For years now, the Los Angeles Bus Riders Union, the doughty local-transit lobby, has rabble-roused for more buses to carry the vast majority of Los Angeles–area transit users. Now, disclosures in a recent report from the Metropolitan Transportation Authority’s inspector general suggest that the union might also take interest in just how well the MTA checks those new buses for major manufacturing flaws. Which is, if a recent 250-bus sample in an official audit proves anything, not very well at all.”I think it speaks for itself,” said MTA Inspector General Arthur Sinai, declining further comment on his January 4 report to the MTA board, which concentrated on a recent, 250-vehicle delivery from a prime MTA contractor.The audit found both unacknowl edged, fleetwide problems with delivered coaches and a revolving-door policy permitting inspectors responsible for signing off on the quality of buses delivered to the MTA to take jobs with the contractor. The inspection also found that some of the MTA inspectors tended to cook their expense accounts when visiting the contractor’s Colorado bus plant.
Source: Smelly Buses | L.A. Weekly