REPORT: VALLEY BUSES COULD RUN CHEAPER.

Byline: Troy Anderson Staff Writer

Despite being locked into the MTA's labor cost structure, a San Fernando Valley transit zone could operate 16 percent cheaper than the countywide agency, making it worth more study, officials said Monday.

``I think the pronouncement of the death of the Valley zone was - to paraphrase Mark Twain - premature,'' said Supervisor Zev Yaroslavsky, chairman of the interim joint powers agency. ``We are going to keep this going.''

A consultant reported Valley buses could operate at $82.59 an hour compared with Metropolitan Transportation Authority buses, which cost $98.66 an hour to run.

Agency officials voted 8-0 Monday at Glendale City Hall to negotiate with the MTA to help fund a $300,000 study and move toward applying to form a Valley transit system.

They also voted 8-0 to extend the joint powers agency among Los Angeles, Burbank, Glendale, San Fernando and other cities around the Valley by one year. The agency was set to expire Dec. 31.

The transit zone plan suffered a serious setback when Gov. Gray Davis signed legislation during the recent 32-day strike that many zone proponents thought would kill the chance of creating a cost-effective Valley transit system.

The legislation, Senate Bill 1101, required that any new zone be covered by the MTA's expensive union contracts. After the strike ended, MTA board members said the new contract would save the agency nearly $25 million over the next three years.

Yaroslavsky said those savings would help make the Valley transit system a reality.

The study found a Valley transit system could operate cheaper because of the savings from the new contract with MTA drivers and management efficiencies inherent to smaller organizations.

``In an agency or business, the bigger you get the harder it is to maintain efficiency,'' said Russell E. Chisholm, president of Solana Beach- based Transportation Management & Design, Inc., which conducted the study.

``The zone simply by being small is able to achieve more efficiency and effectiveness,'' he said.

The report asserts that under current revenue conditions, a Valley transit zone would achieve a $11.4 million surplus in 10 years.

In the best-case scenario, the zone could see a $106.7 million surplus in a decade because of the MTA's new agreement with drivers and if the zone attracts less senior employees. The report also predicts additional fare box revenues and scheduling and maintenance efficiencies.

MTA spokesman Marc Littman said the $82.59-an-hour figure is in the ``ballpark'' of what it currently costs the MTA to run buses in the Valley.

``It's important to understand that the MTA's overall costs are much higher,'' he said. ``Our costs in some areas of the inner city are higher because our security costs are higher.''

David Fleming, a member of the transit zone panel and chairman of the Economic Alliance of the San Fernando Valley, said the next step is to get information from the MTA about fare box revenues showing the impact of the Metro Red Line and metro rapid bus service on the Valley.