MetroRiderLA

• Looks like I’m not the only person into pegging car-culture conservatives as closet socialists! Check out this great article exposing the “Soviet Style Social Engineering” of the American car culture.
• Amtrak funding to increase by 28%, let’s hope they use that money wisely.
• Metro Citizens Advisory Council to hold a presentation with Metro about the transportation sales tax measure.
• Solar-powered GPS-enabled signs with next bus information could make the bus experience a whole lot nicer.
• Transit returns to Dodger Stadium next month, with game-day shuttles linking the stadium with Union Station.
• Riverside residents are getting stoked for the new Metrolink extension to Perris Valley.
• The grass is always greener on the other side: a Chicagoan dreams of a Los Angeles caliber transit system for her city.

• High gas prices cause people to give up more and more of their own lives to pay for their car. Drive to work and work to drive
• People are getting scared about the end of free freeways.
• A 70-year woman experiences the car-free life for the first time, and makes some startling revelations.
• Metro rejects cuts of Tier 1 bus service.
• Dodger Stadium is getting a facelift, but will transit play a part?
• Awesome: Hipsters ride Amtrak’s free Coachella Express to the Indio rock festival

• Bus travel making a comeback? Megabus faces new competition with Bolt Bus (on the East Coast).
• CalPIRG students take an extended spring break with a bike tour from San Francisco to LA to promote high speed rail.
• By removing landscaping (who needs it), Dodger Stadium adds 1,000 more parking spaces, but fans are still aprehensive about traffic.
• Livable Places is hosting a Community Workshop to make the Chinatown Gold Line station more pedestrain/bicyclist friendly.

• 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.

Via a comment on Streetsblog LA’s recent post about bike parking at Dodger Stadium I found this awesome Streetsfilm about free valet bike parking at the AT&T Park, home of the San Francisco Giants:

I was shocked to find out that over half the people who attend Giants games get there without a car. I bet under 1% of Dodgers fans get to games without a car. The AT&T Park’s website lists public transit directions before car directions in the Getting To The Park section. The Dodgers website, on the other hand, has its own special mini-site dedicated to parking with FAQ’s, safety tips, traffic info, and other such crap that would be irrelevant if they made it easier to get to the stadium without a car. Pathetic.I wonder what kind of overall cost savings (internal and external) the ballpark and stadium sees by having more that half the people attend games without a car.

• Woman calls Bush “out of touch” as she fills up her SUV.
• Long Beach Transit Center will have… bathrooms!
• Opinions and snark on the arrival of Metro fare gates.
• Blogdowntown reports on City Council transportation meeting about buses to Dodger Stadium.