MetroRiderLA

[tags]los angeles, metrolink, commuter rail, santa clarita, newhall[/tags]

According to the Santa Clarita Transit web site, the added emergency service on the Metrolink Antelope Valley Line ends today. Also, Metrolink continues to honor Santa Clarita Transit commuter passes as free payment through today.

[tags]los angeles, green line, light rail, norwalk, downey, lynwood, hawthorne, el segundo, redondo beach[/tags]

Metro has announced planned service delays on the Green Line from 9 tonight until 4 p.m. Sunday. Maintenance crews will repair and test signals during this time.

Metro has not posted schedules or decreased frequencies for this period. Other parallel east-west services in the area include Metro Rapid Line 711 and Local lines 111, 115, 117, 120, 121 and 125.

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

Metro has announced planned service delays on the Gold Line tonight and Saturday night. Maintenance crews are fixing tracks between the Allen and Sierra Madre Villa stations. Crews begin work tonight at nine through the end of service, and all day Saturday.

Metro has not posted the times or reduced frequencies for the trains. Passengers needing to travel between Pasadena and downtown Los Angeles should consider Line 485 along Lake Avenue and lines 81 and 83 in northeast Los Angeles.

[tags]los angeles, mta, expo line, light rail, santa monica, west los angeles[/tags]

Credit: Metro

Yes, it’s another in a series of many transit project meetings. This time, Metro reveals its plans for Phase II of the Expo Line, including the burning question: Will the agency do the right thing or cave in to the worst elements of Cheviot Hills?

All of the following meetings are 6:30 p.m. to 8:30 p.m.

• Monday, October 22: Santa Monica Civic Auditorium, 1855 Main St., Santa Monica
  Transit access: Metro Rapid lines 704, 720 and 920; Metro Express Line 534 and Local line 33/333; and Santa Monica’s Big Blue Bus lines 1-10 (except 6) and Tide Ride.
• Wednesday, October 24: Venice High School Auditorium, 13000 Venice Blvd., Venice
  Transit access: Metro Local line 33/333; Culver CityBus lines 1 and 2; and Big Blue Bus Line 2.
• Thursday, October 25: Vista Del Mar Gymnasium, 3200 Motor Ave., Cheviot Hills
  Transit access: Culver CityBus Line 3; and Big Blue Bus lines 12 and 13.

See also:

• LA Visions, the blog of Expo mastermind Darrell Clarke
• Friends 4 Expo Transit, the group that made the light rail line reality

[tags]los angeles, public transit, southern california transit advocates, transit coalition[/tags]

About 60 people attended Metro’s Westside Extension Transit Study Corridor meeting at the Wilshire United Methodist Church in Windsor Village on Tuesday night. Only about 15 people signed up to give public comments, limited to two minutes.

According to Metro staffers and the transit advocates attending the other series of meetings, this had the smallest attendance so far. The Emerson Middle School and Pan Pacific meetings drew closer to 100 each. [Note: See comments below for Metro's tally of attendance.] Metro’s anticipating more comments coming in by mail and e-mail.

In this meeting, as in the past two, sentiment is very much in favor of extending the subway to the sea. And this is the meeting closest to the neighborhoods that have provided the wealthiest, most concentrated and unabashedly racist opposition to public transportation.

A few of the homeowners’ associations representatives appeared here. A couple of them expressed concern over construction impacts, and opposition to bus-only lanes. One person was opposed to building a station at Wilshire and Crenshaw boulevards.

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[tags]los angeles, mta, blue line, expo line, gold line, light rail, downtown los angeles[/tags]

Possible alignments of a downtown Los Angeles connector to link the Metro Blue and Expo lines with the Gold Line.
Credit: Metro

Metro’s plate is pretty full with short- and long-term expansion plans. The Gold Line to East L.A. and the first phase of the Expo Line are under construction. The transit agency is conducting meetings for expanding services to the Westside and along Crenshaw Boulevard. Even the Orange Line is expanding from Warner Center to Chatsworth.

And now comes the Downtown Connector.

Transit advocates have been pushing for this, although there’s no money for it in the short term. Even its long-term prospects are sketchy, since more Metro board members would perceive this project as a second subway for downtown with no benefit to outlying areas.

The connector has merit — and necessity — going for it. When Expo Line opens, it will create a bottleneck at 7th Street/Metro Center that will make for very crowded platforms, trains running back-to-back and turning vehicles around in a very short time. Plus, as some of the alignments suggest, the north and east extensions serve important destinations in downtown: a cluster of fine arts venues, the Cathedral of Our Lady of the Angels, the Grand Avenue Project, the Civic Center and Little Tokyo. Best of all, Metro would eliminate one to two transfers as trains can now be through-routed. This allows for combinations of runs from Long Beach and the Westside to Pasadena and East L.A.

Keep in mind that an alternatives analysis is not a slam dunk for another subway. Alternatives include doing nothing, running the rail lines above ground, or even “connecting buses.”

Two meetings are scheduled for downtown Los Angeles in November.

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