MetroRiderLA

[tags]los angeles, downtown los angeles, pedicab, la downtown news[/tags]

Eric Green, profiled here for his fledgling pedicab service in downtown Los Angeles, had to temporarily shut down his business before it gained some momentum.

The Los Angeles Department of Transportation, which regulates forms of transportation competing with Green’s pedicabs — taxis and DASH buses — required Green to get “special permits,” although he has a business license and insurance.

“I’m in limbo,” Green told the LA Downtown News. “I haven’t been told I can’t operate this business but it will be a lengthy process. Several other agencies have to check me off and give me the okay.”

The Downtown News editorialized for the DOT to help Green get back in business, and for other pedicab operators to expand the enterprise.

See also:

• MetroRiderLA: A New Tranist [sic] Option In Downtown: Pedicabs
• Pedicab News, a blog about this novel mode
• Technorati search about Green and his pedicab

[tags]palm springs, sunline transit, coachella valley, indio, public transit[/tags]

 
Indio won’t just be a city trains pass through when the city’s transit center is completed.
Credit: Sonomabuzz via Flickr (Creative Commons license)

Indio, a city 20 miles southeast of Palm Springs, is breaking ground on a multimodal transportation hub at an old rail yard expected to open in about two years.

The city’s mayor, Ben Godfrey, is on a Napoleonic quest to make Indio another Oxnard or Oceanside, both of which have several modes at their transit centers. Here’s some of what Godfrey said to KESQ-Channel 3 that will serve Indio:

• Park-and-ride shuttles to Palm Springs and Los Angeles airports (!)
• Metrolink service to Los Angeles (!!)
• Bringing more Amtrak service into Indio (!!!)

Godfrey also said there are silent partners from the private sector who would pay for most of these improvements “who prefer to remain silent.” (!!!!) Yes, that’s a direct quote from the KESQ story.

Presently, Indio is served by four SunBus lines. Indio is the eastern terminal of Line 111, the backbone line of Coachella Valley. There are also three other bus lines: 80 and 90, loop routes with 30 minute service; and 91, a bus connecting with Thermal, Oasis and Mecca that runs every 70 minutes. One Amtrak Sunset Limited train passes through town three times a week, but stops in Palm Springs.

[tags]la county fair, metrolink, los angeles, commuter train, pomona[/tags]

The L.A. County Fair is here for the month of September, and you can get there car-free thanks to Metrolink! The San Bernardino Line has been tweaked this month to include a special L.A. County Fair stop and extended hours on Thursday through Sunday. According the Google Maps, the 28.5 mile driving trip from Union Station to the Fairplex can take up to 1 hour 10 minutes with traffic and per the AAA formula for driving cost would cost $31.32. Parking at the Fairplex will cost you $10. The trip from Union Station to the Fairplex on the Metrolink takes 45 minutes and the round trip cost for an adult is $13.50 on Thursday/Friday and $10.25 on the weekend ($6.75 for seniors and under-18 on the weekend). Also, Metrolink reminds you to buy your round trip pass at your home station, because the Fairplex station is temporary and thus has no ticket machines, so if you don’t buy a round trip you’ll be trapped in Pomona! Also, when you’re on the train, be on the look out for coupons for the LA County Fair.

More info:

• 2007 LA County Fair - Metrolink Schedule (PDF)
• September 2007 Metrolink Matters (PDF)
• LAist - The Fair Is A Veritable Smorgasbord

[tags]los angeles, urban planning, paul shigley, downtown[/tags]

Pasadena not only has a beautiful city hall, pictured, but it was also named California’s best mid-size city downtown by an urban planning blogger. Find more images in Flickr’s Pasadena photo pool.
Credit: Lush.i.ous via Flickr (Creative Commons license)

California Policy & Development Report’s editor, Paul Shigley, compiled his list of favorite downtowns in California’s mid-sized cities. The winners surprised no one, as his preview for this list mentioned there had to be more to downtowns than Pasadena and Santa Barbara.

Sho ’nuff, Pasadena and Santa Barbara have the number 1 and number 2 mid-size downtowns in California. An alternative headline to this entry could have been “We’re Number 1,” as big cities of Long Beach and Los Angeles placed third and fourth in California’s list of big city downtowns.

Southern California was well represented, and one shoo-in received a backhanded compliment from Shigley.

(more…)

[tags]los angeles, urban planning, bill fulton, joel kotkin, richard florida[/tags]

Bill Fulton promised a three-part salvo against Joel Kotkin on his blog, ever since the latter criticized Los Angeles for “Manhattanizing.” Kotkin believes the cities of the future are the ones who stick to mid-20th-century suburbanization.

In the coda, “Cool v. Uncool Cities: The Battle For The Soul Of Economic Development,” Fulton has Richard Florida caught in the Kotkin crossfire. Florida’s thesis is an economy driven by 40 million workers that are a part of the “creative class.” This class desires an urban space with lively arts, commerce and architecture. Kotkin, meanwhile, asserts cities must stick to modernist planning to keep local economies relevant — “Irvine-izing” rather than “Manhattanizing”.

This series has been a fascinating read. MetroRiderLA has recaps of this debate in the following posts:

• On Joel Kotkin
• Pasadena, not Manhattan
• Another week of Fulton vs. Kotkin

[tags]los angeles, griffith observatory, la weekly[/tags]

The Griffith Observatory: You can’t get up here from down there unless you hike or take a shuttle bus.
Credit: Dave Bullock (eecue) (Creative Commons license)

LA Weekly tore into the Griffith Observatory’s arrangement of keeping cars down in the flats and forcing patrons to pay $8 for a shuttle bus — each way — that has been taking as much as an hour to make the climb.

Writer David Ferrell has been chronicling horror stories from first- and last-time users of this busing arrangement. One rider paid $32 total for a family excursion. An LA Weekly editor made the hike up, but wanted to take the bus down at night. She couldn’t, and she found her car ticketed and locked up for the night in the Greek Theatre lot.

The city may look to scrap the shuttle bus deal entirely. It has already canceled the Hollywood & Highland shuttle, so there’s no access from the Metro Red Line. The only stop now is near the zoo, and the only transit connection is the … urk … contract-operated Line 96.

An historical note to make here: there was public bus service up to the Observatory before it was closed for renovations. LADOT operated Line 203 from the Observatory, down Vermont Avenue to as far as Beverly Boulevard. And yes, local riders can ride on Vermont without having to go to Griffith Park, and they enjoyed a low 75 cent fare. It was one of a very few local bus lines LADOT operated, so it charged the fare of the RTD at the time the line was taken over, and not a quarter like the DASH. The route exists today as the Los Feliz DASH, but it no longer goes to the Observatory.