MetroRiderLA

The Exposition Construction Authority’s next phase 2 Community Workshops - on grade crossings, station and parking locations, bike routes and more - are scheduled (notice):

• Wednesday, March 26, 6:30 pm, Webster Middle School, 11330 Graham Pl., Los Angeles
• Tuesday, April 1, 6:30 pm, Crossroads School, 1714 21st St., Santa Monica
• Thursday, April 3, 6:30 pm, Vista Del Mar Child and Family Services, 3200 Motor Ave., L.A.

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Metro’s draft Long Range Transportation Plan (LRTP) has been released, with public comment due by April 25. This is the master plan for Expo and all other potential new transit lines in Los Angeles County. The Westside and Downtown public meetings are:

• March 26, 6:30pm, Plummer Park, 7377 Santa Monica Bl., West Hollywood
• March 27, 6:30pm, Metro HQ, One Gateway Plaza, Board Room - Third Floor, Los Angeles

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To learn more about the Expo Line, visit Friends 4 Expo Transit and the Expo Line Construction Authority.

Metro is holding its monthly “live” internet “chat” today at noon. Metro Board Chair Pam O’Connor will be hosting the chat as usual, answering “your” questions about Metro. This month’s topic is: FUNDING.

• Can we afford traffic relief?
• Paying the bill for transit.
• Do we prefer a half sales tax hike?
• Toll roads?
• Public/private partnerships?
• Parking fees?

Although the chat is “live” your questions should be submitted in advanced before the discussion if you want them answered. That means you have a few more minutes to throw Pam a hard-hitting question. Then head over the Metro Interactive at noon to join the “chat”.

Update 12:01pm: Ummm here’s the direct link to the live chat.

Update 12:13pm:  Join the chat about the chat, here in the MetroRiderLA forum.  Trust me, it’s a lot more interesting (and interactive) than the official chat.

Clever Commute, a peer-to-peer tool intended to help train commuters, is the creation of New Jersey based IT-guy Joshua Crandall, a man with whom I had the opportunity to chat with about his efforts to bring CC to Los Angeles over a french dip sandwich at Philippe’s a couple of weeks ago. At lunch Josh told me about how he created Clever Commute in 2006 as a way for he and his commuting buddies to inform each other of any delays down the line. He set up a simple email list, and if any one on the list experienced a delay or noticed a problem, they’d simply whip out their trusty Blackberry (a prerequisite for commuters) and send a short message to the list describing the problem. Every member of the list would then get that warning and viola, plans could be adjusted accordingly.

Clever Commute has grown like wildfire since its humble beginnings. Once word of mouth caught on in New York, everyone wanted a piece of the action. Crandall set up his official website, clevercommute.com, so people could sign up to become a member of a list for their particular line. In New York there are now over 20 commuter rail lines, 5 commuter bus lines, 4 light rail lines, and 2 ferry lines that have active lists of Clever Commuters informing each other of delays and setbacks. Thousands of New Yorkers rely on Clever Commute daily to keep them informed of the transit situation. According to Crandall, after the New York Times caught wind of the phenomenon and wrote a story about it, things really blew up. Suddenly other cities were interested in the technology. Boston was the first on board and now has 10 commuter rail lines covered. Chicago, San Francisco, Portland, and DC are all experimenting with the technology.

And now Josh is bringing it to LA.

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Ahh, the audacity of hope… for a car-free future.

Last week, Metro released to the public their Draft Long Range Transportation Plan. The LRTP is a document that looks to assess and address the transportation needs of the Los Angeles area for the next 25 years.  A quarter of a century is a pretty big number, it’s hard to say if I’ll still be blogging when I’m 52, but if I am I’ll be able to link back to this post and review how the plan was implemented.

The next 40 days are crucial for the next 25 years, since Metro is allowing public comment on their plan until April 25th.   In order to encourage people to get involved, Metro has launched the Barrack Obama inspired “Imagine” campaign, in which Metro asks people to imagine a better future.  Yes we can!

The Imagine campaign may be Metro’s best marketing campaign yet.  It’s certainly the most complete.  The LRTP document[PDF] itself is beautifully designed, with inspiring photography that spans pages and equally inspiring copy.  The website is bold, colorful, easy to navigate, and interactive.  There’s even what I believe to be a Metro first… a blog! The blog even accepts comments.  There’s also a full on advertising assault, with billboards and posters promoting the Imagine campaign popping up all over the city.

Such audacity!

Join the conversation about the Long Range Transportation Plan in the new MetroRiderLA Forum.

Metro San Fernando Valley Sector Council member Kymberleigh Richards is known for her outspoken defense of Metro when it comes to criticism about bus stops and the lack of comfortable benches/shelters. Kymberleigh makes it clear that since Metro doesn’t own the shelters, benches, or anything else at a bus stop other than the signs, they have no control over the comfort level of the stop. In a recent rant, inspired by a Daily News article about revenue loss due to residents fighting against new bus shelters (provided by an advertising company) that they claim would bring blight to their neighborhoods, Kymberleigh draws the line between improved bus stop conditions and advertising. In the current reality, the two are correlated and you can’t have one without the other. So which is it going to be, comfier bus stops and more money for the city’s dwindling coffers, or neighborhoods free of corporate noise? Kymberleigh sides towards the former, and offers this bit of advice for those on her side:

I am offering a bit of advice to everyone who has ever wanted a shelter placed at their favorite bus stop: Write your elected member of the City Council. Tell him or her that you disagree with the perception that these shelters are advertising blight and should be restricted. And then make an official request for your favorite corner to receive a shelter.

Read Kymberleigh’s entire rant here.

Rush hour commuters enjoy their subsidized ride.

Let’s talk subsidy. The American Automobile Association just released the results of a study called Crash vs. Congestion: What’s The Cost to Society [PDF]. Yes, the American Automobile Association, the group that lobbies for automobiles and was formed in order to get more auto roads built. The study reveals that in most metropolitan areas, the cost of traffic accidents far outweighs the already high costs of congestion. In the Los Angeles metropolitan statistical area (which includes almost 13 million people in Los Angeles, Long Beach, and Santa Ana) the report concludes that the yearly cost of crashes amounts to $10.5 billion. Traffic congestion in the metropolitan area costs $9.3 billion annually. Together, crashes and congestion cost Los Angeles and Orange County $19.8 billion a year. That comes out to $1,561 per person per year ($817 per person for crashes, $744 for congestion).

Yikes.

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