The U.S. District Court in Los Angeles has lifted its oversight of the Los Angeles County Metropolitan Transportation Authority that had been in place since 1996 to assure that the authority improved its service. A federal judge says the authority, which spent more than $1 billion to buy new buses, add service and keep fares low, has “substantially complied” with the court’s consent decree to settle a civil rights lawsuit with bus riders, according to the Los Angeles Times. A spokesman for the NAACP Legal Defense and Educational Fund, which filed the lawsuit on behalf of bus riders, says they will be watching to make sure the authority doesn’t ignore the bus system in favor of rail systems in wealthy neighborhoods.
http://www.latimes.com/news/local/la-me-decree26oct26,1,3372225.story?coll=la-headlines-california