Late-night DASH service begins tonight in downtown

Late-night DASH bus service begins tonight in downtown Los Angeles, with buses running every 10 minutes from 6:30 p.m. until 3 a.m. on Fridays and Saturdays through the holidays. I hope they do a better job sticking to schedule at night than during weekdays, when I often find the buses off the mark. That said, service is free.

Click here for a map of late-night service.

Late-night service every 20 minutes until 3 a.m. on weekends also begins tonight on the Red Line subway between Los Angeles' Union Station and North Hollywood. A number of businesses kicked in more than $54,000 to keep the subway running the extra 2 1/2 hours. The extension is also through the holidays.

And now ... a Bottleneck Blog public service announcement! If you're partying late into the morning and decide to take the bus or subway, please have the courtesy of getting sick at curbside before boarding the bus or train.

-- Steve Hymon

Comments

[Spokker]

Just a question, but when have we seen the Surfliner on TV laying on its side in flames?

How is Amtrak able to not crash their trains on the same tracks Metrolink operates on?

[cph]

The E DASH is pretty busy too, with people using it to commute to jobs in the Garment District.

[Stephen]

DASH stands for Downtown Area Short Hop, which is designed for quick on and off service which can feed into the larger Metro services.

It serves a large number of people during the commuter hours for those transferring from Union Station and those getting around the FiDi.

The B DASH gets crowded especially during lunch time because of many in Downtown wanting to go to Chinatown for lunch.

The D DASH serves a good portion of those on Main St wanting to get to Union Station, without having to walk up to Hill St to catch the Red Line.

Those are just two examples of how DASH provides mobility within the Downtown region. Because of it's success, Community DASH has been implemented in many surrounding neighborhoods within the City limits, such as Pico Union/Echo Park, Fairfax, Hollywood, West Hollywood, Van Nuys, Northridge, Lincoln Heights, Eagle Rock, Boyle Heights, Crenshaw, and Watts.

[blogdowntown]

Like the Red Line extension, this DASH service was funded by the private sector coming together around the idea of improving our transportation options. They put together $23,000 to make this happen.

That says something good about what businesses think about transit, and something less good about the state of transit funding. It would seem to me that these are the sort of things that Measure R funds (Local Return in the case of DASH) would be well suited to make happen.

Our coverage of the DASH:

http://blogdowntown.com/2008/11/3822-get-ready-to-ride-holiday-late-night-dash

[Damon Tordini]

I've never ridden the DASH buses, so I'm wondering- is the only reason people ride these because its free?

Other than that, it seems like DASH is just a slower alternative to the red/blue lines (unless your trip requires a transfer, or you have trouble walking).

[Dan W.]

Thank you for that public service announcement!!!

[Spokker]

I have half a mind to come out and support this even though I have no reason to be in LA at that time of night. I just hope that it gets some decent ridership.