The Legislature hereby finds and declares that:

(a) Public demand for an efficient public transportation system in the southern California region resulting from population sprawl, the concentration of many transit dependent citizens in the large urban areas, and increasing mobility requirements indicates a need for improved, as well as more innovative, policy and decisionmaking institutions to resolve these problems.

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(b) A basic purpose of transportation policy within the region should be to avoid undesirable duplication of transportation services, achieve the operation of a coordinated and integrated transportation system which will reduce automobile usage and dependency, reduce the consumption of scarce and expensive energy fuels, and reduce the levels of automobile-related air pollution.

(c) Recognizing the scarcity of resources available for all transportation development, the commissions shall give priority to low-cost highway and transit improvements, and shall work toward maximizing the effectiveness of existing resources available to the commissions.

(d) Recognizing the importance of the state highway system in the Los Angeles metropolitan area to bus, automobile, and freight transportation, it is necessary to maintain this highway system at least at its present operating standards and to increase the person-moving capability of this system by such methods as carpooling, improved traffic operations, exclusive busways, and fringe parking facilities.

(e) The transportation system should offer adequate public transportation to all citizens, including those immobilized by poverty, age, physical handicaps, or other reasons.

(f) The cities and local communities acting singly or jointly should be given more responsibilities for designing and providing local transit services to improve the responsiveness of public transit to public needs.

(g) The transportation decisionmaking process should be responsive to public values, and provide for the continuing involvement of the public in the preparation, revision, and discussion of transportation plans and services.

(h) Transportation planning should recognize that transportation systems have significant effect on the physical and socioeconomic characteristics of the areas served, and emphasis should be given to the protection and enhancement of the environment and the restoration of blighted neighborhoods near community centers. Los Angeles County, in particular, is a multicentered area with diverse socioeconomic levels and travel patterns, and a majority of the trips in the county are four miles or less.

(Added by Stats. 1976, Ch. 1333.)