MetroRiderLA

• Big Blue Bus boosts ridership by 2.3 percent.
• If only the car divorce rate was as high as the real divorce rate.
• The system is rigged! California exists for the automobile!
• East Hollywood officially adopts the Cyclist Bill of Rights.
• Bike racks coming to Dodger Stadium. Buses? Not so much.

Image courtesy of tatianes.

• Falling dollar, rising gas prices.
• Man found chillin’ on the Red Line tracks.
• Big Blue Bus meetings set out to connect the service to the subway.
• Tips on how to make buses faster.

• Gold Line continues its easterly expansion as construction begins on the Pico Aliso station.
• The free market and transportation: is it possible to privatize a socialized transportation system? Is it desirable?
• $300-million streetcar proposed to connect Metrolink station with downtown Santa Ana.
• Metrolink considering 7.5% fare increase in 2009.
• Down south, the new Sprinter nabs 13,000 riders on its first day, and an average of 7,000 people per day through the week.

I apologize for the lack of regularly scheduled posting this week.  Amidst travels and the feast-or-famine nature of the motion graphics industry, I’ve neglected MetroRiderLA this week.  Thanks to Tyke Johnson for picking up the slack with some entertaining lifestyle stories.  Here’s a list of links for discussion.

• LAX Bus Fleet goes green with new CNG buses.
• Coastal bus from Ventura to Santa Barbara proves to be surprisingly popular.
• Westside Service Sector spares some bus service from the chopping block.
• Bicycle advocate takes a look at the fare gate conspiracy.

• The LA Weekly exposes Metro’s fare gate follies.
• Gold Line extension relocates East Los Angeles mariachis.
• Riding the bus saves fuel and reduces carbon dioxide pollution in the Southland.
• Downtown, Hollywood, and Westwood as the transit hubs of the future.

Photo courtesy of savemejebus.

Note: I will be out of town for the next three days, so expect light to non-existing posting until Thursday. Here’s some tasty morsels for you to talk about in the meantime.

• The BusTard takes an in-depth look at the transportation mess that was the L.A. Marathon.
• Gold Line to Ontario?  Think again after reading this detailed report.
• Omnitrans whoops Miss Traffic! Omnitrans will award $1,000, a laptop computer, and free bus rides for a year to the student who creates the best Omnitrans commercial.
• 12 miles of bus only lanes coming to Wilshire Boulevard courtesy of Arnie.