LAist: Fuel Costs Soar, DASH Operator Idles!

July 3, 2008

Fuel Costs Soar, DASH Operator Idles!

A little over a week ago, the Daily News reported that transit agencies were struggling with the increasing cost of fuel and that some were considering raising fares, cutting services and delaying upgrades as solutions to the strain on their operating budgets.

Los Angeles Department of Transportation spokesperson Bruce Gillman reported that their fuel costs had gone from $4 million three years ago to $8.9 this fiscal year to fuel its fleet of 400 DASH and Commuter Express buses. Gillman, like the reps for other agencies such as the Metro and the Metrolink, were all able to address options such as cuts and fare increases but none of them identified solutions such as simply looking for opportunities to operate more efficiently.

Meanwhile, the number of people taking public transit swells in response to rising fuel costs while this DASH Operator takes his lunch break in the passenger seat of an idling DASH Shuttle vehicle, windows rolled and air conditioner running, oblivious to the fact that he's wasting fuel and contributing to the pollution in our neighborhood.

Los Angeles is the second largest city in the country. We deserve better. We deserve transit agencies that operate effectively, efficiently and responsibly. This week you've seen idling operators from the Metro, the Sheriff's Department, the CHP, the Gas Company and now the DASH, all completely oblivious to the impact of their behavior. We deserve better.