information operators to ease the volume. Just two weeks after the Northridge earthquake, MTA had created, added to or rerouted a total of 27 bus lines. The agency normally runs service on about 210 lines countywide.

Having met the county's immediate transit needs, MTA staff then turned its attention to setting up a public transportation network that will be the most effective during the time it takes to repair damaged freeways.

The Transit Earthquake Response Task Force, chaired by MTA executive officer for operations Arthur Leahy, was formed as a sub-unit of a larger committee set up by U.S. Secretary of Transportation Federico Pena.

"The task force is working hand-in-hand with municipal, county, state, and federal transportation officials to identify problems, locate existing resources, and respond to the public's short- and long-term mobility needs," said White.

The task force didn't wait long to begin ordering service enhancements. Because of the State Rte. 14 freeway collapse at the I-5 interchange, Metrolink commuter train service became a vital connection between Los Angeles and the Antelope Valley.

Metrolink ridership tripled and MTA provided much needed bus service to passengers disembarking at the Sylmar, Burbank and Glendale stations.

On Jan. 26, the unfinished Sylmar Metrolink station was pressed into service, and MTA responded by rerouting seven existing lines to the new station stop.

"Repair time for the freeways is being estimated at anywhere from six months to a year," White said. "MTA will continue to look for ways we can make life easier for Southern California commuters while repairs are undertaken."

As the region's coordinator of federal and state transportation funding, MTA also is responsible for submitting formal applications for financial assistance from the Federal Highway Administration (FHWA) and the Federal Transit Administration (FTA), as well as state emergency agencies.

The Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) was one of the first to respond, sending a cash advance of $10 million to MTA on Jan. 28, just 11 days after the initial quake. These funds were immediately applied to defray the cost of the extra Metrolink and MTA bus service initiated to serve earthquake victims. "We are moving to complete other applications as quickly as possible," White said. "From my personal contacts with the heads of these agencies, I am confident that our urgent need for emergency relief funds will take the highest priority."

California Governor Pete Wilson and President Clinton both toured the areas that sustained major damage, and both have vowed their help in getting relief to Southern California.

"Their experience is working in our favor," noted Linda Bohlinger, MTA's executive officer for capital planning. "It is adding urgency to our applications for funding."

Bohlinger estimates the cost of providing emergency mass transit service over a 12-month period will be about $315 million. The bill for repairing the entire transportation infrastructure in Southern California is estimated to be more than $1.9 billion.

With the dramatic shift in commuting patterns caused by the earthquake, local transportation officials are now asking themselves whether thousands of car-loving Angelenos will continue to use public transit after roads and highways are repaired. They note that San Francisco's BART rail system experienced a permanent 20% increase in ridership after highways were restored following the Loma Prieta earthquake of 1989.

"We are having genuine success with our response to the emergency demand for new rail and bus services," said White. "I believe a significant percentage of Los Angeles commuters will become loyal public transit patrons even after freeways and roads are repaired."

Jim Smart is director of media relations for the Metropolitan Transit Authority.