MetroRiderLA

[tags]halloween, metro, red line, costumes, los angeles, hollywood[/tags]

Pork chops are always strapped for cash, good thing Metro now takes debit cards. Credit Flickr jesusskateboarding.com

Didn’t dress up this year? Didn’t get a pillowcase and beg for candy only to be let down by an apple? Didn’t think, you know what, I’m going as an ironic icon from the early ’90s? Answer no to all of these? If so then I hope you at least decided to ride around on Metro’s pride and joy Red Line last night because boy oh boy was that a site to see.

As we’ve all been accustomed to by living the public transit life, the Red Line, though packed to near capacity during peak hours, nights are usually much more docile. Nights greet our beloved subway with a calm hand and soothing massage. She’s (our subway’s, like boats, female) not working all that hard and is allowed to cruise through the serene LA underground in comfort. Sure, some guy might be eating sunflowers and spitting the shells out on the seat next him, and a group of kids might be swinging around on her hand rails like strippers, but for the most part, she’s got it made in the shade. However, most nights are not Halloween nights. Cuz on Halloween nights, bitch has gotta work.

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[tags]los angeles, mta, red line, purple line, transit passenger information system[/tags]

Metro is beginning installation of the new Transit Passengers Information System monitors on the Red and Purple Line platforms at 7th Street/Metro Center.

One of the older LED signs has been dismounted and gutted, resting beneath an escalator. One of the new 46-inch LCD screens has been put in its place. This photo was shot earlier this week, and the monitor was still in its original packaging. It will be operational shortly.

See also MetroRiderLA’s previous posts:

• Update on the new TPIS
• New info displays on subway
• Finally, a real Red Line message system!

[tags]los angeles, mta, crenshaw boulevard, transit coalition[/tags]

Map originally created by Metro, modified by Elson Trinidad

Getting sick of all these corridor proposals? MetroRiderLA sure isn’t.

This one is both relevant and geeky, because it involves an actively discussed corridor that is getting some money and a transit user drew his own map. Five points for effort, minus one for not using Google Maps.

The geek this time needs no introduction, unless you’ve never heard of him before, then in which case he needs an introduction. Meet Elson Trinidad: lifelong Angeleno, militant community activist and frequent user and amateur historian of L.A. public transit.

He posted this map on the Transit Coalition forum’s Crenshaw Corridor thread. The line would be a branch of the Metro Purple Line, but split off at La Brea Avenue, backtrack to Crackton, and join its rightful place on Crenshaw Boulevard through Leimert Park, then go southwest at Hyde Park to serve Inglewood and LAX.

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[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]psfk, conference, los angeles, metroriderla, fred camino, green la girl, flexcar[/tags]

The panelists: MetroRider’s own Fred Camino, Kymberleigh Richards of SO.CA.TA, and Siel of GreenLAgirl.  Photo by seanbonner via Flickr.

So I kept this on the downlow for a number of reasons, one being that I figured it would turn out exactly as it did, and two it cost $300 to attend, but now that it has passed I will talk briefly about my experience as a transportation panelist at the PSFK Conference this past Tuesday.

About a month ago I was contacted by the organizers of a special transportation panel at the conference asking if I would be willing to speak at the event.  At first I was honored but hesitant, as public speaking (and speaking in general) is not something I consider enjoyable - hiding behind the walls of the internet is more my style.  With some reassurance, I reluctantly agreed  and a month later found myself onstage with notable LA bloggers/transit advocates Kymberleigh Richards (of SO.CA.TA and San Ferndando Valley Transit Insider), Siel of Green LA Girl, and Margaret Kemp of Flexcar.

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[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.

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