STRIKING SOLUTIONS TO RIDERS' TROUBLES.

Byline: DENNIS McCARTHY 

Tom Drischler, taxicab administrator for the city's Department of Transportation, thinks he has a way of ending the 12-day-old Metropolitan Transportation Authority bus and rail strike in L.A.

``Get all the principals in a room, give them a well-catered lunch, lock the doors, and don't allow them to use the restroom facilities until this thing is settled,'' Drischler said Wednesday.

``It'd be over in a couple of hours.''

I like the way this guy thinks. He should run for mayor.

Nobody else seems to have any novel ideas on how to end this total abuse and neglect of the blue collar, working people in this city who depend on public transit to get to work so they can pay the rent, which, by the way, comes due again in a few days.

Drischler and his staff of four have the unenviable job of trying to bust these gypsy cabs and van drivers trying to fill the breach by picking up people in their vehicles and taking them to work for a few bucks a head.

``Everyone is more than welcome to be a good Samaritan and give them a ride for free, but when money enters the picture, it becomes an illegal operation,'' he says.

``I know they're providing a service these workers can't afford anywhere else during the strike, but the city has basic standards for public transportation that have to be met - such as vehicle safety, car insurance, and knowing exactly who these drivers are,'' Drischler said.

Since that's the case, the woman I'm about to mention requests anonymity since she's breaking the law, or at least the letter of it.

But she doesn't see it that way, and neither do I. If anyone's broken anything during this strike, it's the MTA. It told these people give us $42 a month and we'll give you a ride to work and back home.

They aren't. That sounds like fraud, or at the very least, bad faith. But nobody's out there speaking for the bus and rail riders, so somebody better give them a ride they can afford.

This woman, who I have known for many years as a civic activist in this city, is doing just that.

``I was at the Red Cross offices on Wilshire Boulevard last week picking up some books on CPR when a man knocked on my car window begging me to give him a ride to his job,'' she said.

``When I opened the door, four more people jumped in, two women and two men. They gave me $2 each. I'm not rich. With gas prices today, it costs to be kind.''

She made a deal to pick them up every day, and then began cruising Wilshire from Santa Monica to downtown for other customers, mimicking the gypsy cab drivers she saw soliciting business.

``You pull over, put out two fingers for $2, and it's either yes or no,'' she said.

Most of the time it's yes, because a regular cab ride for many of these people to work and home could run $30, almost as much as they make in a day of menial labor.

``They feel like the city's letting them down,'' she said. ``They can't understand why the city can't help them out and make a deal with the cab companies to help subsidize the high fares until the strike is over.''

The city has said as much itself. At Friday's City Council meeting, the council unanimously adopted a motion to have the city's transportation staff draw up a contingency plan for a city-run transportation system in case there is another MTA strike in the future.

You don't have to read between the lines to see the city got caught with its pants down on this one.

This woman filling the breach is making about $200 a day, she says - minus $20 for gas. But the days are long - from 5 a.m. to 10 p.m.

``I take them to work at hotels, factories, even mansions in Beverly Hills,'' she said.

``One maid has been cleaning the same house in Beverly Hills for eight years, but they won't help her out and pick her up on Alvarado Street or take her home after she's cleaned their house.

``I take cooks to swanky restaurants in Santa Monica, and they give me egg rolls,'' she said, laughing. ``It's a complimentary thing.

``When I told my dad what I was doing, he gave me a can of mace because he thought I might be attacked. But these are some of the nicest people I've ever met.''

They just need a ride they can afford. That's all.

Maybe we ought to start thinking about that well-catered lunch Drischler's talking about.