Statement on Consent Decree Ruling by Metro Board Chair and Los Angeles County Supervisor Gloria Molina
Metro has worked hard to expand the scope and quality of transportation services throughout this region, and Judge Hatter clearly recognizes this fact.
(Wednesday, October 25, 2006) I am very pleased with Judge Terry Hatter’s ruling today.
But I want to reassure Metro’s customers—and the public at large—that Metro is committed to sustaining the improvements made to the bus system.
We have invested over $1 billion in bus services.
We have purchased more than 2,000 compressed natural gas buses.
We have increased the amount of Metro Rapid Program Bus Lines to fourteen.
We successfully have launched the Metro Orange Line—and in its first year of operation, it already is carrying triple the ridership we anticipated.
Our efforts have earned Metro the Outstanding Public Transportation System of 2006 Award by the American Public Transportation Association.
We’re not about to lower our standards. Nobody at Metro wants to turn back the clock and undo all the progress we have made.
At the same time, Metro now will have more local control and flexibility in allocating resources to all mobility programs in L.A. County—from buses to bike programs, from highway projects to paratransit for the disabled.
As Metro Board Chair, I look forward to working in partnership with my Metro colleagues and our Metro customers to make this vision materialize.
