MetroRiderLA

[tags]los angeles, san diego, bus, megabus, union station[/tags]

[Updated to include photos and strikeout of obsolete stop information.] 

Californians, we cannot let Megabus fail.

A test ride on Tuesday, taking a coach leaving Los Angeles for San Diego at noon, drew only three riders. What a shame. Megabus offers a ride of such quality that it will change the way people think of riding buses. Megabus receives the highest recommendation.

Megabus has an all-new fleet of MCI J4500 coaches. The seats are large and comfortable, and riders have their own reading lights and air conditioning vents. Riders can bring one piece of baggage, and storage is available overhead or in an underside compartment. The coaches have a stereo and video system.

Best of all, Megabus has an unbeatable value. Tickets, if bought early enough, are as cheap as $1.50, even to far-away places such as Tempe, Arizona and the Bay Area. And with express service, buses may actually go faster than the time shown. The L.A. to San Diego trip, scheduled for 2 1/2 hours, arrived a half hour early.

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[tags]downtown, los angeles, pedicab, cycle rickshaw, transit, ralphs[/tags]

Eric Green and his “Green Machines” bring pedicab’s to Downtown LA.

A few nights ago when walking to the new Ralphs Fresh Fare in Downtown I noticed something that made me do a double take: cruising slowly down 9th Street was a pedicab crowded with happy riders. My gaze followed the odd sight as it made its way to Grand Avenue where it slowed and the happy passengers disembarked. I looked over to my friend who was with me and asked, “Where are we?”

Proof that what I had seen wasn’t an apparition was provided the next night as I was leaving Ralphs (yes, I spend a lot of time at Club Ralphs). The pedicab was there, dropping some passengers off in front of the store. Determined to find out what the hell was going on, we approached the driver and were provided with the full story.

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[tags]los angeles, television, news, media, ktla, hal fishman[/tags]

Click to go to KTLA.com’s story and photo gallery remembering longtime anchor Hal Fishman.

This item in particular does not deal with public transportation. It’s a deviation from the site’s content focus, mainly because of the news of the event and the person involved. So this platform takes time to celebrate the life and accomplishments of one of Los Angeles’ most important journalists and public figures. And personally, I started watching his newscasts at the age of 6, and he helped spring a life-long interest in current events local, national and international.

Hal Fishman was the anchor of KTLA’s 10 p.m. news program. Beyond that, he has been at that post for 32 years and with Channel 5 for over 40. His first career had been a scholar of political science, and while it was another station that put him before the cameras, he will best be remembered for bringing the news to Southern California live from Sunset Boulevard and Van Ness Avenue.

When the cameras were off, Fishman made his mark in the aviation world. He was a pilot and holder of a dozen aviation records. Like many other Angelenos, he had come from New York to became famous out west. Only, it would have been a career in academia. It was a televised political segment that led him to become an institution in Los Angeles news.

At KTLA, he would be its most familiar face for over half of its 60 years. And he worked alongside Channel 5’s other mainstays, including the late, great Larry McCormick and TV news’s most dedicated worker, Stan Chambers, who is still going.

It will be hard not to hear, “Good evening, I’m Hal Fishman” at 10 p.m., what millions of Angelenos have heard for over three decades. But, Mr. Fishman, thank you for keeping us informed.

[tags]los angeles, red line, purple line, west hollywood, beverly hills, santa monica[/tags]

Click on map for description.

The Pink Line meme grows again, ever so slightly. This time, here’s some seat-of-the-pants planning to determine what would be the end-to-end running times between Union Station and downtown Santa Monica.

The potential Purple Line route has already been calculated in the Metro Pink Line? thread. It will be reproduced here. This time, though, it would also include possible run times for the two possible Pink Line routes: one north via Fairfax Avenue, covering a bit more of West Hollywood; the other northwest via San Vicente Boulevard, which would touch a small part of WeHo but minimize inconvenience to Wilshire riders.

The back-of-the-envelope calculations used come from mileage data obtained from the Google Maps distance calculator, and times assume an operating speed of 20 mph. Operating speed means travel velocity including acceleration and station stops. This is lower than the speed limit, which can be as high as 70 mph.

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[tags]metro, los angeles, bus stop, culver city, d.i.y.[/tags]

A “bus bench” at LaCienga/Jefferson Blvd.

Apologies to Brayj Against The Machine for the headline, robbed from his July 3rd story Sweeping: A Proxy For Political Activism. In El-Brayjerino’s story, he takes matters into his own hands (literally) and picks up a broom and sweeps away the glass that has been littering the bike path on his way to work as unconcerned city employees drive by. In my story, anonymous riders of Metro Local 38 take matters into their own hands (quite literally as well) and provide make-shift seating to an otherwise barren and unwelcoming bus stop (at the corner of La Cienega/Jefferson in Culver City). Both stories are examples of people who are sick of the city not working for them, and full well knowing that their voices aren’t on the same frequency that city officials are capable of hearing, decide to go ahead and solve the problem their damn selves.

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“Yes? No? Well Marty’s driving if you want to go.”

Ahhhhh, the workplace.  The best place for contemplating murdilation. And the best place to grow a wonderful plant of contempt for hypocritical assholes that just can’t get enough of driving and terribly bland rice in sour cream filled burritos.

The above convo is something wonderful that happens nearly everyday at my workplace. Another convo that happens everyday at my workplace is complaining about traffic and the absurd parking situation that is going downstairs in the parking garage.  Now I’m lucky enough to avoid that nonsense entirely because I don’t drive to work but I’ve been down there and man, shit’s absurd.  Three levels of double and triple parked nonsense. If I were forced to drive I’d be pissed off as well. However, these idiots aren’t forced to drive and even with my constant talk of how easy it would be for them to just bus it to work they choose to drive anyway and spend the 15 minutes it takes to get out of the parking garage every time they want to leave.  So their complaints are of course met with mockery from me and I’m no longer invited to lunches.
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