MetroRiderLA

[tags]foothill transit, silver streak, bus, los angeles, san gabriel valley[/tags]

Note: Photos and incessant linkage to come later.

Foothill Transit became the latest agency on board the bus rapid transit bandwagon, as it converted its longest, busiest and most important route into Silver Streak. Service began Sunday, but this trip was taken on Monday, second day of service and first day of weekday service. Rides are free throughout March.

For this trip, a special guest joined MetroRiderLA: Siel, the Green L.A. Girl. She brought along her laptop and was able to hook into the bus’s wi-fi and liveblog. Yes, the wi-fi works, and this is the first bus service in Los Angeles County to offer wireless access.

The internet connection is one of the few positive aspects of this “new” bus service.

Overall, though, Silver Streak gets a thumbs down as far as making a great first impression.

(more…)

[tags]peter mcferrin, expo rail, pedestrian, downtown los angeles, los angeles[/tags] 

Peter McFerrin, a scholar of transportation policy pursuing his doctorate at USC, maintains an interesting blog, Clueless and Slightly Slack. He often comments on land use, transportation and anything else he feels like, since it is his blog after all.

McFerrin doesn’t update his blog often because of his studies, but he often shares his insights in other blogs including Curbed LA.

Two recent items are worth a read from MetroReaders:

• Build Expo ON Expo-Highly recommended. McFerrin explains why the Metro Expo Line should remain along the Air Line right of way and pwns Cheviot Hills.
• Walking: The “First-Best” Solution-With the recent survey indicating over 60 percent of new downtown residents do not use transit, McFerrin says it may be due to walking being a far more viable option for downtowners.

Most interestingly, McFerrin can attend USC without having consumed the ideological Kool-Aid of certain professors in the School of Policy, Planning and Development.

[tags]expo rail, mta, metro, los angeles, cheviot hills[/tags]

Expo Line right of way in Cheviot Hills
Credit: Light Rail for Cheviot

“Do you think the people who live in Cheviot Hills are going to take this bloody train? “No, they are going to get in their cars. The people who are going to use this are the people who work in the hotels in Santa Monica, and they are going to come from the Hispanic areas nearer downtown. Now they take the bus.”

This is an actual quote from former Cheviot Hills Homeowners Association President Benjamin Cate, said in a Los Angeles Times article and mirrored on the Bottleneck Blog. Not that it matters who he is or was, since the statement would be reprehensible coming from anyone.

The practical case for keeping the Metro Expo Line along the quarter-mile right-of-way has been made well, in public opinion and at the scoping meetings. But, as evidenced by Cate’s racist remarks, the Expo Line along the right of way is now a civil rights issue. A matter of principle.

Cate has been a rabid opponent of light rail in his neighborhood, and we now know his angst is that Hispanics are not sufficiently pushed out of the neighborhood. The fact that he was elected president of the homeowners association implies that a number of residents share that sentiment. Fortunately, what was once a silent minority (i.e., Light Rail for Cheviot) has made its voice heard, so we shouldn’t tar the entire neighborhood with the same brush.

But with Cate’s blockbusting blockbuster statement, the Expo battle now goes beyond growth versus NIMBYism and any further action now is inextricably linked with race and class tensions. Cate’s comment makes race and class fair play.

For certain Cheviot Hills homeowners to overvalue their neighborhood’s importance to extort scarce public funds for an expensive, inconvenient and obviously unnecessary deviation, that’s pigheaded and petulant. To claim their position is with the overall region’s best heart in mind, that’s abusive.  To now know that a segment, in all likelihood well-off and white, demands a government agency to acquiesce to keeping out poor dark-skinned people from just breaking the plane of the neighborhood boundaries, that’s ugly and unconscionable. Most importantly, no one should allow an ugly legacy to stand.

Comments should be directed by April 2 to:
Mr. Joel Sandberg
Project Manager, Exposition Corridor Transit Project Phase 2
707 Wilshire Blvd., 34th floor
Los Angeles, CA 90017
jsandberg@exporail.net

[tags]sfist, laist, bay area, 511[/tags]

LAist mentioned its sister-city web site, SFist, highlighting why it hates the Bay Area’s 511.org traffic and transit portal.

Matt Baume of SFist says:

Here’s the problem, Five-eleven: you’re just not operating with your users in mind. You’ve thrown all kinds of seemingly random, disconnected data up on the website, with no consideration for how users might actually want to use it. … We could probably locate [bus stops] with some hunting around on Google maps, but come on, Five-eleven, you don’t want us to have to do that, do you? It’ll just make us hate you even more.

Rightly so. The programmers of 511 took over a home-made effort by a couple of college students, but forgot what made it great.

But how exactly is this relevant to Southern California? The Southern California Transit Information Page, now inactive but legend still living on the Wayback Machine, was built with the letter and spirit of the Bay Area Transit Information Page in mind.

What made the TIPs great? Or, at least better than 511?

(more…)

[tags]metro, mta, matchbox, bus, laist, curbed la[/tags]

Remember this bus? It appeared on this site a month ago, and it’s now also surfaced on LAist and Curbed LA. Added 3-21-07: And now, the Experience L.A. blog.

[tags]transit coalition, los angeles[/tags]

The Transit Coalition, the people who have brought you the Expo Line (seriously), has a new message board.

The new Proboards-powered board now requires a registered user name. Registration is open to all, and a small fee can pay to make the boards ad-free. The Proboard replaces the older board, which is still running for old comments.