2007: The Year in Transit

The Year in Transit is a Los Angeles tradition. It’s a tradition that goes back 10 years, but it’s a tradition nonetheless. But to have continuity for a decade when the audience is the internet, 10 years is legendary.

And in 2007: The Year in Transit, the legend continues.

But the list first reared its ugly head in 1998, wouldn’t this be 9 years instead of 10? Well, skeptical audience, count the links below:

1998

1999

2000

2001

2002

2003

2004

2005

2006

That’s nine right there, and this bad boy makes it 10, or as the Romans say, X.

Drop $3 in the farebox for a day pass, as we take a trip on the Satire Crosstown. Metaphorically, unfortunately. If it were a real transit service, at least the schedule would be better than anything running out there today. Onward …

New York City’s Metropolitan Transportation Authority shows the world how to properly accept the American Public Transportation Association’s Operator of the Year honor properly. Instead of beating its riders over the head with it, Los Angeles-style, the New York ad campaign features a bus operator grabbing his crotch and the tagline is, “We got your APTA award right here, pal.”

Old Spice takes a cue from the milk industry and pays nearly $1 million to have buses throughout Southern California smell like High Endurance deodorant scents.

After the Bus Riders Union finally folds due to lack of relevance, Eric Mann washes ashore in Cuba, spawning an international incident. Acting dictator Raul Castro wishes to keep Mann, but brother and commandante emeritus Fidel Castro wants him deported to the United States.

Speaking of consent decrees expiring, the Year in Transit no longer has to include a certain percentage of items relating to transportation matters in Ventura County. So, for 2007, may the merger of the county’s Council of Governments and the Transportation Commission result in improved headways for VISTA bus service. (That, by the way, is the joke. How freakin’ sad.)

With the Democrats taking over Congress, a big loser in transportation funding is Rep. David Dreier’s Foothill Extension of the Gold Line. Dreier settles for a busway between the Sierra Madre Villa Station and Claremont, which will use Foothill Transit’s new articulated buses and will be named the Brown Streak.

Riverside Transit Agency is the first system in the nation to institute a policy where anyone caught bringing methamphetamines on its buses must share his or her supply with every rider aboard.

Southwest Airlines has a marketing snafu on its hands when it changes its motto to “Greyhound in the Sky.”

The Chicago Tribune influence on the Los Angeles Times becomes even more heavy-handed, as the transportation beat writer creates fancier factual errors by saying the Red Line runs between Union Station and North Hollywood or the Dan Ryan Expressway.

The Costa Mesa City Council votes 3-2 to forbid the Orange County Transportation Authority servicing its residents with fixed-route and dial-a-ride bus service. The council majority says bus service is the camel’s nose under the tent and it’s a slippery slope from reintroducing CenterLine.

Los Angeles County Supervisor Mike Antonovich fails to shake Angelenos’ enthusiasm for a subway extension, so he uses his ace in the hole. He convinces fellow Metro board member, Los Angeles City Councilman Bernard Parks, to change the color of the Wilshire Boulevard extension, ensuring enough disagreement to permanently freeze any expansion plans.

Santa Barbara News-Press owner Wendy McCaw is appointed to the oversight board of the city’s Metropolitan Transit District. She makes her presence felt by restructuring bus route to serve – and avoid – her friends, and nearly all of the agency’s operations and planning people are fired or leave for other jobs.

An investigation on why a section of Orange Line pavement failed after a little more than a year reveals the contractor used a low-grade composite made of old cocktail napkins.

Torrance Transit drops its slogan, “Public Limo,” after its passengers take it a little too literally by riding staggering drunk and vomiting and/or urinating aboard buses.

Plans for a large shopping development next to the Crackton Turnaround at Pico and Rimpau boulevards are scuttled with the deflation of the real estate bubble. Instead of a shopping center with restaurants, a supermarket and hardware store that was to be a crowning achievement for transit-oriented development, passengers are now going to have to settle for a Pepsi machine that works only half the time.

Long Beach Transit adds a popular new feature to its web-based bus tracker. Whenever a driver is late, passengers can click on a button to deliver a mild yet uncomfortable shock to drivers as a motivation for getting back on schedule.

A Metro Art selection committee made up entirely of hipsters is divided on who is the most talented artist to receive a commission for an Expo Line station. The choices are between the guys behind Obey the Giant or John Scott.

SunLine Transit adds another experimental bus to its fleet, a Gillig with a power system known as Flintstonium. The bus is emission-free and floor-free, and harnesses the power of the driver and passengers walking the vehicle from place to place.

Metro is unable to cope with a surge of riders on the Gold Line and buses serving Pasadena going to the Tournament of Roses Parade. The tens of thousands of new riders attend the parade live because the KTLA telecast without Stephanie Edwards as commentator is utter dreck.

Metrolink abandons any attempts to get the Riverside County Line back on schedule, but compensates for the delay in service by introducing its first sleeper cars to make the days just pass by for weary commuters.

Metro not only has a problem recruiting bus drivers. It also experiences a shortage of applicants for service attendant after people perceive it to be a dangerous job since Arthur Winston died after working as a cleaner all his life. (On this note, the Year in Transit closes in the memory of Arthur Winston, Metro’s most dedicated employee.)

Peace, and Happy New Year.