Have questions about public transit? Check out The Transit Coalition's bulletin boards for answers. The Transit Coalition's a nonprofit that advocates for better public transportation in the greater L.A. area, and the coalition's bulletin boards are used to promote a free exchange of ideas about transit.
Especially compared with the disorganized comment streams of most transit blogs, the Transit Coalition's boards are fairly well organized by topic and transit line, allowing you to quickly follow a discussion about the issues that affect you. More importantly, these boards attract some serious transit wonks -- which means that if you ask a specific question about the Gold Line, you'll likely receive a detailed, informed answer. In fact, your burning questions may already have been answered on the board; just read through the discussion to find out everything you wanted to know about transit in L.A.
According to Bart Reed, executive director of the Transit Coalition, open access to and free exchange of transit information is imperative to creating a viable public transit system. "How do you grow if you don't provide information?" he asks rhetorically. Thus the boards allows a diverse group of people to weigh in -- though the discussion here is of a much higher level than on most blogs, with fewer inane questions of the "why don't they build a monorail from my doorstep to the elevator at my job?" variety.
About 200 people are active participants on the boards; thousands from all over the country are active readers. The Transit Coalition also informs people of transit happenings via its weekly e-newsletter and monthly print newsletter. Reed points to a growing interest in transit issues among Angelenos, and is optimistic about the future of public transit in L.A. "All of these things haven't been in alignment for so very long are finally lining up," Reed says. "This is the year where the citizens of L.A. are frustrated enough that they may actually say yes to something."
Want to get more involved with the Transit Coalition? Everyone's invited to the coalition's monthly meetings; the next one happens June 24, from 6:30 p.m. to 8:30 p.m. at Philippe The Original, 1001 N. Alameda St., Los Angeles.
Unfortunately, I've never been able to attend these meetings -- because I can't find a viable public transportation method to get me to and from there that late in the evening. Maybe after the subway to the sea gets built ...
>> Bears: The reason for yet more lawsuits. Two enviro groups -- The Center for Biological Diversity and Pacific Environment -- plan to sue under the Endangered Species Act to protect the bears, alleging that "Bush administration officials have been so keen to grant offshore leases, they have not given proper consideration to the potential harm to polar bears." (via Grist) Earlier: Polar bears to plastic bags.
>> Burning garbage to create energy still means a lot of pollutants get produced in the process, but Britain's going to put into action a gasification plant that does just that because the country's running out of landfill space. "A big reason for Britain's landfill addiction is that it's relatively inexpensive to bury rubbish," but E.U. fines will take effect in 2010, changing that cost-benefit balance.
>> Bamboo flooring: Green or not? Bamboo floors can be eco, but not if the bamboo's grown by clearing old-wood forests, fed chemical fertilizers, and treated with formaldehyde. On the bright side, there is a bamboo flooring company that has obtained FSC certification. "The bottom line is that the onus is on you to ask questions before you fork over thousands of dollars for new flooring," writes the Lantern at Slate.com.
>> A Q&A about the subway to the sea, written by Steve Hymon of Bottleneck Blog. Summary of his post: The route for the subway hasn't been picked yet, the money isn't there, and assuming those obstacles are overcome, it'll still be 2 years until the line starts getting built.
>> Summer excursions, car-free! That's the next live Web chat topic with Metro Board Chair Pam O'Connor, happening noon to 1 p.m. on June 18 at metro.net/chat. According to Metro's press release, "Chair O'Connor will also be available to discuss the potential half cent sales tax dedicated to Los Angeles County transit projects and other transportation issues."
>> L.A.'s Bike Advisory Committee comments on the City’s Bike Master Plan. Top item on the BAC's comments: "Identify why many policies and recommendations in the previous bicycle master plan have not been implemented." The BAC's action comes after much critique from the bicycling community about BAC's inaction and ineffectiveness -- perhaps a contributing factor as to why not much has been done with the previous master plan.
>> Yet another reason why nuclear energy's unpopular: "Under current plans, the casks of nuclear waste material awaiting burial at Yucca Mountain could be sent into a "chaotic melee of bouncing and rolling juggernauts" in an earthquake, according to Holtec International, one of the nation's largest manufacturers of nuclear waste storage systems.
>> The fight over the Expo line, continued. Steve Hymon writes about his chat with Rick Thorpe, chief executive of the Expo Line Construction Authority, who provides a counterpoint to Damien Goodmon's concerns that some at-grade crossings are unsafe. "If the project must build over- or under-crossings, [Thorpe] said the line would likely be delayed at least two years, presuming money could be found to build those structures."
>> The fight over the L.A.-to-S.F. bullet train. Union Pacific railroad says it doesn't want to share its rail lines with the proposed 200-mph bullet train rail line -- about which voters will vote in November. "Critics question why the California High Speed Rail Authority didn't negotiate a deal long ago with Union Pacific."
>> Schwarzenegger proclaimed California is in a drought and "issued an executive order intended to speed transfers of water to areas experiencing the most severe shortages, help local water districts boost conservation efforts, identify risks to the state's water supply and assist farmers." Earlier: LADWP's "Drought Busters" plan.
>> How to plant a green roof. Re-Nest has an illustrated explanation, thanks to a Park Slope resident who showed New Yorkers the process.
>> Organic wines, explained and reviewed by Roz Cummins of Grist -- who ends her article with a yummy recipe for Syllabub, a rich, wine-flavored dessert.
>> Seven endangered California condors got lead poisoning in the last month, which has U.S. Fish and Wildlife officials in "crisis mode." A state ban on hunting with lead bullets in condor habitat goes into effect July 1.
>> L.A. city offices aren't installing CFLs fast enough, says city controller Laura Chick, who found only 102 out of 958 buildings managed by the city's General Services Department have installed energy-efficient fluorescent lighting. Installing just those bulbs costs about $5 million -- and saved the city $1.5 million off the city's annual electricity bill. Earlier: Energy Week: Roundup of savings
>> Why're people still fighting over the Expo line? Steve Hymon writes about his chat with Damien Goodmon, who's leading a group trying to force a chunk of the Expo to be built underground instead of at grade. "I asked Goodmon why he thinks high school students –- many presumably pretty smart kids –- will get hit by the train at Farmdale when there will be crossing gates.... He rejected the comparison to Blair [High School, located 2 blocks from the Gold Line light rail] -– saying many more students will cross tracks at Dorsey. He also rejected my assertion that his own argument over environmental justice and racism has a sour tinge -- that perhaps he's suggesting that Dorsey students, many of whom are minorities, aren’t smart enough to stay off active railroad tracks."
>> More solar for SoCal. Southern California Edison plans to buy 245 megawatts of power -- enough electricity for about 160,000 homes -- from solar plants to be built in the Antelope Valley by ESolar Inc. The plants are expected to begin operating in 2011.
>> No, nuclear isn't cheap, clean energy, writes Joseph Romm in Salon. "Nuclear power still has so many problems that unless the federal government shovels tens of billions of dollars more in subsidies to the industry, and then shoves it down the throat of U.S. utilities and the public with mandates, it is unlikely to see a significant renaissance in this country. Nor is nuclear power likely to make up even 10 percent of the solution to the climate problem globally."
Valley bicyclists: Want better walk-bike-rail connections in your 'hood? Then join the L.A. County Bicycle Coalition and Metro for a bike or walk tour and weigh in on a plan to improve bike and walk access to the Van Nuys Metro Orange Line Station.
When: Saturday, May 31, 10 a.m.-1 p.m. Where: Marvin Braude Constituent Services Center, Conference Room 1A., 6262 Van Nuys Blvd., Van Nuys Cost: Free, with a free lunch if you RSVP to Dorothy Le at Dorothy@la-bike.org or (213) 629-2142.
According to Metro, this bike-walk deal is "part of a comprehensive study of existing conditions and recommendations for improvements at transit hubs across the Los Angeles County." The Saturday tour is just the first of five. The next four will all focus on Blue Line stations:
Metro Blue Line Compton Station, Saturday, June 14, 10 a.m. to 1 p.m.
Metro Blue Line Florence Station, Saturday, June 21, 10 a.m. to 1 p.m.
Metro Blue Line Rosa Parks Station, Saturday, July 12, 10 a.m. to 1 p.m.
Metro Blue Line Vernon Station, Saturday, July 19, 10 a.m. to 1 p.m.
Put them in your calendars. Wondering what happens after you put in your two cents? The findings from the tours -- which are part of a study funded by a Caltrans Environmental Justice Planning Grant -- will be put together into a final report of recommendations, scheduled to be completed this fall. That report, in turn, "can be used by cities to apply for grant funds to improve access to the stations," according to Metro.
Yes, that means that Metro's using a grant to do a study to apply for more grants; actually bringing about the recommended changes that come out of these bike-walk tours will be contingent on whether or not we get these future grants...
>> Metro adopts a $3.4 billion budget for the coming fiscal year. Good news: No fare increases! "Up 7.3% from current budget, the increase is largely due to increased transportation subsidies for municipal bus operators, paratransit service, Metrolink, the County of Los Angeles and cities, preparation to start new Metro Gold Line service to East Los Angeles later in 2009, and rehabilitation of older Metro Rail cars."
>> Why more companies are siding with environmentalists to push for government regulation. Writes Gregory Dicum in the Economist: "Alliances between companies and activists are not as strange as they might seem. For bosses planning long-term capital investments, says Michael Lenox, an expert on corporate sustainability at Duke University, 'uncertainty is more damaging than regulation.' This puts bosses in the same boat as activists: both want regulators to hurry up and set the rules."
"In a city where everyone defines themselves by what they drive, who are you if you take the train or the bus?" asks Andrae Gonzalo, a fashion designer who, with choreographer Jamie Benson, forms the duo performing "Go Metro" this weekend.
A Metro-inspired dance comedy that incorporates vaudeville shtick, contemporary dance, and everything in between, "Go Metro's" described as a "surreal but comedic look at the metropolitan experience, exploring characters and scenarios inspired by real individuals [Benson and Gonzalo] have encountered on the elaborate caste structure that is L.A.'s public transportation system."
When: Friday, May 23 and Saturday, May 24, 8:30 p.m. both days Where:Highways Performance Space, 1651 18th St., Santa Monica Cost: $20 regular, $15 for members, students, and seniors. Buy tickets online
Get there by bus (or bike or foot), because the Westside's still got no rail.
>> Want a Green Business Certification for the city of L.A.? City Councilman Richard Alarcon's expected to introduce a motion to fund a $200,000 pilot certification program with city money. Call your council member to show your support for it.
>> D.J. Waldie on why you should take the bus and support public transit funding, even if it sucks sometimes. "All of us should know that we are actually making a new citizenry for a different city." I've actually rarely found the 720 or 704 to be as crowded as Waldie describes, but I guess I generally ride during off-hours. Earlier: D.J. Waldie and going green at Antioch College.
>> Plan to bike to Dodger Stadium? The sole bike rack's in Lot P -- though not even the parking attendants seem to know of its existence. Damien Newton offers photographic guidance -- and a lot of constructive criticism for the stadium -- in Streetsblog LA.
>> Organic farming mitigates climate change, says Timothy LaSalle of the Rodale Institute, a leading organic-farming research and advocacy organization. "Synthetic fertilizer and oil-based pesticides release carbon dioxide into the air. But the organic approach, which is truly regenerative agriculture, sequesters carbon: It takes carbon out of the air and puts it back in the soil."
>> The U.S. EPA needs to regulate carbon monoxide, rules a judge. The EPA was told it needs to regulate carbon dioxide too -- but the agency appears set on shirking that responsibility until the end of the Bush administration.
>> Oil companies agreed to pay $423 million to settle MTBE contamination lawsuits, "brought by water suppliers and users in California and 19 other states over groundwater contaminated with the gasoline additive." However, six oil companies -- including Exxon -- did not agree to settle. More legal fights to come.
>> Beauty and the beak: Beauty the eagle got its beak shot off, giving her a handicap akin to having "only one chopstick to eat," according to one biologist. A team of volunteers is working to attach an artificial beak to Beauty. Earlier: Fake flipper for a turtle named Allison.
Pasadena isn't the only city celebrating Bike to Work week next week. Events are happening nationwide, Metro's getting in on the bike riding fun with a weeklong schedule of activities (PDF), including lots and lots of giveaways, free bus rides and a guest appearance by -- Shrek.
Shrek will be working the giveaway table at the kick-off event for Metro's Bike to Work Week, happening 9 am on Monday, May 12, at the Universal City Metro Red Line Station. Take your bike on a train ride to see the event, and you'll get freebies ranging from bike water bottles to sunscreen samples to Clif bars. L.A. City Councilmember Tom Labonge, Glendale Mayor John Drayman, and Metro CEO Roger Snoble will all be there.
Can't commit to riding a whole week? Then at least commit to riding Thursday, May 15 -- the official Bike to Work day. Between 7 am and 10 am, bikers can take breaks at "pit stops" all over the city that will be giving out snacks and other freebies.
You don't even have to bike your whole commute. Many transit agencies are offering free bus and rail rides to bikers; all you need is to board with your bike or helmet on Bike to Work Day.
If you do plan to bike it on May 15, make your pledge-to-bike here to be put in a drawing for a folding bike from REI! Other prizes include gift cards for REI and other companies, passes to the Laugh Factory, and bike messenger bags. Oddly, pledges are accepted until May 16, a day AFTER Bike to Work day -- so you could technically "pledge" post-ride.
And to see just how much you'll be saving -- both gas money-wise and carbon-footprint-wise -- check out the new Bike to Work calculator on the Metro website. To the right's the calculations for a person who decides to bike instead of driving a Santa Monica to downtown L.A. commute (I grant you'd have to be a pretty hardcore biker to do this, but anyway....). The boxes aren't labeled very well, but after a call to Metro, I found out that the numbers under "Gasoline savings" mean this: You'd save $15.41 of your money and 3.75 gallons of gas if you switched to biking, assuming that your car gets 20 mpg and gas costs $4.11 a gallon.
Those really, really psyched about the savings can download a Bike to Work day screensaver. Caveat: screensavers don't save energy; put your computer to sleep or shut down instead!
L.A. girl Kathryn Pope has a goal for 2008: To get rid of her car entirely by June! Follow her de-car-ing adventures.
Busing It. As I was making the decision to go car-free, I read "How to Live Well Without Owning a Car," by Chris Balish (great book). Balish suggests having several backup options for transport when switching to a car-free lifestyle, to be sure that commutes go smoothly, even when the unexpected happens. So, while my Motorboard is fun and makes me cooler than ever, I need other options for rainy days and long distances. My first backup is public transit.
I took my first bus ride because I was angry with my car, not because of my environmental goodness. After failed smog tests, maintenance tickets, and a chunk of metal that started to drag on the pavement as I drove, I was fed up. At the time, public transit seemed like a radical idea -- sheer craziness, in a city where cars are fashion statements. As I stuck my head under the car to inspect the errant chunk of whatever it was under there, I felt just crazy enough to try it. What if it turned out that I didn’t need this pile of metal to get me around at all? What would life be like?
The idea seemed like a great adventure. So I found the Big Blue Bus line 14, grabbed my quarters, and gave it a shot. It turns out that I arrived early for my appointment that day (no need to hunt for parking on Wilshire), and I arrived calmer than usual -- relaxed, actually. I’ve been a public transit convert ever since. I have to say that the bus is a sweet ride, compared with my no-frills car. Not only do I get to read, e-mail, and otherwise keep myself busy while I’m driven around by a professional driver -- I get to do it with climate control. I’ve also run into students and former students on the bus, made friends with strangers, and learned about the history of L.A. from an 88-year-old expert.
So what do you need to know, if you’re a bus novice eager to give it a try? A few ideas:
Use a TAP card and/or Little Blue Card. Fare cards save so much hassle in searching for the right change –- and, as I learned on my first ride, the driver won’t give change if you hand her a bill. The TAP card is still in its infancy, but if you buy one at certain locations in Culver City, you can put any dollar amount you want on your card and use it gift-card style on Culver City and Metro buses. The Big Blue Bus has a card of its own, the Little Blue Card, which you can buy online at the Big Blue Bus website.
Bring entertainment. Buses have to navigate traffic too, and they’re sometimes late or slow. Bring something fun or productive to pass the time, and you won’t find yourself tapping your foot impatiently and checking your watch.
Grab schedules to take with you. Public transit in L.A. is complicated when compared with other cities. It helps to know exactly which lines you’re taking and when the buses are scheduled to come. This will be even easier when we get Google transit in L.A. this summer. Until then, use metro.net’s trip planner and 1-800-COMMUTE.
Start with one short ride. For your first bus adventure, try taking a short ride on the bus that runs closest to your house, rather than starting with a commute to work or another important event. Even if you're not ready to think about de-car-ing just yet, a ride or two on the bus every so often can reduce your emissions, curb your gas-buying, and (although it may sound strange) give you a sense of community and warm fuzzies about the amazing people who live in L.A.
>> Debating the future of L.A. transportation. Read the five-part debate between USC professor Peter Gordon and the Transit Coalition’s Bart Reed -- with a grain of salt, as both men make false claims on occasion. Reed, for example, claims that the HOT lanes will force carpoolers into adjacent lanes -- despite the fact that carpoolers may be able to use HOT lanes for free. (Concrete decisions haven't been made yet.) Gordon's arguments are often just bizarre, with his own conjecturing being the only "proof" for his assertions: "As more people drive, they will have more range and more options." Seriously? Have you heard of, um, the congestion problem we already have? Being trapped on the 405 -- with no option to take a train that would avoid traffic entirely -- isn't exactly what I call freedom.
>> In Washington, D.C., newlyweds ride the train from the wedding to the reception: "I think Metro's easier than driving during rush hour," said the bride. "I've taken the Metro my entire career in rush hour. And it's always quicker than cabs or cars.... I just thought it would be a fun processional march and a way of getting strangers involved in sharing our joy." (via eecue)
>> Heart sidewalks? Many do, but unfortunately, it's not the item on top of Angelenos' want lists. City Planner Deborah Murphy speaks out on why roads aren't just for cars in a new StreetFilms video. In it, she points out that while L.A. residents say they want sidewalks, they're not pushing politicians to take action en masse -- perhaps because they're too busy being stuck in traffic. The biggest problem, in her opinion, is free parking -- even in our homes. "We give up so much of our private land to cars," she says.
>> Ocean debris, sorted. Ocean Conservancy reported that their volunteers found 6 million pounds of trash on the world's coastlines -- in one day. Wired mag asked for specifics -- and got them in great detail. "Perhaps not surprisingly, there's also a disturbing amount of condoms floating around the world's oceans."
New to the discussion? You can catch up on the details of the early scoping meetings that took place back in October last year, where the crowd almost unanimously agreed that the Westside needs a subway running down Wilshire all the way to the beach -- and maybe another line down Santa Monica Blvd. as well. Above's the tentative map that was displayed at that meeting.
Since then, some of those alternatives have likely been abandoned, and the map redrawn. This new round of meetings will brief the public on a "refined set of alternatives that will continue for further study and the schedule for future steps." The five meetings will happen:
Mon., May 5, 6-8 p.m., Los Angeles County Museum of Art, Terrace Room, 5th Fl., 5905 Wilshire Blvd., Los Angeles.
Tues., May 6, 6-8 p.m., Westside Presbyterian Church, 10822 Wilshire Blvd., Los Angeles.
Thurs., May 8, 6-8 p.m, Santa Monica Public Library, Multipurpose Room, 2nd Fl., 601 Santa Monica Blvd., Santa Monica
Mon., May 12, 6-8 pm, Plummer Park, 7377 Santa Monica Blvd., West Hollywood
Each meeting will start with an "open house" -- which in the past has meant people just hanging about looking at displayed maps and agendas -- with the project update presentation starting at 6:30, followed by a Q&A.
All meeting locations are easily accessible via the Metro lines running on Wilshire (20, 720, 920) and Santa Monica (4, 704) Blvds., as well as some Big Blue Bus lines. Ride the bus -- or fight traffic at the wheel -- and dream about how nice it'd be to have a traffic-hassle-free subway that whisks you from downtown L.A. to the beach in just 35 minutes.
>> Woman moves to Santa Monica, de-cars, loves life. She's like me, except a half-century older. "Instead of jumping into your car to do 11 boring errands in four hours, you do one errand, or two, and it takes as long as it takes, and you only buy what you can carry, or push, in a cute little cart.... I'm here on the ground, walking past flowers, and I don't miss those cars at all."
>> Massive bus service cuts averted! The Metro board decided that the proposed cuts were too severe and voted to limit cuts to 6 lines.
>> Why food prices are suddenly going up. In Grist, Tom Philpott breaks down the many reasons behind the sudden rise in food prices around the world. Item 4, which details Haiti's transformation from a food secure nation to a country of displaced farmers and hungry urban poor, is especially saddening. Support local agriculture!
>> Penguin swims in a custom-made wetsuit. Pierre, an African penguin that was going bald, got dive gear company Oceanic Worldwide to make him a suit. "With his plumage restored, Pierre is being weaned off the suit, taking more and more dips in the buff. There are no plans to make him a matching surf board." Earlier: Fake flipper for a turtle named Allison.
It's true -- L.A.'s main thoroughfare's going car free for most of Earth Day. Wilshire Blvd. will become a pedestrian walkway -- at least between Western and Harvard! So -- How to get there:
* Bike! You'll even get free bike valet service from the Los Angeles County Bicycle Coalition. And you'll be able to join in a couple short bike rides the LACBC will be leading; check the LACBC booth for ride times.
* Bus! The Metro Bus Lines that run down Wilshire -- That's the 20, 720 and 920 -- will be re-routed to 8th Street between Western and Vermont; just get off on Western to enjoy the festivities without traffic or parking hassles. In addition, Metro Lines 18, 66 and 209 will operate via regular routes, but will use alternate layover zones. All three lines will make all regularly scheduled stops except for the stop at Wilshire and Western.
* Rail! Traffic's bound to be messy in the area, but taking the subway will let you avoid the jam altogether. Metro Purple Line subway service will run according to schedule, every 10 to 12 minutes.
Soon, it'll be as easy to get public transit directions as it is to get driving directions via Google. By the summer, Angelenos will likely be using Google Transit, a Google Maps-based application that seamlessly links up walking to various public transit modes, to easily plan their bus and train rides in L.A.
Although L.A. transit agencies won't make the Earth Day 2008 challenge deadline proposed by Google, Metro and Metrolink are working hard to get their system info into Google Transit. Both agencies are currently in the testing phase.
Matthew Barrett of the Metro Library says the Metro bus information's ready to go -- and is already being tested -- but that they're waiting to get the rail info in there before the roll out. No firm dates -- aside from the fact that the launch will be after Earth Day -- have been set yet -- but since Metro and Google Transit had a conference call yesterday, more details should come out soon.
Metrolink, for its part, is planning an early May rollout. "Google Transit is a huge opportunity for us," said Francisco Oaxaca, Metrolink's manager of media and external communications, "because we think we're the ones most vulnerable to not having a multi-agency trip planner." Oaxaca pointed out that many Metrolink riders require multiple transfers between different agencies, and often have to go cobble together a route using multiple trip planners from various agencies. Google Transit, by contrast, would give people "an opportunity to plan door to door."
Of course, the success of Google Transit for L.A. requires that ALL of our many transit agencies in the area join Metro and Metrolink to really offer Angelenos a comprehensive trip planner. The OCTA and the Burbank Bus are a step ahead and already in the Google Transit system, but most local agencies are not. The Big Blue Bus, the Culver City Bus, and all the various bus lines also need to format their schedule and fare info to work with the Google Transit system. It's only when all the agencies get involved that riders will be able to take full advantage of both the Google Transit app and L.A.'s network of transit systems.
According to Oaxaca, Google Transit can be a real money saver for transit agencies. Building a trip planner from scratch could cost an agency "easily over $100,000," Oaxaca said, while formatting the transit information to fit into Google Transit cost Metrolink just "several thousand." Oaxaca also noted that once transit agencies put up the front end cost of getting into Google Transit, updates will be painless. "It really takes a lot of the burden off the transit agencies."
So encourage your local transit agency to get on to Google Transit! There's certainly great support for Google Transit among transit riders, as evidenced by a recent MetroRiderLA post and the ensuing 20+ comments. I have a call in to the Big Blue Bus, but haven't heard an update yet. More to come on that soon.
In the meantime, look forward to Metro and Metrolink's debuts on Google Transit. After the initial rollout, Metrolink will work on getting Amtrak information onto Google Transit, since the two agencies have a joint "rail to rail" service that allows passengers to ride either agency's trains interchangeably. Metrolink also plans to start testing its real-time train status function in May. Happy riding.
>> SoCal received just $1.65 billion -- as opposed to the $2.2 billion asked for -- from the California Transportation Commission yesterday. That $1.65 equals 56.5 percent of the entire pot of money, but many in SoCal believe we deserved more: "Three dozen state legislators had asked that at least 70% of the money go to their region because it is home to the ports of Los Angeles and Long Beach, which combined handle 85% of the shipping cargo containers that move through California."
>> In response to CTC's decision, Metro released a statement saying the agency had a "mixed reaction": "On the one hand, the monies will be put to good use funding dozens of transportation projects.... On the other hand, Metro is disappointed that the CTC did not award this region the full $2.2 billion.
>> The CTC's decision also has Assembly Speaker Fabian Nuñez calling for the resignation of Roger Snoble, head of Metro (photo above). "Nuñez charged that Snoble agreed to a bad deal that shortchanged Los Angeles County early in the competition for funds and that the MTA's chief executive officer failed to provide enough transportation projects ready to compete for the money." Snoble happened to be on vacation yesterday.
>> No salmon for you!
There will be no salmon fishing off California and Oregon, due to
efforts to protect the chinook salmon population. The ban's the first
in the 150-year history of the West Coast fishing industry.
>> Get ready for higher utility bills if you get your power from one of these companies:
Southern California Edison, Southern California Gas Co., Pacific Gas
& Electric and San Diego Gas & Electric. California utility
customers will foot the bill for a $600-million global-warming think
tank -- The California Institute for Climate Solutions -- aimed at
"accelerating research into ways to quickly cut harmful greenhouse gas
emissions." LA DWP customers won't be affected, because the surcharge
can't be added to public utilities.
>> Don't miss the FREE Earth Day on the Promenade tomorrow, Sat., April 12, from 10 a.m. - 7 p.m., on Third Street Promenade, between Broadway and Wilshire in Santa Monica.
>> Drop by the reception for Zone 5 in the City: Art Sustaining Nature, "a project that brings professional artists together with Franklin High School students to explore the issue of sustainability through the construction of site-specific installations on the grounds of the Audubon Center at Debs Park." The free event -- which includes an edible plant walk -- happens tomorrow, Sat. April 12, from 2 pm to 5 pm at Audubon Center at Debs Park, 4700 N. Griffin Ave., Los Angeles.
Watch it to find out how it differs from both buses and trains -- and to hear about some of the reasons why BRT systems are put in instead of rail, and about the future of transit in L.A.
L.A. City Council member Wendy Greuel and Rex Gephardt, Metro's Regional Transit Planning Director, both make an appearance and talk about how politics and money weigh into the decisionmaking process for public transportation. This BRT film's hopefully the first of many to come from StreetFilms about de-car-ing in L.A.
Would you pay an extra $90 on your car registration to improve public transit and help the environment? How about an extra 9 cents per gallon? That question could be showing up on your ballot, due to a recently-introduced bill in the California State Assembly, the L.A. Times reports.
If AB2558, a.k.a. the "climate change mitigation and adaptation fee," passes, Metro will be allowed to ask voters whether they'd be willing to pay a fee. A majority vote would get the fee passed, making fuel-efficient lifestyles more financially attractive while potentially providing $400 million a year for public transit projects.
Metro's pro AB2558, though the agency hasn't decided whether or not it will even pursue such a fee, and if so, which type of fee it'll pursue. But AB2558 joins many of the public transit funding ideas that have already been floating around, as L.A. tries to figure out how it's going to deal with its traffic congestion issues.
But the transit funding issue remains far from resolved, and solutions seem rather slow in coming. Even this new "climate change mitigation and adaptation fee" idea has many hoops to jump through. The bill would first need to pass and not get vetoed, then Metro would have to decide to put a measure on the ballot, then people would have to vote for it.
Would you vote for this fee? The half cent tax? Or both? Here's what the vote tally looked like for the half-cent tax idea a couple months ago.
April is the cruelest month -- and perhaps relatedly, also National Poetry Month. While few people pick up a volume of poetry for pleasure reading these days, public transit riders will find their morning commute take a poetic turn, thanks to Poetry in Motion. This program, put together by the Poetry Society of America and various transit agencies across the U.S., puts poem-placards in the ad spaces in trains and buses.
If you'd rather be read to than read yourself, come down to Union Station in downtown L.A. on April 10. Beginning at 4 pm, L.A. poets Elena Karina Byrne, Suzanne Lummis and Marisela Norte will read their poetry to the rush-hour crowd.
According to Metro, "The alternative space in the context of a transit system has become a welcome platform for the spoken and written word, delivered to delighted audiences by published poets in great performances." Listeners will receive commemorative Metro bookmarks inscribed with poetry by Emily Dickinson and Octavio Paz.
Live on the westside and don't want to be seen east of the 405? Then attend the live poetry reading with poets Molly Bendall, Eloise Klein Healy, and -- my own dissertation adviser -- David St. John in Santa Monica. The event will begin at 7 pm in the Martin Luther King, Jr. Auditorium of the Santa Monica Library, Main Branch, 601 Santa Monica Blvd.
Both events are free and open to the public. Take Metro or the Big Blue Bus there, and get in the poetic mood by reading the poem-placards pre-event.
In about 3 years (2011) Metro hopes to be operating a bus-only lane on Wilshire from downtown Los Angeles to Santa Monica (about 12.5 miles) during the morning and afternoon rush hours...and it should improve travel times by about 25 percent with a dedicated lane and signal priority. Funding has been recommended in the President's proposed budget and we hope to get additional federal monies next year. Construction could start as early as the 4th quarter of this year.
Three years seems like a really long time, though I'm glad to hear that we at least have a tentative date when the project'll actually come to fruition. The Wilshire bus lane project recently received $5 million in state funding -- though Metro still needs more money to finish the project.
Incidentally, this Metro chat was supposed to be about Metro's new draft Long Range Transportation Plan and ways to fund traffic relief -- though as has been the case with all the other chats, the questions were mostly random inquiries -- or complaints -- people had about transportation issues in L.A.
Still, Metro's ramping up its efforts to get the public -- especially the public on the web -- engaged with the Long Range Transportation Plan. Yesterday, Metro launched a new "Imagine" site that collects the plan's "story," the full draft of the plan, ways to contact Metro about the plan, and information about public meetings on an easy-to-navigate site, hopefully making it easier for Angelenos to get involved.
The "Imagine" site's even got a blog. So far, there's just one post -- penned not by an individual but by "Metro" -- that's basically an excerpt of the Plan's stated goal. Will the blog be as impersonal and canned as the previous Metro chats have been? 23 eager comments on that bland first post seem to show that the public hopes otherwise --
>> Hear about and discuss the second phase of the Expo line (PDF), which will extend the light rail from Culver City to Santa Monica. Two primary right-of-way alignments are being considered, so get your two cents in at the upcoming community workshops:
* Wednesday, March 26, 6:30 pm, Webster Middle School, Los Angeles
* Tuesday, April 1, 6:30 pm, Crossroads School, Santa Monica
* Thursday, April 3, 6:30 pm, Vista Del Mar Child and Family Services, Los Angeles
>> The trouble with eco-labels aimed at the consumer. More companies are using them to detail their greening efforts -- but it's unclear what criteria were used to crunch the numbers -- and difficult for would-be eco-consumers to decipher.
Westsiders: How would you like the Santa Monica Big Blue Bus to connect to the subway? That's the big topic up for discussion at BBB's round of annual community meetings. The BBB wants to take the Rapid 7 line that runs down Pico to go all the way east to meet the Metro Red Line at Wilshire and Western!
Other topics will include:
Splitting the Sunset Ride into two routes, to have buses travel down 17th St. in both directions.
Increasing service to Santa Monica High School via BBB lines 4 and 9.
Info on the "Tri-Annual Analysis & Three-Year Service Plan," with details on ridership, on-time performance, and passenger loads, as well as the status of the new maintenance facility project and ordering of articulated buses.
Info on upcoming BBB events, including BBB's 80th Anniversary celebration party on the Promenade April 14th at 11 a.m., and other community events such as Earth Day, Santa Monica Festival, Twilight Concert Series and Alt Car Expo.
Meetings will happen:
Wed., April 2, 6 pm - 8 pm. Virginia Park (Thelma Terry Center), 2200 Virginia Ave., Santa Monica
Sat., April 5, 10 am - noon. Ken Edwards Center (Room 100 A-B) 1527 4th St., Santa Monica
Mon., April 7, 6 pm -8 pm. SM Main Library (Multi-Purpose Room, 2nd floor), 601 Santa Monica Blvd., Santa Monica
Tues., April 8, noon - 1 pm. UCLA (Ackerman Viewpoint Community Room), Westwood Plaza, Los Angeles
Tues., April 8, 6 pm - 8 pm. Fairview Branch Library, 2101 Ocean Park Blvd., Santa Monica
The Big Blue Bus has been getting more popular -- though the ridership stats don't sound particularly dramatic. Between 2004 and 2007, ridership increased overall by 2.3 percent -- which doesn't sound like much, but is higher than the national average. Weekday trips grew by 1.3 percent, while weekend trips went up by a more impressive 9.6 percent on Saturdays and 7.3 percent on Sundays. The Big Blue Bus' on-time performance record is now at 86 percent.
Google maps makes driving around L.A. super easy. If only we had a similar app for public transit....
Actually, Google does have a public transit app -- It's just not available for L.A. -- yet. Google Transit -- which seamlessly links up walking to various public transit modes -- has been helping people from Tokyo to Portland get around. Check out how it works via this short video:
My current goal's to bring Google Transit to L.A.
Why now? According to WorldChanging, Google Transit posed a challenge at the recent TransITech conference in Anaheim to get your city on Google Transit by Earth Day 2008.
That target date seems a bit unrealistic, considering it's only about a month away. On the other hand, since Google's put together the system, it seems all transit agencies have to do is get their transit info to Google to put together. As WorldChanging points out, "It's a win for the transit agencies, too, because their specialized trip-planner websites are all made with expensive proprietary software, while Google's system is free and they publish their API."
In fact, a couple local-ish transit systems -- the Burbank Bus and the OCTA -- are already on Google Transit. However, Metro's not on there -- nor are the Culver City Bus or the Big Blue Bus or many of our other numerous transit systems that link up to create the super-complicated public transportation network we have in L.A.
For the newbie transit taker, navigating between the different systems can seem very daunting -- even scary enough as to be forbidding. Yes, we have Metro Trip Planner, which does have info from various local transit agencies. However, this app has a lot of glitches, as anyone who's used it frequently knows. Trip Planner's also not particularly user friendly, especially when compared to the super simple way Google Transit lets you find alternate routes, change departure or arrival times, etc.
As a first step in my quest to Google Transit-fy L.A., I called up Santa Monica's Big Blue Bus. Linda Gamberg, BBB's marketing & public information coordinator, said that she'd coincidentally just gotten an email from Google Transit, and although she wasn't very familiar with the app yet, she'd find out more. Somewhat serendipitously, Big Blue Bus has just begun work on a website overhaul (target date for launch: Jan. 2009) -- which includes plans for a more user-friendly trip planner.
Hopefully the BBB and Google Transit can work together, perhaps saving both time and money while giving transit riders a great tool. Meanwhile, I'm wondering why more transit systems haven't gotten on the Google Transit bandwagon already, mainly because working with Google Transit seems a lot easier than developing their own systems from scratch.... I'll try to find out what exactly it takes to get a transit system on Google Transit, and what the holdup is....
Of course, BBB's info alone won't make Google Transit super effective for L.A., since many riders use multiple transit systems to get around. Next up -- Finding out if Metro's got plans to get on Google Transit -- even if it's not mentioned in the draft of Metro's Long Range Plans. If there are Metro or other transit agency peeps reading this -- Here's how cities can get in touch with Google Transit.
How would you like your commute speed to drop another 14 miles per hour? That's what Metro projects will happen to freeway speeds by 2030 due to population and employment growth in the L.A. area -- if we do nothing to fix the situation.
So the plan is to, you know, do something -- namely reduce single-passenger car trips. Yesterday, Metro released a draft of its 2008 Long Range Transportation Plan (PDF) that covers what the Metro wants to achieve between now and 2030 -- everything from smart growth to air pollution reduction to bike-rail connections. Some key features:
32 more miles of rail
160 more miles of carpool lanes
400 more miles of Metro Rapid service
14 tons of air pollution reduction
There are also plans to improve bicycle access to transit hubs, better pedestrian projects, smart growth partnerships, and, of course, widened freeways. Perhaps the most disappointing fact about this $152 billion-dollar plan is that most of the projects are still unfunded, though L.A. did recently get some state money....
Check out the maps and plans to see how your favorite mode of alternative transportation would be affected. The draft is 52 pages long -- but a bunch of pages just have pretty pictures, so it's a pretty quick read.
Then get your two cents in on the plan during this 45-day public review period. You can write, phone, or email in your comments -- or make your way to one of these public meetings to voice your opinions in person:
March 26, 6:30 p.m., Westside Cities, Plummer Park, 7377 Santa Monica Bl, West Hollywood
March 27, 6:30 p.m. Central Los Angeles, Metro Headquarters, One Gateway Plaza, Board Room – 3rd Floor, Los Angeles
April 3, 6 p.m., South Bay Cities, Carson Community Center, Room 107, 801 East Carson Street Carson
April 8, 6 p.m., San Gabriel Valley, Potrero Heights Elementary School, 8026 East Hill Dr, Rosemead
April 10, 6 p.m., Gateway Cities, Progress Park Plaza West, 15500 Downey Av, Paramount
April 22, 6:30 p.m., North Los Angeles County, Larry Chimbole Cultural Center, Lilac Room – 1st Floor, 38350 Sierra Highway, Palmdale
April 23, 6 p.m., San Fernando Valley, Marvin Braude Constituent Service Center, Room 1B, 6262 Van Nuys Bl, Van Nuys,
After the public review, the Metro board will vote on whether or not to adopt the plan in June.
That money comes thanks to Proposition 1B, a $20 billion infrastructure bond Cali voters passed in 2006. L.A. County also received public transit funding for the Expo Line and for new and rehabbed buses, for a total of $171 million.
Unfortunately, the bus-only lane project's still not fully funded. StreetsblogLA reports that Metro Spokesperson Marc Littman said more federal funds are expected in the next year, but even that won't be enough to move the project into construction.
So it may still be a while before bus riders gleefully zoom past passenger car drivers, stuck in gridlock gritting their teeth....
The gates are intended to keep people who cheat the current honor system from getting freebie rides. Metro says the current fare evasion rate's 5 percent -- and costs the agency $5.5 million a year. The gates, according to Metro, could help recover $3-6 million a year -- in addition to saving as much as $7 million a year by reducing the need for fare inspectors whose jobs are to catch freeloaders.
To install the gating system, the Metro board approved a 10-year, $46 million lease contract -- plus $12 million for system maintenance and $10 million for station modifications -- with Cubic Transportation Systems with this hopeful statement: "Based on current forecasts, the savings enabled by the system will begin to pay for itself in the fourth year of full system operation." That projected breaking point will come six years from now, since the installation will take a couple years.
Since the subway's still nowhere near me in Santa Monica, I won't have an educated opinion on the issue until 2012 or so, assuming the Subway to the Sea gets built out -- with fare gates in place.
More specifically, this Regional Connector study is looking into ways to link up the Gold, Blue and Expo rail lines -- a rather tough task, considering that the Expo line's still getting built and the Metro Gold line East Side extension won't happen until sometime in the future. Still, here's your chance to help Metro get connected while using some creative imagination to picture what L.A. rail will look like in the future. Get thee to one of the two meetings:
Tues., Feb. 26, from 6:30 – 8:00 p.m. at the Japanese American National Museum, 369 E. 1st St., Los Angeles.
Thurs., Feb. 28, from noon – 1:30 p.m. at the Los Angeles Central Library, 630 W. 5th St., Los Angeles.
At the meeting, you'll get to see Metro's presentation on potential alignments and station locations, as well as ask your burning questions and give your feedback. Pre-meeting, check out the Regional Connector website for more details on what's happened with the study so far.
Have questions about public transit? Check out The Transit Coalition's bulletin boards for answers. The Transit Coalition's a nonprofit that advocates for better public transportation in the greater L.A. area, and the coalition's bulletin boards are used to promote a free exchange of ideas about transit. 
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