MetroRiderLA

• Okay, so MetroRider didn’t go, but blogdowntown has massive coverage of the Los Angeles Streetcar workshop in one, two, three, four, five parts!
• The Viper Room gets transit oriented!  On Monday nights, if you flash a Metro pass (daily, weekly, or monthly) you get in for free!
• Friends for Expo responds to Fix Expo on CityWatch.
• If it weren’t for all these drivers, traffic would be great!

• Pasadena rules when it comes to smart growth planning.
• Transit advocates storm Sacramento looking for some respect, or at least money.
• Pam chat aftermath: O’Connor wants to end the free ride for low-emission vehicles.
• Metrolink is a bit overzealous when it comes to protecting its “brand”.
• The L.A. Underground as seen from the BBC.
• Pleasure in pain, high gas prices put smiles on the faces of environmentalists

• Do people still hate TransitTV?  At least one guy does.
• What happens to a society built exclusively around the car when car-culture becomes too expensive to sustain?
• A law that makes it illegal to drive with a dog on your lap is actually a ruse to “force” people onto public transportation.  Bring your tin foil hat!
• Paris has weird incentives for expanding their transit system: improving overall mobility and redefining the quality of life of residents.  Bah. 
• Gas prices are driving people to mass transit everywhere, even in North County.
• The Westwood Flyaway going to give it a go for another year despite dismal ridership.
• Looking back on Bike Instead of Work Day.

• Seniors in Long Beach attempt the Transit Oriented Lifestyle, but elements of the car-culture like wide roads and quick traffic signals make it difficult.
• A look at potential changes to 1st and Alameda courtesy of the Downtown Regional Connector.
• The true gas holiday - this summer it’s estimated that summer travel by public transit will increase by 35%.
• Rail transit transparency: Amtrak shares on-time performance data with customers.

Image courtesy of waltarrrr.

Note: Sorry for the lack of updates lately. I’ve been in the process of moving my operations to a new location. The dust is just starting to settle, and the new HQ should allow me to better balance posting on MetroRiderLA and my other work. Plus, now I have an actual commute, I will be biking to work!

• I don’t usually condone it when bicyclists are a-holes, but this is pretty incredible footage.
• Animated tunnel advertisements on the Red Line seem to amaze most, but have a few people upset.
• Bike lanes go up at the speed of knitting in LA, and bicyclists think that sucks.
• To our favorite troll, Ocean: New York City looking to LA’s Rapid buses for inspiration.
• Can mass transit hope to compete with the global oil industry?
• Despite rising gas prices and rising transit usage, the governor plans to divert $1.4 billion away from public transit and put it in the general fund.
• The Free Way Act, created by a small government conservative, aims to keep pricing off of federally funded freeways.

• Four reasons why rising gas prices are hurting public transit.
• The O.C. to spend $12 million studying monorails and trolleys for the area.
• Megabus about to bail from Los Angeles confirming stereotype that Angelenos love their cars.
• Save mass transit, save the world.
• Amtrak needs to get on the wi-fi tip and quick.  Strike while the iron’s hot!
• L.A. Visions provides an update on the Downtown Regional Connector.