MetroRiderLA

[tags]planning, congestion, traffic, public transportation, bicycle[/tags]

Click to see full image.

The above image is from a poster in the City of Muenster Planning Office, August 2001.

[tags]flexcar, zipcar, merger, los angeles, car sharing[/tags]

Whatever you call it - lovemaking, boning, the horizontal mambo, knocking boots, or corporate merger - there’s nothing quite as beautiful as when two become one. The lucky lovebirds in this case are Flexcar and Zipcar, two car-sharing companies that aim to change the way we think about getting around. Many Los Angeles MetroRider’s are familiar with Flexcar due to its growing presence in the region (there are currently 151 Flexcars in Los Angeles). Zipcar is popular in cities like Boston and Chicago… combined the two cover New York, Boston, Washington D.C., Chicago, San Francisco, Vancouver, Toronto, London, Seattle, Portland, Los Angeles, San Diego, Atlanta, Pittsburgh, and Philidelphia. Phew.

The plan, like most couplings, is to take the best parts of both companies and make the resulting service better than the originals. The new company will be called Zipcar as Flexcar sacrifices it’s naming rights for the greater good. I think this is a good idea because Zipcar seems to have more name recognition that Flexcar. Every time I told a friend from other urban areas that I was a Flexcar member, they would always say “Oh that’s called Zipcar here”.

As a current Flexcar member I’m really excited about this merger… I can only see good coming out of it. I really love Flexcar, but there were always some issues with their system, and after browsing the Zipcar website and reading up on some of their literature, it really seems like they’ve got it down. The reservation system seems to have a nice Google Maps interface and from what I’ve read there’s a mobile interface for making reservation, which is something Flexcar lacked. For Los Angeles, Flexcars will be transitioning over to Zipcars in January of 2008, and current members will be sent a Zipcard to replace their Flexcar Smart Card and be given some free driving credits just for activating their new cards.

More Info:

• Press Release: Zipcar and Flexcar agree to merge
• FAQ for current Flexcar members
• Seattle Times: Flexcar merges with rival Zipcar

[tags]flexcar, los angeles, car sharing, ladot, car-free, parking[/tags]

As usual, this is a little late, but there’s still time to write a letter or even attend the meeting if you are free. The following is straight from Flexcar.

On Wednesday, October 24, 2007, at 5 pm, the LA City Council Transportation Committee will begin consideration of a pilot on-street car-sharing program. This pilot program, which would designate specific on-street parking spaces for car-sharing, is a small but important step by the City to promote and expand car-sharing in Los Angeles.

In order for the committee to move forward with this proposal, the City needs to hear from Flexcar members who use the service and see the benefits of car-sharing for the City of Los Angeles. We are urging you to come to the meeting and voice your opinion.

Date: Wednesday October 24, 2007
Time: 5 – 7 pm
Place: West LA Municipal Building
1645 Corinth Avenue
Los Angeles, CA 90025

The LADOT report, indexed under Council File #: 05-2017, is available online.

If you can’t attend in person, please consider politely emailing your opinion to Adam Lid, the Committee’s Legislative Assistant (adam.lid@lacity.org) with a cc: to the Transportation Chair, Wendy Greuel (councilmember.greuel@lacity.org). If you do send an email, please refer to Council File #: 05-2017: On-Street Car-Sharing Program in the subject heading.

Since the meeting is basically going on right now, the email option is probably the best way to get your voice heard, you can read my letter after the jump…

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[tags]los angeles, mta, red line, hollywood, public displays of affection[/tags]

No, it’s not an invitation for voyeurism, you pervs.

Public Displays of Affection is an event hosted by activist organization Global Inheritance, which encourages the audience to arrive at the concerts via public transportation. Last year, there was an event at Union Station.

This time, the fun begins at 7 p.m. Thursday in the courtyard of Hollywood & Highland, the mall named after a Metro Red Line station. Featured performers are Ladytron, Great Northern and DJ Taina. Also on display is TRASHed: Art of Recycling Exhibit.

“Admission” is a transit pass or some proof of payment of a fare.

Transit connections, besides the subway: Metro Rapid Line 780 and local lines 2/302, 156/656, 163, 212/312 and 217; and LADOT DASH lines Hollywood and Hollywood/West Hollywood.

See also:

• MetroRiderLA: Last year’s event at Union Station
• Green L.A. Girl pimps the event

[tags]metrolink, ontario international airport, lax, express jet, los angeles[/tags]

ExpressJet flies out of Ontario Airport, and offers lower-fares and non-stop flights.

When it comes to airports in the Los Angeles region LAX isn’t the only game in town, but for the car-free the other options can seem unreachable. Ontario International Airport, the second largest airport in the L.A. area, is located in San Bernardino County and is about 43 miles from Downtown Los Angeles (LAX is about 18 miles from Downtown). Why attempt such a trek when LAX is so much closer and served by the fast and friendly FlyAway? In my case, on a recent trip to America’s heartland, it came down to money!

ExpressJet, a low-cost airline that flies out of Ontario (and not LAX), offered non-stop flights (duration: 2hrs 30min) to Oklahoma City for about $125 less than flights (with layovers) from LAX. The money and the chance to not have to spend 4-5 hours en route was enough to convince me that flying out of Ontario was something I needed to do. Now I just had to figure out how to get there…

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So with great fanfare Downtown’s first supermarket in decades has arrived. The Ralphs Fresh Fare at 9th/Flower opened this past Friday to an enormous crowd of Downtown residents eager to make their neighborhood a… neighborhood. And as a Downtown resident, I can prematurely say that it has done just that. What used to be a fairly dead intersection (albeit housing a beautiful little urban park and an ample flow of cute fashion design students) has like magic transformed into a vibrant destination bustling with life and pedestrian flow that ripples for blocks beyond the store. What’s more, this is one of the best supermarkets I’ve ever been to, Ralphs or otherwise, any Downtowner would be a fool not to patronize this spectacular store. On a similar note, any Downtowner would be a fool to drive to this spectacular store!

The Ralphs Fresh Fare is truly unique among supermarkets I’ve seen in Los Angeles in that there is no parking lot in front of the store. There’s a few spots along the street, but other than that, it’s just a wide sidewalk and then the entrance to the store. This is a true urban grocery store, unheard of in this city! That’s not to say that this particular Ralphs doesn’t have parking - it does in the form of 127 spaces under the store. But part of the call of living in an urban area is walkability, right? So let’s see if we can leave those 127 spaces empty and get to Ralphs without a car!

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