MetroRiderLA

[tags]seattle, streetcar, south lake union, seattle post-intelligencer[/tags]

Jerry Johnson, foreground, and Don Clifton model the “Ride the S.L.U.T.” t-shirts at the Kapow! coffee shop in the Seattle neighborhood of South Lake Union.
Credit: Andy Rogers/Seattle Post-Intelligencer

This is unrelated to anything in Los Angeles, but MetroRiderLA readers could use a laugh once in a while.

Dateline: Seattle.

The unofficial name of a neighborhood streetcar has stuck, and it’s a most unfortunate acronym. The Trolley line is the South Lake Union Trolley. Yes, SLUT.

This is one of the Seattle Post-Intelligencer’s most read and e-mailed stories.

In reality, the official name of the service is the South Lake Union Streetcar. SLUS. But that’s not nearly as funny. The funnier acronym was just an urban legend, but one that’s enduring. One coffeehouse — how Seattle – is even printing up t-shirts saying “Ride the SLUT,” with a picture of a streetcar to give wearers a point of reference.

South Lake Union Trolley Streetcar Map

See also:

• The Overhead Wire: An inconvenient acronym
• Seattle Transit Blog: Future of Transit in Seattle

[tags]california, san diego, amtrak, railroad, train riders association of california[/tags]

The Train Riders’ Association of California hosts the California Rail 2020 conference in Old Town San Diego November 2 through November 4, 2007.

The Saturday conference at Caltrans’s District 11 headquarters, 4050 Taylor St. in Old Town, features keynote speaker Richard Phelps. He is Amtrak’s vice president of transportation, formerly working out of Los Angeles but recently promoted to Washington D.C. He’ll discuss the national passenger railroad’s operations and growth plans. A lunch is provided at Casa Guadalajara.

Other conference topics include the 2008 election, California’s high speed rail plans, a fare collection presentation by San Diego-based Cubic, presentations on rail links serving the county, and the historic San Diego and Arizona Eastern Railway.

Sunday, November 4 has a rail excursion, but the itinerary remains a mystery. And Friday, November 2 has a no-host mixer at Old Town restaurant El Fandango.

Rates for the conference: $75 per person if paid by September 30, $85 per person if paid between October 1 and October 31, and $95 per person on the day of the event. Register online or make a check out to “California Rail Foundation” and mail to:

California Rail Foundation
1025 Ninth Street #223
Sacramento, CA 95814

[tags]los angeles, mta, red line, purple[/tags]

Metro has announced service delays for the Red and Purple lines on Sunday mornings, September 9, 16, 23 and 30. Crews will perform maintenance, and one track will be out of service. Purple Line trains will shuttle passengers between the Wilshire/Vermont and Wilshire/Western stations only.

Purple Line trains in both directions serve the upper platform. Westbound trains depart Vermont at 5:08 a.m. and operate every 20 minutes until 8:48 a.m. Two full-route Purple Line trains depart Union Station at 9 a.m. and 9:20 a.m., then normal schedules resume.

Red Line trains will operate on their usual platforms (downtown, upper and North Hollywood, lower), but service will operate every 20 minutes from the start of service until after 9 a.m., when regular schedules resume. The first eastbound trip departs at 4:38 a.m., and then every 20 minutes until 8:55 a.m. Schedules resume to normal service after then.

The first westbound Red Line trip leaves at 4:33 a.m., and then operates every 20 minutes until 8:53 a.m. Schedules resume normal service after the 9:05 a.m. trip.

This message is reposted weekly through the duration of this delay.

[tags]los angeles, mta, hollywood, bus stop[/tags]

The construction atop the Hollywood/Vine Metro Red Line station for a W Hotel has forced the relocation of bus layover points, but the eastbound bus stop immediately outside the station remains intact. The scaffolding obstructs the clear view of the bus stop sign — and a clear path to enter and exit the bus — but Metro’s Stops and Zones got creative here. It chopped up the normal stop signs and hanged them overhead on the scaffolding.

This may be the first instance of the “stalactite” bus stop in L.A., and possibly anywhere for that matter. No such specimen exists on the comprehensive collection on The Bus Stops Here. There are two rows of stalactite stops at Hollywood Boulevard and Vine Street.

For added pedantry, Metro has made the destination on Line 780 white type on a red reverse background.

(more…)

[tags]los angeles, gold line, light rail, pasadena, south pasadena[/tags]

Metro has announced a planned service delay on the Gold Line Saturday and Sunday, September 22 and 23. Crews are maintaining landscape between the Highland Park and Mission stations, putting one track out of service. Trains will operate every 20 minutes between 6 a.m. and 3 p.m.

Northbound trains will leave at 3:45am, 4:10am, 4:25am, 4:45am and every 20 minutes until 2:45pm, then returning to regular schedule at 3:03pm. Southbound trains will leave 4:41am, 4:55am, 5:10am, 5:30am and every 20 minutes until 3:10pm, then returning to regular schedule at 3:25pm.

[tags]los angeles, purple line, beverly hills, santa monica, los angeles times[/tags]

Credit: FredCamino

Developer Ken Kahan may have a way. He suggested to the Los Angeles Times’s Steve Hymon to use property tax increment financing which would pay for a subway construction bond. It was the second item, preceded by Los Angeles Councilman Tom Labonge’s frequent travel schedule.

Kahan, the president of California Landmark Group, suggested this method after purchasing land in West L.A., hoping to turn it into a condominium. This is currently used by redevelopment agencies, but laws would have to be changed to allow development to fund a future rail line.

It’s not easy to explain, so here’s a chunk of the article:

When those units are sold, Kahan expects the building will generate about $2 million in property taxes annually. Under his plan, the overall increase in property taxes would go to a fund, which in turn finances a bond to pay for the subway.

…

The downside is that the plan depends on continued turnover of properties along Wilshire and will likely invite critics who say it will bring too much density and redevelopment to Wilshire.

“Forget the development, it’s going to happen anyway and you might as well use the increment for what people are crying and screaming about,” Kahan said, referring to the Westside’s constipated streets.

See also:

• Bottleneck Blog: Subway to Sea: Show me the money!
• MetroRiderLA: Woo hoo