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ChineseMetro News Roundup 01/02/07
That’s right, I’m bringin’ back the news roundup. Matt, the Metro Librarian, does a great job at gathering transit news on his blog Los Angeles Transportation Headlines, so I’m just going to take the juiciest tidbits from there, along with anything else I might pick up (unlikely) and post it in the roundup. Why? Well for one, I promised a post a day in 2007, so this will make things a little easier for my lazy self. Also, since this blog has an active comments section, it will be a good way to discuss the latest news. Finally, in order to make it slightly more than a rehash of Matt’s work, I’ll post a “cool” picture with each roundup. The picture may or may not have anything to do with public transportation or Los Angeles. Enjoy.
- American Public Transit Association 12/28/06: Transit Benefits Increase
The federal tax benefits for riding public transportation to work are increasing. Good thing since you made that New Year’s resolution to ride the public transit to work! - Pasadena Star News 12/29/06: Railing against noise
South Pasadena residents are losing sleep over the Gold Line and its loud ass train noises. Is this another case of NIMBYism or has the MTA boned up again? Methinks the latter. - L.A. Times 01/02/07: She’s L.A.’s pedal pusher
Monica Howe risks life, limb, and social life for the Greater Good, that of a cycle-centric LA.
Discussion
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Please keep discussions civil: exercise Troll Controll.
re: gold line. This kind of surprises me… obviously, if heavy rail i.e. the red line ran at grade outside her building, you’d have a problem. But LRT is very quiet; even some of the older streetcars in Boston are so quiet that, if not for the bells, you may not realize one is coming on an outdoor platform.
I don’t remember a spot in South Pasadena where it comes closer to buildings than a median in the street, though it does come closer in Lincoln Heights… if they’re really putting the walls up along the part where the train runs in the median of the street, the locals will soon be squawking about the walls in short order too, because it’ll make the neighborhood look somewhat ridiculous. I should bust out google maps tomorrow and see if I can figure out where this area is supposed to be, i don’t have a photographic memory and I could well be wrong. But for LRT to be making the kind of noise she’s talking about, those tracks have to be directly adjacent to her building; just being nearby won’t do it, it runs too smoothly (less vibrations) and too quietly.
Let us know what you find out in your research Aaron.
Here’s a short news release from Metro back in December of 2003 regarding their work at “rail grinding” and applying “friction modifiers” to reduce noise in South Pasadena.
about three months ago i was sitting on the bus after work, stopped in traffic and i started to think, “eff this, i’m riding my bike home from now on. it can’t be any slower than this.” and it turns out i was right. the bus ride home is about an hour long, and when given a ride home in a car once, about 45-50 minutes. so one day i brought the bike on the bus and that night i put on my helmet and set out. my first trip took about 55 minutes, as i simply took my bus route home and therefore had to traverse the 1st st hill up to grand from beaudry. an exhausting and not all that fulfilling of an effort. however, after trying all different routes home, a fun and educational experience, my average bike trip time became about 45-50 minutes long. no more than the car and less than the bus and you can’t beat that constant excercise. for a while i didn’t feel so guilty about the chips a’ hoy and an advent (?) calendar of chocolates my room mate’s mom sent the apartment. however, circumstances have changed a bit and i’ve not biked home in about a month, though i plan on starting back up very soon. but like howe says, it is a serious risk. i have a helmet but seeing cars crossing and pulling out and merging without any amount of care who might be there is heart stopping. but i guess you just have to champion on. in a way, the heightened sense of urgency and noticing everything around you in flashes, and i mean everything, adds to the experience. still, any laws passed to further the cause for bikes i’m for. also, something she doesn’t seem to mention is not just the fear of getting hit by a motorist, but also the fear for my lungs. i wonder what exerting all that energy and therefore breathing in all that toxic air amongst the cars is doing for my body. (i guess just imagine just riding a mile and then standing next to the exhaust end of a hundred cars) could this be outweighing the good of the excercise?
tykejohnson, you make some good points but sme questionable conclusions.
Bicycle riding is a dangerous activity. It isn’t the cars, just the biking. For you, yes, it would be the car that gets you but without the cars it would be something else. It is just an aspect of the mode.
The air bit is a different bit. The air while not mountain fresh is pretty good and the bad stuff is way down. With one exception; particulates. Autos are much better but transit is exempted from the particulates standards. Even then all vehicles, even bikes stir up particulates in their travels. You can’t even kill yourself in a closed garage with modern automobile anymore. Vicious headache? Sure but the exercise you get is far more important than any environmental expouse you recieve.
oh damn, totally forgot about the particulates. were those mentioned in inconvenient truth? j/k. thanks for the info I shall now breathe with less fear. and yes, bike riding is inherently dangerous, though your point about if i wasn’t going to get hit by a car, then i’d just get hit by something else isn’t entirely sound. if say, the majority of current private transit persons were in a bus/train or on a bike the likelihood is a lot less, which is something. so you may be right, perhaps i’m DEFINATELY going to get hit, but if that’s the case, i’d rather it be by another biker, or more appropriately, less often.
Autos are much better but transit is exempted from the particulates standards.
Engine exhaust particulates or brake and tire dust?
Transit buses, and Southern California fleets in particullar, have been under heavy pressure to use cleaner technologies. Metro spent the better part of the 1990s finding the right non-diesel fuel that was clean and gave the bus a longer mean time between failures than one run (the “fuel of the month club,” in other words). Metro, and most agencies, settled for CNG. A couple of companies have LNG and propane-powered buses, and the smaller L.A. carriers are running gasoline-electric hybrid buses.
Transit also has the advantage of better maintenance of fleets than personal automobiles.
Exaust particulates. There are no formal requirements for brake dust, tire wear, etc. for any vehicle types but the manufacturers have been making progress nonetheless. It’s just a case of rules for you not for me by transportation agencies. Particulates have been long known to be a very nasty pollutant. So nasty diesel autos were esenntially banned from the US for decades. Double standards, nothing more.
The CNG buses of SCAT have long had high mantainence and poor reliabilty. The sad part is they still pollute near as much as good diesel.
The CNG buses of SCAT have long had high mantainence and poor reliabilty. The sad part is they still pollute near as much as good diesel.
We know. Some of them used to be Metro buses. SCAT picked up about 5 Flxibles in the 1800 series. It was rare to see one of those buses out of the yard.
SCAT has some newer Orion and NABI buses; how are those running? Also, didn’t SCAT pick up some used buses from Santa Barbara?
Chris, you try and get data outta SCAT. The dribs and scraps I get are only because I’m sufficiently connected and it is all hearesey. The NABIs are the smaller sized standard ones right? If they are they do poorly, they see light duty on things like beach routes. They are scheduled for relacement in 5-6 years after the Flxble and Orions.
Fascinating exchange about fuels last summer:
http://www.scat.org/Agendas%20&%20Approved/Approved%20July%2013%202005.pdf
Robert, the NABI buses look something like this.
These are fairly common in Southern California. Metro has over 1,000 NABIs in its fleet. Exactly 1,000 40-footers, 200 45-footers and over 200 artics.
Orions have many different shapes, and they look like these. The Flxible, out of business since 1995, is the rectangular one with the slanted driver’s window and the four-strip front door, like this.
The last of the Flxibles are officially life-expired this year, so they are on the extinction list.
I read that SCAT is looking into the gasoline-electric hybrid that has become popular in Southern California. Long Beach started operating those in 2005. Munis Gardena, Montebello and Norwalk piggybacked on Long Beach’s order. First-generation technologies are notoriously problem-prone, but Long Beach’s buses seem to be running fine.
The hybrids are an end-run around the AQMD rule that banned diesel for bus fleets. Gasoline is OK, but the electric component only adds to the propulsion. The bus doesn’t turn off when it idles or anything like that, and fuel economy is in the 4-5 miles per gallon range.
Paxil teeth….
Paxil withdrawal. Paxil side effects. Paxil….