MetroRiderLA

• Fare gates what? 98% of homeless riding the Red Line have valid tickets.
• Red Line gets some new fangled tunnel ads promoting Speed Racer.
• The Daily News really dislikes congestion pricing.
• Los Angeles needs more sprawl and freeways.
• Amtrak offering 25% off coach fare on California routes on National Train Day, May 10th, 2008.

I apologize for the lack of regularly scheduled posting this week.  Amidst travels and the feast-or-famine nature of the motion graphics industry, I’ve neglected MetroRiderLA this week.  Thanks to Tyke Johnson for picking up the slack with some entertaining lifestyle stories.  Here’s a list of links for discussion.

• LAX Bus Fleet goes green with new CNG buses.
• Coastal bus from Ventura to Santa Barbara proves to be surprisingly popular.
• Westside Service Sector spares some bus service from the chopping block.
• Bicycle advocate takes a look at the fare gate conspiracy.

• The LA Weekly exposes Metro’s fare gate follies.
• Gold Line extension relocates East Los Angeles mariachis.
• Riding the bus saves fuel and reduces carbon dioxide pollution in the Southland.
• Downtown, Hollywood, and Westwood as the transit hubs of the future.

• Traffic accidents cost L.A./Orange County nearly $11 billion… add that to  the $9 billion cost of congestion.  Oh yeah, this is the yearly cost.  The American Autombie Association conducted the study.
• CityWatch knows best: subways are not for L.A., “modern computer controlled cars suspended from or running on top of rails” are.
• City Beat looks at the absurdity and cost of fare gates.
• The Orange Line may be headed to Chatsworth… in six years.

Photo courtesy of redpopaccidents.

The Metro Board has formally approved new Metro fare gates in order to discourage new ridership and confuse current riders.

New Metro fare gates will require prospective muggers, terrorists, and other unwashed patrons to buy a ticket before descending upon defenseless commuters. Al Qaeda, flush with oil revenue from Iraq, decides that LA’s subway fare is too expensive to warrant terrorism and decides to barbecue pork rinds instead.

(sorry, I couldn’t even try to be serious with this one, the logic is too ludicrous.)

• A route for the Crenshaw Corridor picked: deftly avoids airport, subway, and populated areas
• Like soccer, high speed rail is a global phenomenon that the United States is just too cool for
• L.A. Times art critics thinks fare gates are an architectural travesty for Los Angeles
• West Hollywood attorney realizes West Hollywood subway is a sham