MTA Puts Price Tag on Splitting Off 2 Bus Lines : Transit: Agency proposes $57 million in subsidies for routes in the Valley and expanded San Gabriel service. Offer falls short, some say.

The Metropolitan Transportation Authority staff has put a price tag on what it would cost to further break up the MTA bus system--and the numbers appear to fall well short of satisfying critics in the San Fernando and San Gabriel valleys.

Under discussion are proposals for the MTA to spin off a separate bus line in the San Fernando Valley, and to expand the Foothill Transit system into Pasadena and other cities in the San Gabriel Valley.

The debate over how best to manage bus service across the region has long-term implications for riders as well as for the health of the various agencies. In a debate with parallels to the San Fernando Valley secession controversy, some argue that local control will improve service without rate hikes, but the two sides radically differ on how the agencies should split their assets and revenues.

In a new study, MTA chief Julian Burke proposed first-year operating subsidies of $20 million for Foothill Transit and $37 million for the Valley.

Put another way, the subsidies would amount to $68 for each hour a bus is operated by Foothill, and $69 an hour for each bus operated by the proposed San Fernando Valley bus line. Foothill had proposed a subsidy of $85 an hour, so the agencies are far apart.

It now costs the MTA a minimum of $105 an hour to operate each bus, and officials say that figure constantly goes up.

While leaving open the possibility of raising the subsidies, Burke said in a memo to the MTA board of directors that the proposed subsidies “are adequate” to allow the divestiture process to continue.

But Foothill Transit Director Julie Austin said the proposed subsidy is so low that it would be pointless to continue negotiations unless the MTA is willing to dramatically increase its share of the new bus systems’ operating costs.

“Only $20 million in operating subsidies on a $65-million budget is not going to get us started,” Austin said.

Los Angeles city officials are studying the proposal. The proposed San Fernando Valley bus line, which would take over about 18% of current MTA bus operations, would be operated by a joint powers authority that would include Los Angeles, Burbank, Glendale, San Fernando and other cities in the Valley.

Philip Aker, a planner with the Los Angeles Department of Transportation, said the city is approaching the possible MTA divestiture of its Valley operations cautiously.

“The joint powers authority will actually write the checks to the people who drive the buses, and it is quite possible that those checks could add up to more than the MTA suggests in its analysis,” Aker said.

Complicating the negotiations is a labor-backed bill moving through the Legislature that would force other transit operators to abide by existing union contracts with MTA drivers. Backed by the majority Democrats, the bill is sponsored by four major unions, including the United Transportation Union, which represents MTA drivers.

Foothill Transit, which serves San Gabriel, West Covina and other cities, says it can run buses better and cheaper than the MTA. But MTA drivers say Foothill drivers receive lower pay and benefits and have vowed that mistakes they made with Foothill will not be repeated.