MetroRiderLA

Image courtesy of alburn.binkley.

• Giving up everything for gas: more and more people are cutting out “non-essential” items like coffee, dining out, and vacations so they can afford the cost of gasoline, an “essential” item. Me? I’m eating out more than ever.
• The shocking truth about exurbia in the age of $4/gallon gasoline: “My fuel costs are more than my mortgage is by a couple hundred bucks”
• The brilliance of our national transportation system exposed: as gas prices rise, people are driving a lot less, which means less gas taxes are collected, which means money for infrastructure improvements and alternate modes is scarce.  Brillz. Faulkers.
• Megabus alternative? California Shuttle Bus to offer rides from L.A. to San Fran starting at $5.
• Grade separate Malibu!  Apparently the idyllic beach city is #1 in traffic fatalities and injuries.

• Millennials and Baby Boomers join forces in forgoing the suburbs for the many ammenities of urban life.  Hey Gen X, you suck!
• Hey ladies, despite conventional wisdom, cars aren’t the safest way to travel.
• A journey on America’s “oddball novelty”, Amtrak, presents a compelling look at the failure of American passenger rail.
• The Gold Line Foothill extension is exactly the kind of transit Los Angeles doesn’t need.
• Lusting for cars from the seat on a bus.  Car advertisements get heavy rotation on TransitTV.
• Pam is back! Join the Metro Interactive chat today at noon to discuss “beautiful rides, such as the Metro Line 2 bus down Sunset Boulevard”.

Image courtesy of Marco Siguenza.

• Average white guy goes Metro, doesn’t like it, shares some ideas on how to improve the system.
• A new report shows that Los Angeles has the worst traffic congestion. Woot.
• It’s Dump the Pump Week, or, Save a Whole Buncha Money Week.
• Gas prices get peeps onto public transit, even in places like Durham, North Carolina.
• Anecdotal evidence proves that high gas prices are thinning out traffic in L.A.

• Terence Jeffery, a cartarded conservative nimrod, is my new comedy hero.  His defense of Americuz “free-market transportation” system is a laugh riot.  Terence buddy, read this and then go eat your slice of pizza and be quiet, cuz I’m not buying it.  Cartard.
• Los Angeles freeway bike rebels garner national attention.
• Orange Line to keep going… all the way to the Chatsworth Metrolink Station.
• Amtrak president Alex Kummant gets real in a great interview with Reuters.  A must read.
• Los Angeles rail ridership up from a year ago, but bus ridership is down.  Dear car-culture refugees: fear not the bus.
• Thousand Oaks bus system offers Google Transit and NextBus technology to help riders figure out where they are going and stay on schedule. Nice!
• Hey, remember when Austin’s CapMetro went up against Miss Traffic and won?  Well they’ve pwned Metro again by launching an official agency blog.  Nice!

Image courtesy of mac steve.

• House passes $15 billion bill for Amtrak funding.
• New and improved Amtrak Coast Starlight beats major airlines in schedule reliability.
• Shocking. Conservative think-tank Heritage Foundation doesn’t like Amtrak subsidies, prefers oil subsidies.
• Wait, the ghettoized lowest-common denominator bus based mass transit systems in the U.S. can’t handle the surge of new car culture refugees? Really? Wait. Really?
• People in America’s heartland finding out that with rising gas prices making them forgo meat and church donations for gas money, the no-alternatives freedom of car culture is actually quite binding.
• There was a time where there was mass transit and pedestrian congestion in a lively and active downtown Los Angeles. Yuck!

Image courtesy of machoroboraza.

• Bush and Co. are starving mass transit just when the country needs (and wants) it most.
• A graphical look at the cost of a gallon of gas.
• Expo Phase 3? Eastward to Alhambra.
• Los Angeles home buyers starting to include public transit accessibility among their list of must-have amenities.
• Best reason yet to drive a Hummer: ” “If you get into an accident, nothing will happen to you. You’ll just kill the other person.”
• This one is for the web guys over at Metro. Please read.