MetroRiderLA

• 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

Image courtesy of Kevin.

• Read this hilarious response to the MetroRider and Streetsblog letter to the editor regarding the Feuer legislation.
• Feds offer $213 million to fund HOT lanes in Los Angeles.
• The housing crisis stalls sprawl as consumers become acutely aware of the high price of a long commute.
• Clinton is with McCain on the Gas Tax Holiday.  Obama not so much.
• Good news! Metro considering service cuts, Metrolink looking at fare hikes.

• LADOT is not happy with Metro’s decision to cut bus lines.
• Ticket Vending Machines broken, and Metro don’t care.
• Radiohead won’t play in Glastonbury this summer because their public transit sucks.
• Bush transfers billions for public transit to highway fund, this upsets PIRG.

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 Governator doesn’t like trains and one man doesn’t think he plays fair.
• Marina Del Ray bus line on Metro’s chopping block, much to the chagrin of area residents.
• Arrival information coming to the shiny LCD screens in Red Line stations  “by the end of June at the latest”.

• Wheelchair-bound Orange County man fights to make bus stops accessible.
• Donald Shoup, the “Parking Rockstar”
• San Bernardino train depot reopens and welcomes passengers inside its historic halls
• Feds say that train accidents continue to decline
• The Valley braces for bus service cuts