“Private contract buses” that were scheduled to pick up Special Olympics athletes on Tuesday at LAX and take them to various destinations around the Southland inexplicably failed to show up, defaulting on a contract.
Out of sheer desperation, anxious Special Olympics organizers phoned the Los Angeles Metropolitan Transportation Agency, pleading for any kind of last- minute help to avert mounting chaos at the LAX terminal where Special Olympians stood around all dressed up with nowhere to go.
Miraculously, this public agency, which is responsible for local bus transit, stepped in and delivered 1,500 Special Olympics stranded participants to their emergency destination of Loyola-Marymount University without the slightest untoward incident.
The Special Olympics Big Shot’s pleading phone call for help was received by MTA out of the blue at about 6 p.m. Tuesday. MTA immediately leapt into action.
Twenty emergency MTA passenger buses arrived at LAX shortly after 7, and they began the long, arduous task of transporting the Special Olympics stranded participants safely and securely to Loyola, where the Red Cross took over the rescue mission from there!
(See photo of Special Olympics athletes ultimately in safe hands, sleeping securely under Red Cross blankets on the hard floor of LMU Auditorium!)
MTA buses continued their rescue mission, traveling back and forth between LAX and Loyola with their precious passenger load all night long and into the early morning, until the last stranded Special Olympics athlete arrived at the temporary Red Cross Shelter at Loyola Marymount University by 3 AM! A Herculean task that took 8-hours!
Bravo! Incredible rescue work by the MTA.
But the MTA Board members aren’t particularly interested in this amazing MTA bus rescue story appearing prominently in the Mass Media Spotlight because the MTA Board members, including Mayor Garcetti, have as their primary focus publicly lauding its faltering passenger rail transportation program.
Why?
To get lots more rail funding out of Congress…while allowing their stepchild bus service to continue shrinking and withering away.
Good publicity for its bus system is strictly verboten at MTA . Hence the attempted media blackout during MTA’s finest hour.
Is the actual reason for this terrible transportation foul-up being swept under the rug by the Special Olympics well-paid executives to preserve the Special Olympics’ flawless image?
Who is ultimately responsible for this quite avoidable snafu, which could have turned into a prolonged nightmare if it weren’t for MTA’s swift and silent rescue operation?
There must be a public investigation into this abject transportation failure.
Mr. Walsh may be contacted at hollywoodhighlands.orgg and jwalshconfidential.wordpress.com & Tweeting @hollywooddems