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
Now there's a scene straight out of the Westside, eh? Just kidding. The photo was taken today in Baghdad, where there's some big news on the mass transit front. The mayor of the city on Monday announced plans for a subway that would run across the city and connect Shia and Sunni areas. The project isn't exactly a go, as the Baghdad government will have to raise much of the money from private investors. Here's an excerpt from today's story in the Guardian: In a city where raw waste often spills from an antique sewer system, where power goes off hourly, no postal service exists and where public transport has long been a fantasy, lofty ideas have recently been capturing imaginations.
 On the subject of mass transit in Baghdad, I'd also like to turn your attention to a story published today in The Times about Baghdad's new commuter rail line. It's not exactly a high-tech train, as my colleagues Tina Susman and Caesar Ahmed explain:
"I'm very committed to my schedule," says Jassem, who explains the importance of timeliness: This train shares a track with the train running between Baghdad and Basra. That train is barreling toward central Baghdad as the commuter train is leaving and arrives about an hour after Salim leaves the station. Staying on schedule helps prevent collisions.
"We're coming now! Clear the way for me!" Salim yells into his radio to alert employees at the first station out of central Baghdad -- Mansour -- of his approach. As he nears the station, a shaggy black dog appears on the track, barking furiously at the oncoming engine. At the last minute, the dog darts to the side.
Salim and the others laugh. They know the dog. He's there every time.
On the left side of the track, a man faces the oncoming train, his left arm held high. One of the guards leans out the door and snatches a slip of paper from him. It's an affidavit stating that the train is running on time.
Farther along, a man in a corduroy jacket kneels at the point where two tracks meet, using a tool to adjust the rails to steer the train to the left, off the main track and onto the Dora-bound one.
You get the idea. Give the whole story a read. Besides the interesting mass transit angle, it gives you the flavor of life in Baghdad circa 2008. It also raises a question: Do you think Los Angeles will get its subway extension underway before Baghdad starts building their line?
--Steve Hymon
Top photo: Ali Yussef / AFP/Getty Images
Bottom photo: Hadi Mizban / Associated Press
The red line subway is going to be operating later than usual on weekend nights in the holiday season, reports Blogdowntown, which has all the details. The private sector was able to cough up money needed for service and the subway will run until 3 a.m. as a result. On weekend nights, the subway currently makes its last stop at most stations between 12:30 a.m. and 1 a.m.
Having longer hours, particularly for club goers, certainly couldn't hurt. On a related note, I hope that the folks who pursued this effort also work toward improving the frequency that the subway runs at night every day of the week. If you've waited around for a train for 20 minutes after a Hollywood Bowl concert, then you know what I'm talking about. --Steve Hymon
Press release from Metro after the jump, including names of some of the businesses that kicked in money for more subway service.
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 In the wake of the fatal Metrolink crash on Sept. 12, President Bush will sign into law a bill that requires that passenger trains and some freight trains be equipped with positive train control devices by 2015.
"Given the improvements to rail safety, the president is going to sign the bill," White House spokesman Scott Stanzel told me a few minutes ago.
The bill covers rail safety and won approval from the House and Senate in the last two weeks. The bill also imposes limits on the number of hours that freight train crews can work each month.
The rail safety bill is part of a legislative package that also contains more than $12 billion in funding for Amtrak. The White House had in June threatened to veto an earlier version of the Amtrak funding bill, saying it needed substantial oversight measures added.
Stanzel said that the White House believes that the Amtrak part of the package is better but still isn't what the administration wanted. Nonetheless, the rail safety provisions were deemed more important. Stanzel did not provide a date for when the bill will be signed.
Both the House and Senate had passed the legislative package with veto-proof majorities.
--Steve Hymon
photo: Susan Walsh / Associated Press
 I had the chance to walk around the American Public Transportation Assn.'s convention in San Diego on Sunday while the exhibits were setting up. The convention is a chance for vendors in the mass transit business to display and their latest wares to public transit officials.
For example, in the above photo is the latest in subway turnstile design. No one was around to explain the purpose of the big hole in the middle -- and I know well enough not to assume anything.
American Seating was also on hand to show off the latest in seat design for transit vehicles. That yellow one in front is just begging to be decorated with a cherry Slurpee, don't you think?
I don't have any photos, but the hot item at the expo appeared to be hybrid buses. About 17,000 transit officials and vendors are expected to attend the convention this week. Be warned, Gaslamp Quarter!
--Steve Hymon
Photos: Steve Hymon / Los Angles Times
NEWS ALERT: I've received preliminary word from Metro that due to a power outage, there are problems on the subway this morning, including a couple of nonworking elevators at the Vermont/Sunset station and the Wilshire/Normandie station. I'll let you know as soon as I know more. -- Steve Hymon
UPDATE, 10 a.m.: Power is out at four subway stations, including Wilshire/Normandie, Wilshire/Vermont, Vermont/Beverly and Vermont/Santa Monica, according to Metro spokesman Jose Ubaldo. Trains are still running but with 12 minute delays on both the purple and red lines. Ubaldo said it is believed there may be a person or two stuck in the elevator at Wilshire/Normandie. He said the problem should be resolved soon.
Neat announcement at Cal State Long Beach this morning: the school has arranged a deal so that students can continue to ride Long Beach Transit buses for free. All they need to do is swipe their student identification cards at the farebox.
If I'm not mistaken, there are some other area colleges offer similar deals. Students at Santa Monica College can ride Big Blue Bus line No. 11 for free and I know smart readers will leave other wise colleges who do this on the comment board. If you work for Pasadena City College and are reading this item, read it again and take copious notes.
--Steve Hymon
Press release from Cal State Long Beach after the jump:
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If you're in need of a smile today, MSNBC's "Well-Mannered Traveler" columnist Harriet Baskas has a nice column about authorities trying to stamp out rude behavior on mass transit. An excerpt: Food is also forbidden on buses in Phoenix, but “It gets darn hot here and in good conscience we can't tell people not to sip water or other non-alcoholic liquids,” Marie Chapple of they Phoenix Public Transit Department’s said.
Instead, the agency developed a “good cup/bad cup” campaign. “Water bottles are fine,” says Chapple, but “those papery, waxy cups with flimsy lids” aren’t allowed on buses. And while signs on buses clearly outline the rules, the bus operator is usually the one who has to turn back a passenger trying to board with a “bad” cup.
“The campaign is helping,” says operator instructor Chris Sheaffer, but “at least once a month an operator gets assaulted with a drink. You feel bad telling someone they can’t take their $6 Starbucks drink on the bus or those giant cups of soft drinks.” But, he says, a drop may mean stopping the bus to clean it or putting “people on other buses because the liquid or ice on the floor makes it dangerous for other passengers.”
There's another sweet part of the story about what happens to you when you curse on a train in Calgary. Let's just say those Canadians don't take any lip.
-- Steve Hymon
A Metro Rail Purple Line train went the wrong way this morning, ending up on tracks for the Red Line, rattling some riders, causing a 25-minute delay and provoking the rail service to apologize for the mix-up.
This morning, a Purple Line train departing from the Wilshire/Vermont station at 9:14 a.m. was supposed to head next to the Wilshire/Normandie station. But instead, the train ended up at the Vermont/Beverly station, serviced by the Red Line, Metro spokesman Rick Jager confirmed this afternoon.
The Red Line and the Purple Line share five stops together after departing Union Station downtown. But after the Wilshire/Vermont stop, the two are supposed to split off -- with the Red going to North Hollywood, and the Purple Line ending near the Wiltern Theatre in the Mid-Wilshire area.
However, even though Purple Line riders say they heard the conductor say the next stop was going to be at Normandie, they were surprised to end up at the Vermont/Beverly station.
Metro rider Carla Olson said the 75 or so people on board, many on the way to work, were panicked and bewildered and told to get off. They were told to reboard a Red Line train back to the Wilshire/Vermont stop and catch the next Purple Line train out, Olson said.
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 Here's a question to ponder: Who is smarter -- legislators in San Francisco or Los Angeles?
Read on ... and perhaps you'll find an answer.
Late last month, San Francisco supervisors passed legislation that requires employers to make mass transit part of an employee's benefits package. It's the kind of legislation that elected officials in the Southland should be poring over -- because they just might learn something.
The new law is called the "commuter benefits ordinance," and it says employers with 20 or more employees must do one of three things:
1. Allow employees to pay for mass transit on a pre-tax basis.
2. Provide employees with transportation to and from work.
3. Pay for employees' transportation to and from work.
You're probably looking at this and saying that Nos. 2 and 3 are pretty unappetizing if you're an employer. And you would be right. No. 2 and No. 3 are costly unless you're a firm like Google, which does provide transportation. But there's a reason that No. 2 and No. 3 are dogs: The idea is to make choice No. 1 more attractive.
The Internal Revenue Code already allows employees to deduct the cost of mass transit on a pre-tax basis. The problem is that not many employers provide this benefit.
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