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ChineseSubway Mayor Bends Over For BRU
[tags]villaraigosa, fare hikes, subway mayor, metro, los angeles[/tags]
What happened to this guy? Image courtesy of Paradox Unbound.
It looks like the BRU’s relentless tirade over the proposed “racist” fare hikes has changed the tune our “Subway Mayor” has been whistling the last few years. Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa has finally come out with his opinion on the propose Metro fare hikes. Not surprisingly, he calls them “extreme” (something I think everyone can agree on), but what is shocking is his proposed solutions to keep fares low. The mayor has obviously become a pawn of the BRU.
Our lovely mayor has suggested that to free up money, the MTA should, in addition to rallying for more state funds (which I agree with), also reduce rail service and borrow money to buy more buses. Hmm… sounds like a reiteration of the BRU’s credo, huh? The mayor’s paltry proposed fare hike plan seems to solve nothing and showcases the mayor’s ability to be non-committal to any cause. In his proposal, day passes will rise to $3.31 (about a 10% increase) in 2009, cash fares would hold steady at $1.25, and monthly passes would rise 10% in 2009 to $57.33. This kind of fare increase does little to address Metro’s finances while at the same time pissing the BRU off (as they want no fare increase whatsoever). Essentially, Villaraigosa’s solution is essentially to reduce rail service per the BRU and to get the MTA into greater debt by purchasing more buses per the BRU. Mayor, perhaps you’d like to kiss Eric Mann’s ass per the BRU?
I just don’t see how reducing service is good for anyone. Especially rail service when we are experience such momentum in our rail system. In a Washington Post article from this past December, Villaraigosa is quoted as saying, “We want to rethink what the city looks like… to focus on new urbanism that make’s transit-oriented development and mixed-use development the future of L.A.” It looks like now the mayor’s vision of LA isn’t quite so grand, it’s more akin to the racist vision of the BRU - a city of poor minorities forced to ride on slow, crowded, plodding buses and wealthy whites avoiding public transit all together and adding to the freeway congestion in their automobiles.
The same Washington Post article has a quote for long-time bus rider and data-entry technician, Lucille Rawls, who was a fan of the Mayor’s subway vision:
“It’s funny [...] I have some rich friends, and none of them know about the improving system. But my poor friends can’t do without it.”
Mayor, let’s consider what the people want and not some group that has written itself off as irrelevant more times than not. An improved transit system (not one with reduced service) is right in line with what you’ve been preaching all along. Obviously Metro’s fare proposal is extreme, but please consider more rational proposals like those of MetroRiderLA and SO.CA.TA (.xls) before the racist and backwards demands of the BRU.
Discussion
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Please keep discussions civil: exercise Troll Controll.
The Mayor’s wish list for first class rail, bus and road infrastructure sounds like those old movie posters from the early thirties. “100% Singing! 100% Dancing! 100% Talking!” If only wishing could make it so. Meanwhile, his proposed fare increase, with its odd dollar and cent increments, seems calculated to not be taken seriously. You don’t need to be Nostradamus to figure that fares will go up somewhere between the druthers of Villaraigosa and Snoble, while the BRU will keep on entertaining us all with their agitprop theatrics…
Give me a break. AV has ALWAYS been in the pocket of the BRU, which is just another bunch of poor-me racists–and that’s AV’s primary constituency.
This proposal, publicized just 2 days before the formal Public Hearing is nothing but a PUBLICITY STUNT.
He knows there’s not a chance in hell it will even be considered, and by proposing it, he can abstain from voting for the Snoble proposal that’s already a done deal for at least the 2007 fare hikes.
And if you don’t think it’s a done deal, explain why Metro spent tens of thousands of dollars to put those “Why we need to raise fares” slicks on just a FEW lines, with no mention whatsoever of fare forums or the public hearing less than a WEEK before the public hearing?
It’s a DONE DEAL.
The BRU like nothing else has a way of making me so mad with their racist rants. Please mayor disregard these fools and look out for all of LA not just a bunch of self serving racist chanters. The MTA’s fare hike proposal feels like a bad joke. 500% increase? Looks like it will be cheaper to just drive…at least I will still have the DASH.
Don’t tell anyone, but as usual, Metrolink has a loophole. This time, it involves using a one way Metrolink ticket as an EZ Day Pass (which I successfully did on several systems a few weeks ago). For example, buy a ticket between Glendale and Union Station for the minimum Metrolink fare of $4.75 weekdays and $3.50 weekends ($2.50 seniors/disabled and youth weekends). That is the equivalent of a day pass.
[i]In Los Angeles County, the EZ transit pass program allows Metrolink riders with valid Metrolink tickets unlimited free rides on participating operators’ local services - any time, any day, any station, any direction of travel. Local service includes all Metro Rail routes and stations, Metro Rapid bus and Metro Local bus. An additional fare for express services may be required.
EZ travel does not require a direct transfer between Metrolink and connecting bus and rail lines. Remember, your Metrolink ticket must be for today’s date to be valid for travel on any of the participating EZ transit pass operators’ local services, but the time limits on One-Way, Round-Trip and 10-Trip Metrolink tickets don’t apply to connecting EZ Transit Pass services. Ticket time limits are only for your trip onboard Metrolink trains. [/i]
http://www.metrolinktrains.com/fares/?id=6
Since there is no EZ Day Pass currently being offered, this loophole also works as an EZ Day Pass. Remember, any ticket for any station pair may be purchased at any Metrolink ticket vending machine. The only problem is, of course, for the rider to get to said machine.
This is great if you’re already using Metrolink as part of your commute.
If you live downtown, you can take a DASH bus to get to Union Station for 25 cents, then pick up your Metrolink Cheat Pass. Brings the total up to $5.00.
This is a nice cheat, too bad that Metrolink is raising fares as well.
Antonio is the ultimate ham! He’ll do and say anything to have his picture taken, but he obviously doesn’t support everything he puts his face on. I think of him as Krusty the Klown: desperate to put his face and name on everything no matter how crappy it is. Kamp Krusty, anyone?
Anyway, piss on the BRU for saying the MTA is racist cos the rail attracts rich, white riders while the poor Mexicans are left to only the buses. If that’s so, how come the fares are the same for both modes of transit? Second, if the rail is so exclusive to whites, how come I only see Mexicans at the McArthur Park station? SHUT UP BRU!
I’ll support a fare hike, but I want to see a transit system that rivals New York and Chicago before I pay more than their transit rates. I want to be able to take a subway from my apartment in Koreatown to Echo Park. I dare anybody to tell me that nobody would dare ride such a line! It’d be the most popular in town!
And before anyone accuses me of being biased, I am a second-generation Los Angeles resident who’s half-Mexican and half-Irish and am visually impaired so I rely on public transportation, too!
I agree, Erika… I’m totally on the fence with this issue, I wish that Metro could’ve mildly increased fares yearly so that it didn’t involve this huge sock in the gut like this. I’m OK with steadily increasing fares so long as there’s steadily increasing service… I had to sprint for the last Koreatown train tonight, and it just makes me want to scream knowing that we’d get post-midnight service back when this line finally runs to Fairfax… even the first branch of the “subway to the sea” would change a lot of peoples’ lives… me, I love Koreatown but I’d promptly move out to Park la Brea.
Well, if wishes were fishes…