11.   A lawsuit, filed Friday in Philadelphia, contends that the new publication has made an unfair, exclusive distribution arrangement with Philadelphia transit officials.

12.   A transit official said that the agency counts a bus-to-subway transfer as two rides, one on a bus and one on a subway.

13.   After the news conference, Brown met behind closed doors with transit officials, perhaps trying to assess the damage to the system.

14.   All the talk of fare reductions makes transit officials skittish.

15.   Also, because transit officials have authority to oversee the editorial content of the publication, the publication allegedly violates First Amendment rights to a free press.

16.   Alston had been absent from work frequently because of that disease, transit officials said.

17.   But a spokesman for the national body investigating the crash and local transit officials said Tuesday it was too early to speculate on the causes.

18.   But another transit official, speaking on condition of anonymity, was more blunt.

19.   But before transit officials phase out the subway token, MetroCard bugs should be exterminated.

20.   But the city has not provided the welfare workers, and transit officials say they are being forced to hire the full-time workers to keep the system clean.