RTD Riders’ Complaints Up; Supply Woes Blamed

Complaints by RTD riders about buses not showing up jumped 54% last month, a reflection of the major difficulties the district has had keeping its fleet running recently because of problems with its new, ultra-modern automated parts warehouse.

A new report shows that 342 riders complained in October about scheduled buses not showing up, contrasted with 222 complaints in September and 136 in August.

And RTD officials acknowledge that the sharp rise in no-show complaints--to a nine-month high after an general trend of improvement--probably understates the frustrations riders faced last month. For several days after the Oct. 1 Whittier earthquake, the RTD’s complaint phones were shut down. During that time, bus maintenance records show, an unprecedented number of bus runs were canceled.

The surge in complaints is tied directly to the RTD’s recent move to its new, highly touted $87-million high-tech bus repair facility near downtown.

Computer Breakdowns

The parts warehouse, which uses robots to retrieve parts and deliver them to mechanics, has been plagued by a series of computer breakdowns. As a result, beginning in September, the district was unable to locate and retrieve badly needed parts, sidelining a record number of buses and forcing cancellation of as many as 100 bus runs per day.

“When we (encountered) this parts problem, it began to fall apart on us,” said Tom Horne, the RTD’s manager of passenger services.

Rich Davis, director of bus maintenance, said recently that he had not had to cancel a bus run for lack of parts for years, before the move to the new Central Maintenance Facility. Davis said the district tries to minimize the impact on riders by pulling buses off routes that have more frequent service.

But some riders have complained to The Times that one bus after another has not shown up on some routes. After two Inglewood-bound buses failed to show up one evening, a woman said, she had to hop an airport shuttle to get near her home, then call a relative to pick her up.

Horne said some of the biggest problems have come when morning runs have had to be canceled and riders are late for work. “Then we find the person is very irate,” he said.

Down to 25 a Day

The parts shortages have not been solved, but RTD maintenance and warehouse managers said this week that the number of bus runs canceled is gradually being reduced, to about 25 per day now.

The officials insist that the new warehouse system problems are only temporary, part of the start-up of a sophisticated facility that is the first of its kind in the transit industry. When the problems are solved, supposedly by the middle of next month, officials say it will greatly improve the handling and control of the $20-million-plus parts inventory.

Both the Los Angeles County district attorney’s office and the RTD’s inspector general are investigating reports of theft and poor management control of bus parts.

While the current service problems may be getting better, Horne expects a relatively high number of complaints about no-show buses this month. “Until we get that problem corrected, we’re going to have a spillover effect that is going to impact service,” he said.