![\"Standing](\"http:\/\/www.latimes.com\/media\/photo\/2010-01\/51804996.jpg\" "\\"Standing")
<\/img><\/p>\n<\/img><\/p>\n
L.A. County transit officials are forecasting the largest operating
\ndeficit in their history, prompting them to consider cuts to bus and
\nrail service as well as fare increases.<\/p>\n
The shortfall, caused by cuts in state funding as well as an 8% decline
\nin ridership over the last year, could be more bad news for L.A.
\nriders, who have long complained about crowded buses and limited
\nservices.<\/p>\n
"The issue is coming to a head, that they’re a quarter-billion dollars
\nshort on operating. . . . Your usual options are to cut service or
\nraise fares," said Bart Reed, executive director of the nonprofit
\nTransit Coalition, which monitors service at the Metropolitan
\nTransportation Authority and other agencies. "It’s a really hideous
\nsituation. Riders are going to feel the pain."<\/p>\n
The MTA says it is unlikely there will be major cuts to its ambitious -Ari B. Bloomekatz<\/p>\n Photo: This bus is packed, but MTA ridership overall is down. There are no firm proposals for service cuts yet. L.A. County transit officials are forecasting the largest operating deficit in their history, prompting them to consider cuts to bus and rail service as well as fare increases. The shortfall, caused by cuts in state funding as well as an 8% decline in ridership over the last year, could be more bad news for L.A. […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4131,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[7],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-218378","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/218378","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/4131"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=218378"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/218378\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=218378"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=218378"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=218378"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
\nrail expansion projects because most of that money comes from grants
\nand dedicated funding sources, including the half-cent-on-the-dollar
\nsales tax that voters approved in 2008. Read the full story here.<\/a><\/p>\n
\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t <\/em>Credit: Mel Melcon \/ Los Angeles Times<\/span><\/em><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"