Ramping up, July 2

Cell phone law in place, Planet Earth remains intact

California's hands-free cell phone law went into effect Tuesday and the world didn't end. The CHP's Santa Fe Springs office is surprised at the high level of compliance, my colleague Joanna Lin reports.

Seattle goes streetcar crazy

The city added a new line last year and likes it so much that it wants to add four more, reports the Post-Intelligencer. So public hearings are beginning. Meanwhile, downtown interests in L.A. are still talking about building a line here. A skeptical reporter might suggest that it will be fun to see how many lines Seattle builds first.

Subway construction: 2012 or 2016?

If the half-cent sales tax is put on the ballot (first big 'if') and if voters go for it (second big 'if'), the MTA has proposed an expenditure plan for the money -- including $4 billion for a subway extension. Damien Newton at Streetsblog Los Angeles noticed that the MTA says construction could begin in 2016, whereas Los Angeles Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa said on the radio Monday it could begin as early as 2012. Hmm. Ultimately, if the tax and subway goes forward, a lot of it will depend on how quickly environmental studies and design work is done -- and quickly the MTA Board wants to proceed.

Portland, Ore., actually screws something up

The city that seemingly can do no wrong when it comes to transit, cycling and urban planning is having a tough time establishing a citywide bike rental program that would allow residents to rent a bike in one location and turn it in somewhere else, reports the Portland Tribune. That's kind of a cool idea. Some smart member of the L.A. City Council -- no, that's not a joke -- should steal it.

Press-Telegram editorial says something

The Long Beach paper on Monday pointed out the sales tax proposal for L.A. County doesn't include much for its area and urged residents to look more closely at it. OK. Any suggestions for what should be in the proposal?

Is saving money on mass transit worth the time?

That's one question my colleague Rubaina Azhar tackles in a post that went up at Bottleneck Blog late yesterday about trying Metrolink. She's got a follow-up coming later about a little incident from her commute home yesterday.

--Steve Hymon

Comments

[Morgan Wick]

Someone needs to take all the divergent interests and all the movers and shakers for transit to Portland, New York City, Washington, Boston, and every major city in Europe, and tell them, "This is what Los Angeles should have had 20 years ago."