MetroRiderLA

• Re-regulation threatens to destroy the successful U.S. freight railroad industry.
• Even once-decrepit Hollywood has its NIMBY’s.
• Is this the California dream? Up-and-coming actress loses her life to the 101.
• Saturday is National Train Day, celebrate at Union Station

• Rail, racialism, and L.A.’s eternal struggle with both.
• In case you still didn’t know, the gas-tax holiday is stupid.
• How much for that subway to the sea? $6.5 billion baby.
• Most Powerfullest Nation In The Universe has a baby-dick of rail system.  Other well-endowed countries laugh.
• The real Miss Traffic is a Metro public relations MILF.  But what about Stefanie?

Much like beloved actor/bachelor George Clooney, MetroRiderLA is disarmingly attractive and overflowing with dry charm, and because of this both George Clooney and MetroRiderLA are able to pull off some spectacular pranks. MetroRiderLA’s most recent victim is none other than the Los Angeles bicycle activist Enci, who runs the blog Illuminate LA.

Poor Enci fell victim to our charms today when she posted an item on her blog heralding the arrival of Metro L8Nite Service on the Red Line starting May 5th. When I saw this on my feed reader I was immediately reminded of the April Fool’s joke we pulled on our readers last month by announcing, with fake PDF brochure and all, the creatively named L8Nite concept in which riders could pay $8 to ride the Red Line all night on weekends. Unfortunately Enci was defenseless against my expertly designed PDF (my services are available, operators are standing by) and my witty ad copy (a second career perhaps).

I honestly feel really bad, because Enci’s write-up was so full of excitement and joy at the prospect of the nonexistent service. It’s a testament to the quality of life improvements good transit service COULD bring… if it existed in more than just my twisted imagination. But Metro, take heed, L8Nite may have just been a convoluted April Fool’s joke, but maybe the concept holds water. Enci didn’t seem to have a problem with paying a significant amount extra for a few hours of late night service, and I have a feeling she’s not the only one.

All the best pranks have a deeper message running through them, Clooney knows this and so does MetroRider. I hope the message of MetroL8Nite rings loud and clear.

• Valley residents to Metro: We Imagine a future without growth.
• Peter Gordon vs. Bart Reed: Blah blah blah, city planning, blah blah blah, congestion pricing, blah blah blah, sprawl, blah blah blah.
• Gold Line to Montclair bill working its way through Washington.
• Yet another article about the unfairness of congestion pricing. Yawn.

Confession. I bought a Nintendo Wii. There are already too few hours in the day to do what I need and want to do (as evidenced by the sporadic posting around here lately), and yet, I bought a Nintendo Wii. As if writing a Metro blog wasn’t enough of a distraction from trying to make my freelance graphic design business the kind of venture that pays my bills, I had to go and buy a Nintendo Wii.

So here’s how my Wednesday was shaping up. I had a plate full of work, a lack of sleep from the previous night, a Nintendo Wii cooing my name in the other room, and on top of all that, some dude was supposed to talk about urban rail over at Metro Headquarters. Talk about a dilemma. Do I do the responsible thing and work through lunch, ensuring (at least temporarily) my financial future? Do I abuse my home office and take a nap? Do I falter to the Wii’s incessant pleading and waste the rest of my day playing fake doubles tennis against a bunch of virtual Weebles? Or do I put blog before work and go check out Jeff Kentworthy, co-author of Sustainability and Cities: Overcoming Automobile Dependence, over at Metro HQ.

Yes loyal readers, I sacrificed work (easy), napping (harder), and the Wii (damn near impossible), to learn about the advantages of urban rail. The following is a record of what I learned as to ensure my choice was not in vain.

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Image courtesy of nathansnider.

• Is car culture reaching its threshold? Freakonomics ponders.
• D.I.Y. bicyclist punks determined to make L.A. bike friendly, politicians be damned.
• Peter Gordon vs. Bart Reed: the congestion pricing battle rages on.
• Economists, and Obama, know that a gas-tax holiday is a joke.
• Black chicks in L.A.: if you wanna get your hair did, eventually you’re going to have to bus it to South Central.  Here’s how.