MetroRiderLA

Watch out BRU!

I just discovered the Rail Riders Union and added their site to the Links Index. According to the site, the Rail Riders Union (RRU) is a non-profit mutual benefit corporation that was formed this year to promote rail transportation solutions for Los Angeles. Their tagline, “Dream with us, Los Angeles”, implies a visionary organization with sights set on the future.

The RRU’s mission is concise, “let’s build a safe, reliable network of mass transit which connects people with the places they want to go“.

Issues like the Long Range Transportation Plan, the Westside Corridor, and transit safety are top on the RRU’s priority list. Under the category of transit safety they promote barrier gates as a necessity in order to fight terrorism and to ensure that rail riders pay, a concept that many Los Angeles rail advocates might disagree with. I certainly do.

The website appears to be in its infancy, with links to how to join and contribute still under construction. It will be interesting to see if the RRU can pull together and become a real force for change in Los Angeles transportation. I’m also interested in what color shirt they choose for their membership. Yellow is obviously taken by that other union representing that other mode.

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.

A reader tipped us off on Foothill Transit’s hip new guide book for riders. You can check out pix and a quick review of the book on Heather’s blog, With These Hands.

The cover of the “Bus Book” injects some green into Foothill’s usual blue and white color palette, no doubt to capitalize on the eco-sustainable-green movement that has been sweeping the globe. Wavy green flourishes follow the path of a Foothill Transit bus like vines, and flowers, birds, and lush fields of grass are seemingly emitted from the exhaust. The ecological theme continues inside the booklet with the slogan “Fresh Air, Fresh Fares” used to highlight Foothill’s fare tables. According to Heather, the bulk of the book, the schedules, lack the flair of the cover, but still retains a few elements of green iconography.

I guess it’s not surprising that some of the best aspects of our region’s transit agencies are their graphic design and promotional departments, given the creative nature of Southern California. I’ve long said Metro’s designers have created a canon of work that is more often than not far better than the service it promotes. And although Foothill Transit’s Silver Streak might look like it belongs in space rather than the streets of SoCal, the graphics team definitely hit the right chord with this Bus Book.  Unfortunately, like so much transit design and promotion, for the most part it’s only preaching to the choir.

Jeff Kenworthy, co-author of Sustainability and Cities: Overcoming Automobile Dependence and professor of Sustainable Cities at Curtin University (Australia), will be speaking tomorrow (Wed. April 30th) at noon in the Metro Board Room at One Gateway Plaza (the Taj Mahal).

This special talk is sponsored by the L.A. Eco-Village, CRSP Institute for Urban Ecovillages, Sierra Club, Beverly-Vermont Community Land Trust, and So.CA.TA.

He’ll bring us up to date on all the latest research on rail in the major cities of North America, Australia, Europe and Asia comparing high, median and low rail cities with respect to a variety of quality of life issues, competitiveness with cars, comparative urban form, and economics. Lots of inspiring pictures on how to do things differently in Los Angeles. The presentation will help us see that urban rail systems are a critical element in building effective multi-modal public transport systems that create a ‘virtuous circle’ in public transport and compete more successfully with the car.

The talk also shows that cities that are more rail-oriented tend to develop better qualitative features of the urban environment such as more livable, attractive and congenial people-oriented public spaces.

This sounds like a very interesting event for those interested in urban planning, automobile dependency, and the future of rail in Los Angeles.

Elsewhere:

• The Ten Myths About Automobile Dependency by Peter Newman & Jeff Kenworthy [PDF]

This March Metro asked you to share with them what you Imagine for L.A.’s transportation future. In two days however, the 45-day public comment period will come to a close, meaning you’d better act fast if you want your input on the Long Range Transportation Plan to have an impact.

The last of the seven community meetings being held to discuss the plan is tonight starting at 6 PM at the Marvin Braude Constituent Service Center in Van Nuys. You may also email your comments to metroplan@metro.net or call Metro’s LRTP Hotline at 213-922-2833 to leave a voice comment.

Perhaps you need some inspiration to help gather your thoughts for your own comments. Check out Damien Newton’s testimony over at Street Heat LA. His comments focus on the idea of creating balanced streets where all transportation modes get equal access to our precious streets. Also have a look at the conversation on the MetroRiderLA forum, perhaps Dan Wentzel’s ideas for making the Valley/Westside transit connection a reality is more along the lines of what you’re thinking.

Our very own Wad (who unfortunately has been too busy with real life to write for us lately), sent me his comments on the Long Range Transportation Plan, and his letter, aside from the fact that it contains some of the best recommendations I’ve read, is laid out in a manner that I plan on emulating because it’s organized so logically.

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While Metro awarded Miss Traffic her tiara and t-shirt, San Bernardino County’s largest transit operator, Omnitrans, announced the winners of its D.I.Y. TV Student TV Commercial Contest earlier this month. The contest, which had local high school students competing to create a commercial promoting Omnitrans, had significantly higher stakes than Metro’s Miss Traffic. A grand prize package of $1,000 cash, a new laptop computer, a year of free bus rides, and the honor of having the winning commercial played on local television and in local movie theaters surely motivated these Inland Empire kids to come up with creative ways to promote something most teenagers might dread, riding the bus.

The online votes were tallied and the grand prize went to Trevor Stevens of Redland High School for his spot, “Save Gas Use A Pass“. The commercial pits transit user against car driver in a turtle-and-the-hare race, where the bus rider comes out victorious because high gas prices and an empty wallet stop the car driver in his tracks. Trevor, who according to the Inland Empire newspaper The Sun has plans to embark in a career in TV and film production, chose to focus on the money savings that come from riding public transit because “the biggest issue for students right now is the price of gas”.

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