MetroRiderLA

Thought your favorite band was the coolest and most socially correct? Well check this out: Not only are the Secret Machines playing a show in San Diego this week to benefit the hardest hit regions in Dafur, but early next week they will be playing a show at Union Station to raise awareness of public transportation here in LA. There will also be a special DJ set by Shepard Fairley and a photography exhibit by Mark The Coberasnake featuring people riding public transportation. Here’s the catch - you can’t come by car. The 8:00pm show requires a valid incoming Metro to get in. And they’ll apparently be checking to make sure you didn’t park at Union Station and buy a Red Line ticket once there. Ok, so when we said free, we really meant $1.25. But hey, a cool band in a cool building.

Secret Machines
Tuesday, October 24^th
7:30pm @ Union Station
Valid Metro Ticket required for admission

http://www.thetransitcoalition.us/newspdf/ttc20061017c.pdf
www.myspace.com/secretmachines

(more…)

Thought your favorite band was the coolest and most socially correct? Well check this out: Not only are the Secret Machines playing a show in San Diego this week to benefit the hardest hit regions in Dafur, but early next week they will be playing a show at Union Station to raise awareness of public transportation here in LA. There will also be a special DJ set by Shepard Fairley and a photography exhibit by Mark The Coberasnake featuring people riding public transportation. Here’s the catch - you can’t come by car. The 8:00pm show requires a valid incoming Metro ticket to get in. And they’ll apparently be checking to make sure you didn’t park at Union Station and buy a Red Line ticket once there. Ok, so when we said free, we really meant $1.25. But hey, a cool band in a cool building. You can’t really go wrong.
Secret Machines
Tuesday, October 24^th
7:30pm @ Union Station
Valid Metro Ticket required for admission

http://www.thetransitcoalition.us/newspdf/ttc20061017c.pdf
www.myspace.com/secretmachines

(more…)

Ahh Los Angeles… the smog-ridden cultural and transit wasteland. At least that’s what they’d like us to believe. But MetroRiders know better, and we’ve found that one of the best ways to experience the “cultural” side of Los Angeles is by never setting foot in a personal automoblie… those just lead us to parking lots and pricey valets. Why not hop on LA’s most scenic rail line, the Gold Line, and experience some of LA County’s finest art in one of its finest (and transit centered) cities: Pasadena.

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Photo by elemenoh_’s via Flickr.

The L.A. Straphanger has made a list of his Top 10 L.A. Transit Gripes. Now there’s nothing inherently unique about a blogger griping about transit in Los Angeles, but the Straphanger is a transit blogger who’s definately got some sense about him, so his list is pretty respectable as far as these types of posts go. (more…)

Over at Blogdowntown, poster David Kennedy relays a tale of how he and his wife attempted to go car-free a few years ago. As residents of Downtown LA, they were in the fortunate position of being located in the transit center of Los Angeles, and were able to live a virtually car-free lifestyle (they left their car parked and only used it when absolutely neccessary) until the arrival of their first daughter, because as David states, “I’ve found that being a parent involves a lot of unplanned activty which comes up on very short notice where a car is the preferred way to go.” I’ve always felt that having children would be the wildcard in living a truly car-free life in Los Angeles for the reason David mentioned, but with the advent of Flexcar, perhaps the actual owning of a car can be avoided.

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“From 1904 thru the 1920s Los Angeles’s rail transit system continued rapid growth, eventually operating trains on 1100 miles of track along with 2800 scheduled trains daily to become the world’s largest rail mass transit system. This photo shows the opening day of Los Angeles’s first subway in 1928. This view is of the west portal where the trains entered and exited the subway tunnels. The line ended at the Subway Terminal Building. The subway part of the transit system ran only under City Center West to avoid the already congested streets above. When service ended in 1955 the subway was carrying 100,000 passengers per day. Today the west portal sections of abandoned subway tunnels are occassionally used by film studios.”

Read more about it!