MTA RIDING ON A SEESAW ROUTE PASSENGERS AVOID BUSES, TRAINS AFTER ATTACKS.

Byline: Troy Anderson Staff Writer

After months of record-breaking ridership, Metropolitan Transportation Authority's buses and trains lost ridership after the Sept. 11 attacks, but MTA officials Thursday said tightened security has started to bring riders back.

The security steps have included more training for law enforcement officers on buses and trains and daily sweeps to look for suspicious devices on buses and trains at Union Station and other rail stations.

``We feel the overall system is safe and there may be some enhancements to the current system we can make,'' said Los Angeles Mayor James Hahn, an MTA board member who requested a security report last month from MTA staff.

``The systems already in place include state-of-the-art technology - things like closed circuit television cameras and things like that. There are better systems out there and we are looking at those. The only way you could make it 100 percent safe is to shut it down.''

Figures released Thursday show the average weekday boardings on the Metro Red Line subway from downtown Los Angeles to North Hollywood dropped 13 percent from 140,750 in August to 124,100 in September. Ridership bounced back 5 percent in October to 130,075.

The average weekday boardings on MTA buses dropped 14 percent from 1,226,446 in August to 1,079,439 in September and then jumped 12 percent in October to 1,205,573.

MTA officials attributed the drops to several factors, including the anxiety caused by the terrorist attacks, a dozen bomb and anthrax hoaxes and the release of a mysterious gas Sept. 26 at the Wilshire Boulevard and Western Avenue subway station that prompted officials to shut down all 16 subway stations.

About 30 subway passengers complained of dizziness, nausea and respiratory distress and two Los Angeles Police Department officers and a 75-year-old woman were treated at area hospitals for gas inhalation. An MTA report on the incident listed the source as ``unknown chemicals.''

``There has been no indication that any subway or transit system in the United States has been the subject of an attack,'' Hahn said. ``I think a lot of people just stayed home, period, and were not going out to shopping malls and restaurants.

``We want people to understand if they do that then the terrorists win and that we need to reaffirm our freedoms by going out, living life and supporting our economy,'' he said.

Los Angeles resident Salbador Garcia, 18, who rode the subway from Los Angeles City College to the downtown Civic Center, said he noticed a lot fewer people on the subway.

``There are a lot of people missing,'' Garcia said. ``They used to take the subway, but now they take the bus. When they shut the subway down because of the gas, they got scared.''

Los Angeles resident Katalee Kitphanich, 26, who was waiting downtown to take the bus to her job as a waitress, said she doesn't feel safe riding the subway anymore.

``I think the bus is safer, but the subway is good because it's fast,'' she said.

Bus Riders Union organizer Deborah Orosz said the union's biggest concern is how the MTA is going to rebuild ridership lost after the attacks.

``Anytime there is a major event there is a drop in ridership,'' she said. ``We need to figure out how to build that back up.''

At the MTA board meeting Thursday, Paul Lennon, MTA managing director of safety and security, said the agency has not confirmed any ``credible'' threats against its transit operations.

In response to Hahn's request for an anti-terrorism security assessment, Lennon said he has continued monthly meetings with law enforcement officials assigned to patrol MTA facilities, continued their weekly Cops N Ops meetings at bus divisions, have put security systems in place and are providing training to employees via fliers, letters in checks, bulletins and videos.

``We sweep the subways and tunnel every evening with officers and security,'' Lennon said. ``LAPD and the Los Angeles County Sheriff's Department are dropping in on the divisions more frequently.

``Bus boardings have become more frequent and there has been increased activity by nontransit LAPD and (sheriff's personnel) in response to our operators requests for assistance,'' he said.

At a legislative hearing in Sacramento on Wednesday on MTA security, officials said MTA's bus divisions have 116 LAPD officers assigned to them and more than 200 LAPD and sheriff's personnel are assigned full-time to the rail lines.

MTA Chief Executive Officer Roger Snoble said an MTA rider has about a one in 180 chance of being a victim of any crime and a one in 700 chance of being a victim of violent crime. That compares to a one in 20 chance of being a crime victim in the Los Angeles area.

MTA spokesman Marc Littman said officials at MTA Rail operations center in Willowbrook monitor more than 100 closed-circuit cameras installed at the 50 Metro rail and subway stations.

``If there is a crime, they can monitor the activity,'' Littman said. ``If there is methane gas released, the alarms will go off. It's the nerve center of Metro Rail.''

MTA figures the Metro Green Line from Norwalk to Redondo Beach rose from 28,900 in August to 29,325 in September and reached an all-time high of 33,000 in October.

MTA officials believe the Green Line rose partially because people were not allowed to park at Los Angeles International Airport so light rail with buses to the airport picked up business.

Also Thursday, the MTA board voted 13-0 to rename the Pasadena Blue Line the Metro Gold Line to avoid confusion with the Metro Blue Line. The Metro Gold Line will span 13.7 miles from Union Station to Pasadena and include 13 stations.