MetroRiderLA

[tags]southern california, public transit, fire[/tags]

The fires throughout Southern California have forced transit agencies to curtail services.

Metro

• The northbound terminal of Line 534 is moved to Pacific Coast Highway and Sunset Boulevard until further notice while fire crews are battling flames in Malibu.

Metrolink

• The commuter rail agency reports delays on several trains throughout the system due to the fires and strong winds. Check the agency’s site for up-to-date notices on delays.

Santa Clarita Transit

• The following closures are in effect as of 7:15 p.m. Monday
  • Line 2: Unable to serve Chiquito Canyon & San Martinez Roads in Val Verde.
  • Lines 3 and 7: Unable to serve Seco Canyon Road north of Copper Hill Drive.
  • Lines 4 and 14: Unable to serve Bouquet Canyon north of Plum Canyon Road.

San Diego County

• Line 20 is not running North of Rancho Carmel Dr.
• Lines 888, 894, 810, 820, 850, 860 are not in service.
• Line 964 is unable to access the Transit Center at Alliant University and is making a U-turn at the entrance to the school and then proceeding back into the Mira Mesa area
• Passengers using paratransit services are advised to cancel their ride unless the trip is of an imperative nature.
• North County Transit District will operate a reduced or Sunday schedule on buses today.
• Coaster Connections in Carlsbad, Encinitas and Sorrento Valley will operate normal weekday schedules.
• Routes 308, 350 & 351 will not operate.

Orange County Transportation Authority’s server was down at press time. Information was unavailable for affected Orange County bus service.

[tags]orange county, octa, metrolink, amtrak, anaheim, transit oriented development[/tags]

A Metrolink train at Anaheim station. This site is targeted for transit oriented development and a major transportation center for Orange County.
Credit: Patrick Dirden via Flickr (Creative Commons license)

Orange County Transportation Authority — but not the 60-foot buses with the stylish accordion centers. It already has those.

ARTIC is the acronym for the Anaheim Regional Transportation Intermodal Center, a Grand Central Terminal for Orange County. It would be built on or near the present Anaheim Metrolink and Amtrak station, which just happens to have Anaheim Stadium next door and the Honda Center a long block away. Anaheim city officials are calling this area the “Platinum Triangle”.

Orange County Register reports that OCTA is hosting a conference on October 29 to discuss development opportunities on the 16 acres the transit agency has purchased. The agency hopes developers would offset the costs of building a bus and train hub on a part of the stadium. Presently, the Anaheim Station is a small staffed platform with only rush-hour Metrolink feeder buses going on the property. Passengers must walk a far distance to catch nearby local buses.

[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, mta, blue line, expo line, gold line, light rail, downtown los angeles[/tags]

Possible alignments of a downtown Los Angeles connector to link the Metro Blue and Expo lines with the Gold Line.
Credit: Metro

Metro’s plate is pretty full with short- and long-term expansion plans. The Gold Line to East L.A. and the first phase of the Expo Line are under construction. The transit agency is conducting meetings for expanding services to the Westside and along Crenshaw Boulevard. Even the Orange Line is expanding from Warner Center to Chatsworth.

And now comes the Downtown Connector.

Transit advocates have been pushing for this, although there’s no money for it in the short term. Even its long-term prospects are sketchy, since more Metro board members would perceive this project as a second subway for downtown with no benefit to outlying areas.

The connector has merit — and necessity — going for it. When Expo Line opens, it will create a bottleneck at 7th Street/Metro Center that will make for very crowded platforms, trains running back-to-back and turning vehicles around in a very short time. Plus, as some of the alignments suggest, the north and east extensions serve important destinations in downtown: a cluster of fine arts venues, the Cathedral of Our Lady of the Angels, the Grand Avenue Project, the Civic Center and Little Tokyo. Best of all, Metro would eliminate one to two transfers as trains can now be through-routed. This allows for combinations of runs from Long Beach and the Westside to Pasadena and East L.A.

Keep in mind that an alternatives analysis is not a slam dunk for another subway. Alternatives include doing nothing, running the rail lines above ground, or even “connecting buses.”

Two meetings are scheduled for downtown Los Angeles in November.

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[tags]los angeles, red line, transit oriented development, nbc, universal city, north hollywood[/tags]

Rendering of MetroStudio@Lankershim, the proposed headquarters of NBC/Universal. Clicking on the picture goes to the project web site.

North Hollywood was in the news for L.A.’s biggest, boldest development at the junction of the Metro Red and Orange lines. Even that $1 billion investment is now dwarfed, in less than two weeks, by an even bigger, bolder plan by a big, bold media company. NBC/Universal is consolidating its operations, and the Peacock is leaving Burbank for Campo de Cahuenga, right above the Universal City station! And this one promises to be about $3 billion!

Google News has several news stories on the NBC move. Also, the developer has launched a site for the project, titled MetroStudio@Lankershim. Curbed LA has been all abuzz with several NBC-move posts, including this statement left in its inbox:

UNIVERSAL CITY - The NBC relocation atop a Red Line station has inspired several of you to wax poetic about the realization of the LA subway as a viable system. “Would it make sense for either Google or Yahoo to have a presence there rather than in Santa Monica… Also a good time to rethink about the extensions of the Red Line subway north, as well as the Purple Line to Santa Monica to allow the suits on the west side an opportunity to get to the offices in Universal. Now LA is starting to understand how [transit oriented developments] can really be beneficial.

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[tags]los angeles, mta, public transit, santa monica, pam o’connor[/tags]

Metro board chair — and Santa Monica council member — Pam O’Connor invites Metro riders and haters to an online chat beginning at noon Wednesday.

Questions may be submitted to Metro in advance, and will be answered during the live chat.

This is Metro’s first online chat.