Results tagged “bus”

Last night during rush hour an MTA bus collided with a private vehicle near 1959 N. Glendale Boulevard and the 2 Freeway. "According to Officer Gregory Baek of the Los Angeles Police Department, the No. 92 bus was driving northbound just before the freeway ramp when the accident occurred," explains LA Now. As a result, 19 people suffered injuries, of which 10 "were taken to the hospital," and of those, one "was reported to be in critical condition," according to CBS2. The other nine injuries were described as being "as minor to moderate." Police are currently investigating the cause of the crash, however Sgt. Gregory Hoyte of the Central Traffic Division notes that "the driver seemed to have lost control of the bus and hit the middle divider [also going Northbound on the road] and another object before crashing into the car."

A series of public meetings about the Crenshaw Corridor (you know, a train from Wilshire Blvd. to LAX) have ended, but there still plenty of planning (and dreaming) to be had for public transit in the Los Angeles region. From bicycling to bus lanes to subways, here's a wrap-up of meetings that remain this month.

Has the world gone topsy turvy? The city's Department of Transportation is finally using Twitter for real-time updates to their DASH service. That's a great first step as there have been many times we've waited for the Studio City/Van Nuys DASH thinking, "it'd be nice to know if it's ever coming..." You can follow the transit service here and more specifically, the downtown DASH here. Mobility Maven is the department's General Manager, Rita Robinson.

A section of the Pacific Coast Highway was closed this morning after part of a tree fell on a bus around 8 a.m. in the area of Chautaqua Boulevard. The tree fell onto some power lines and a Metro Route 534 bus, knocking out electrical service to about 1,200 customers, according to Kim Hughes of the Los Angeles Department of Water and Power. No injuries were reported. Eastbound PCH remained closed between Las Tunas beach and Temescal Canyon Road while crews worked to clear the scene.

The free healthcare check program at The Forum in Inglewood that will go through next week has been so popular, Metro is temporarily extending a bus line's service to 24 hours. Thousands turned out in the first two days of the week long event that is offering free health, dental and vision checks to the uninsured, under-insured, unemployed and under-employed. Hundreds spent the night hoping to get checked today. Remote Area Medical Foundation will be offering services through next Tuesday. Due to "overwhelming demand," Metro Bus Line 115, which usually runs from 5 a.m. to midnight will now run 24 hours a day with service every half hour during the off-hours. Good Timing? Remote Area Medical tends to serve rural areas, but placing a clinic in the 2nd largest U.S. city during the national healthcare debate is an interesting move, coincidental or not.

Now here's a nice idea. A reader at LA Streetsblog submitted a photo of a digital TV showing bus departure times at the Union Station Metro Red Line station. Little is known at this point, but it seems to be an experiment or at least the first of many. Line 20 to Santa Monica is departing in 15 minutes with the following one leaving in 24 minutes, it reads. Not bad. Not bad at all.

A fire was already burning in the Castaic area when an Amtrak bus nearby on the 5 Freeway caught fire--"exploded" according to news reports--and spread flames into the grass. The Sloan fire has reached heights of 3,000 feet elevation and is persisting in the 103 degree weather of the Santa Clarita Valley. However, good progress is being made, according to the Angeles National Forest's Twitter. Even without the fire, the Santa Clarita Valley and San Gabriel Mountains and Valley were and will continue to be under an air advisory alert for sensitive individuals (heart disease, asthma or other respiratory disease). Over in Monterey Park against he 710 freeway, a small 8 acre fire, called the Mcbride Fire, broke out, but was knockedown around 2:30, reported LA County's Fire Department Twitter.

The memorial for Michael Jackson tomorrow will require shutting down a large area around the Staples Center. Metro's Blue Line Pico Station sits at the corner of that closure and while they are preparing to run service as normal, they are prepared and warning commuters of the worst case scenario, meaning massive crowds forcing the trains to operate between Long Beach and the Washington station. "We're going to run the blue line until told not to," explained Metro Spokesman Rick Jager. "The biggest impact is the busses because they've cornered off a large area." Over 50 bus lines will be re-routed (details below). "We're really urging people to plan ahead tomorrow. They will probably be a lot of delays," said Jager.

Twice a year, Metro makes a slew of changes to their schedules and transit routes in an effort to improve service and efficiency. Sunday was one of those days. Usually, there is something new and flashy to show off like a new Rapid bus route, but this summer there's no such thing. In fact, one Rapid line was discontinued in the Valley and another lost its weekend service in South LA.

40-year-old Donald Barrett was walking across the street when he was fatally struck and dragged by a Metro bus around 850 feet down two streets in Venice yesterday afternoon. "There does not appear to be any evidence of a crime and there are no charges pending at this time," explained the LAPD in a news release today. "The driver of the bus was transported to a local hospital for treatment of an undisclosed medical condition."

For the second time this year, a bus making a turn has fatally struck a pedestrian crossing the street. It was about 7:25 p.m. at Temple and Spring when the woman, believed to be in her 30s, crossed the street correctly on a green light, but seemingly at an angle, a Metro spokesperson told the LA Times. Earlier this year, a DASH bus making a turn killed a woman at 5th and Flower near Central Library.

Carolyn Flowers' job is to run the country's largest bus operation and today, in addition to taking your questions, she'll talk about the federal stimulus, solar power, the Silver Line, the Orange Line and Measure R. It all starts at noon here and Streetsblogger Damien Newton advises that "the best way to have a substantive discussion is to submit tough questions."

Federal stimulus funds are bound for Santa Monica, where their Big Blue Bus has plans for the $12.8 million, according to Yahoo!Business. The funds come with the stipulation they be "used for capital expenditures and not for operating costs or service enhancements."

Turning curb lanes on Wilshire Boulevard between Downtown and Santa Monica into dedicated Rapid Bus lanes has been a project in the works for over a decade, and one that continues to crawl towards realization. Last fall a series of community meetings were held to discuss the conversion following the initiation of an Initial Study/Environmental Assessment (IS/EA) of the plan, which was to "determine whether any further environmental assessment is necessary," according to Metro. The goal was to have the report ready for viewing around this time, but in an update, Metro says "there has been a slight change to the original schedule as the environmental analysis is taking a little more time than anticipated." Now they say it will be late spring when the report is ready and more meetings can be held.

It's obvious that Jack got hit by a bus on Hope Street in downtown Los Angeles, as seen last night during a Superbowl Commercial. If you keep up on downtown news, you might find it similar to a crash last month.

Two buses traveling on the 405 Freeway North collided at approximately 9:40 this morning near the Venice exit. According to abc7.com, "at least 10 fire paramedic units were sent to a parking lot just off the 405 Freeway, at the National Boulevard offramp, following the crash," to treat "24 children with minor injuries." A steady stream of emergency vehicles moving from the scene of the rear-end collision to the parking lot of Ross Dress For Less continued for more than an hour afterward, as paramedics worked to treat the many kids who suffered injuries in the incident. To deal with the traffic chaos on the streets, "Los Angeles city transportation officers were sent to that intersection to direct traffic."

     

Yesterday morning at 5th and Flower, a memorial appeared near the crosswalk where a women was fatally struck by a city DASH bus. Around 6:30 a.m., Wednesday, January 7th, Gwendolyn Coleman, 58, was walking across the street in the crosswalk when the bus turned left, striking her. A police investigation is still ongoing.

A few people have been asking what happened yesterday morning downtown near Central Library where a large memorial with flowers sits today. A pedestrian was hit by a DASH bus at 5th and Flower around 6:35 a.m. in the morning.

Los Angeles County has finally caught up with other big cities where you can buy a card, fill it up with money and use it like a debit card on buses and Metro rail lines. That means no more making sure you have the correct change or worrying if the credit card machine will work (but you can still do that if you want).

53 years ago today, Rosa Parks refused to give up her bus seat to a white passenger in Montgomery, Alabama. That single act--that led to her arrest and the Montgomery Bus Boycott--made her a symbol of the modern Civil Rights Movement. Here in Los Angeles, the Blue Line Imperial/Wilmington Metro Rail station was dedicated to her in 1998, but today the public transit agency took it a step further, they announced: "It wasn't a bus that started it but a bus was certainly the setting, so it is fitting, then, that Metro Board has declared today--the date Rosa Parks refused to surrender her bus seat to a white male passenger--Rosa Parks Human Rights Day. "

"It depends on how you look at it," Steve Hymon at the Bottleneck Blog said. In October, Metro's ridership increased when you compare it to October's 2007 ridership. However, on a month-to-month basis, ridership in general--except for the subway--is dipping as gas prices continue to fall.

Although yesterday brought the encouraging news of a service expansion for late-night weekend riders on the Red Line during the holiday season this year, this morning the news about MTA service overall is rather discouraging.

   

This morning's empty Metro Bus vs. southbound Metro Blue Line train crash left 13 people with minor injuries around 6:15 a.m. near Washington Boulevard and Griffith Avenue. Since its opening in 1990, the Metro Blue Line has had an atrocious record, demonstrated by the Bottleneck Blog's information request. There have been 652 train vs. vehicle incidents leaving 26 dead and 169 train vs. pedestrian leaving 64 dead. This all totals up to 821 incidents/accidents for the Metro Blue Line. Keep in mind that all a train operator can do in these cases is apply the breaks if a person decides to cross the tracks at the wrong time.

13 people sustained minor injuries when an empty bus and Metro Blue Line train collided around 6:15 a.m. Metro put an alert on their website warning people about the bus bridge but stayed silent on the crash. "Friday, September 19, 7:30 a.m. Metro Blue Line service is operating between Seventh and Metro Station and Grand Station downtown and between Washington Station and Long Beach. A bus bridge is shuttling passengers between Grand and Washington stations until further notice."

As the gas prices fell last month, so did ridership on public transit. Metro documents show that people are riding less on a daily basis, but numbers are still a lot higher than usual when compared to 12 months ago or even earlier this year.

As the Metrolink-Union Pacific train crash investigation continues through next week, Metro will be operating a bus bridge operation between the Chatsworth and Moorpark Metrolink stations with a stop at the Simi Valley Metrolink station, according to KNX1070. "Metro will begin running the buses on Monday, with southbound service leaving from Moorpark beginning at 5:07 AM, and the last northbound Metro bus leaving Chatsworth at 7:44 PM," stated a communication from Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa's office.

Metro sent out a press release today telling people how to get to USC games via public transit. By the summer or fall of 2010, the Expo Line is expected to be completed with three stops in and surrounding the USC campus (two near the Coliseum and one by the Galen Center). When that day happens, getting to a USC game will be a cinch. But until then, you've got to read dizzying Metro directions like this:

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Metro introduced their new transit map this morning. It's quite a large file (.pdf), but extremely detailed.