MetroRiderLA

Los Angeles Times had two transportation editorials this week. On January 26, the editorial board supported raising bus and train fares for Metro customers. Excerpts:

The Metropolitan Transportation Authority hasn’t raised single-ride fares since 1995; adjusting for inflation, local transit riders are paying 20% less than they did a dozen years ago. … To maintain service on a budget deep in the red, the MTA has raided its maintenance budget, pared its administration and depleted its reserves.

… 

With roughly 450 million transit rides a year, a modest increase in daily fares and monthly passes could go a long way. Still, to balance the budget, some service also will have to be cut. 

On January 23 the editorial board also came out against Los Angeles County’s high-occupancy-vehicle lane network, the largest in the nation. It believes the carpool lanes are only used because children are counted as occupants, as well as single-occupant hybrid automobile drivers. Excerpts:

L.A. County’s network of carpool lanes is among the nation’s most extensive. Yet, according to the U.S. census … carpooling has declined — from 20% of commuters in 1980 to 12% in 2000.

The reasons for this are anyone’s guess, but it’s clear that carpool lanes aren’t doing a good job of getting people out of their cars at rush hour.

Research shows that most of the people who use carpool lanes … aren’t teaming up to get to work. They’re usually families going to school, the mall or somewhere else. A mom who is allowed to use the carpool lane because she’s got an infant strapped in the back seat is not helping to get cars off the road; that kid wasn’t going to be driving even if he weren’t sharing a ride.

This Orange Line articulated bus, at 60 feet, is the longest a bus could be by law. But for Metro, the biggest is not big enough. Now it will take 65 feet, or maybe even 80 feet (!), to handle the Valley busway’s loads.
Credit: Mitch Glaser, Paradox Unbound, via Flickr

The Daily News reports that Metro is now going to test 65-foot, and get this, 80-foot, buses on the Orange Line.

The first bus, the 65-footer, is set to destroy pavement this summer. State laws limit the length of a bus to 60 feet, the length of articulated buses, but Metro gets an exemption. It might pave the way for the anaconda of vehicles, a yet-unbuilt 80-foot monster that is the length of two standard buses.

The Daily News says: “The intent is to mimic rail service as much as possible.”

This is not cutting-edge innovation. This is mental illness.

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Is TransitTV now coming to bus shelters? No. That’s the good news. The bad news: the shelter — this particular one on Wishire Boulevard’s Miracle Mile — is just an example of the filth and vandalism that welcomes our bus riders.
Credit: Carlessplanet.com

First it’s crying over spilled mercury in a subway station. Now, apparently a Metro rider, in a hurry to get the exact change for the bus, left his or her television set behind at the stop. Either that, or it’s another of our fine city’s miscreants who believe, to paraphrase the L.A. Metro Mole, the world is their garbage can.

A television set is unusual, but the squalor of bus stops is not. LAist does more than just state the obvious, it tells you that there’s a very good reason why bus stops are dirty.

And amazingly, Metro is not to blame!

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Hummer, Jaime de La Vega’s other public transportation
Credit: Andrew Hurvitz, Here in Van Nuys, via Flickr

Los Angeles Times columnist Steve Lopez has quite the gotcha on Jaime de La Vega, the Deputy Mayor of Transportation and his notorious Hummer — the vehicle, of course. This is a family blog. Get your minds out of the gutter, people. The thought never occurred to de La Vega that driving such a behemoth sends a wrong message. But that’s not the worst part.

De La Vega handled himself poorly when directly confronted by Lopez, even when the reporter was told not to ask about the Hummer thing. And that’s not the worst part.

Searching “Jaime de La Vega” and “Hummer” on Google turns up 211 hits, most of them referencing Lopez’s work. It’s also got scribblings on Green LA Girl (who also syndicated it to WorldChanging Los Angeles), LA Observed, Curbed LA and LAist, just to name the sites on our L.A. links list who have eyebrows raised. Even that’s not the worst part.

But just how bad does it have to be? Look at this comment from LAist:

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Sorry for the lack of updates recently, I’ve been absolutely swamped beyond healthy levels and simply have not had the time to contribute or take care of some of the more nefarious things happening to the layout. So much for keeping New Year’s resolutions. But I digress…

Damien Goodmon, creator of the now famous (at least amongst transit advocates and Los Angeles blogosphere readers) $40 billion hypothetical rail transit map for Los Angeles is launching a new plan and website called “Get LA Moving“. He, in conjunction with the Transit Coalition, is having a public presentation tonight at the Transit Coalition’s monthly meeting at Philippe’s downtown.

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Bill Rosendahl is not a crook.
Credit: Lacity.org

Los Angeles City Councilman Bill Rosendahl was chosen to be chairman of the Southern California Regional Airport Authority, according to The Argonaut. The group, brought out of dormancy, is trying to give airport regionalization a go. But Rosendahl’s interests go beyond what goes on within airports.

Rosendahl, whose Westside district includes Los Angeles International Airport, has been vocal about public transportation improvements in the area. A big part of his campaign is to extend the Green Line to LAX, then up past the airport along Lincoln Boulevard.

He mentions planning and funding efforts in his December 7, 2006 blog entry:

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