Results tagged “metro”

Tomorrow, politicians and the media will test out the new 6-mile Gold Line Eastside Extension, but not before Metro's in-house media, former LA Times reporter Steve Hymon and transit blogger Fred Dennstedt, took a ride. In a post, they shared notes with the public.

Metro is using their new blog the right way--with timely updates. From today: "The Gold Line is currently shut down between Highland Park and Southwest Museum stations. At about 1:15 p.m. an umbrella from a neighboring residence blew onto city power lines above train tracks, creating a potentially dangrous situation for the trains beneath. DWP, Fire Department and Metro officials are on the scene. Metro riders are advised to use either Metro bus lines 81 or 83 or to take the Gold Line to either Highland Park or Southwest Museum station and board buses that are shuttling passengers between the two stations. We’ll be posting updates as they occur." UPDATE: Trains are running on a single track, expect 10-15 min delays this afternoon, says the LA Times.

We've seen our fair share of aggressive behavior while taking the Red Line, but this video, taken between Hollywood and Highland and Universal City, is pretty disgusting. Sure the kids are acting like total brats and rudely harassing the woman (called the "crackhead" in this video), but does one of them deserve mace in the eye?

Metro this morning finally announced the long-awaited opening of the Gold Line's Eastside Extension between downtown Los Angeles to East L.A. After the traditional inaugural ride with government officials and media in tow the day before, the six-mile line will be open to the public with free rides on Sunday, November 15th.

In a unanimous vote, the Metro Board approved the Long Range Transportation Plan this afternoon. The document will guide transit planning in Los Angeles County for the next 30 years. One amendment was introduced and ultimately approved as well. Among a number of changes it brought, the most notable is a commitment to try to open the Gold Line Foothill Extension from Pasadena to Azusa before 2017.

Metro is expected to pass the Long Range Transportation Plan at this mornings meeting, which began at 9:30 a.m. As Streetsblogger Damien Newton explains, the plan "will cement the timeline for local funding from Measure R for projects and allow the agency to apply for Federal and State funds." Basically, if voted upon, the document will be the guiding force for the development of transit in L.A. for years to come.

It's very common for reporters to cross the line and become communicators for agencies they once reported on and investigated. Today comes the news that Metro is launching their blog (finally!) with two notable names behind it. From the LA Times is Steve Hymon, the paper's former transit reporter. And from the blogLAsphere is Fred Camino, the downtown resident who created the blog MetroRiderLA. It's called The Source and Metro says it "is your window into what's happening at" the agency. "We'll be writing about agency news, funding and policy issues, and how to get the most out of transit and Los Angeles."

This week, the Metro Transportation Library debuted an impressive set of historical maps depicting transit lines and proposals for routes and systems. Among the multiple versions of our current subway system and systems long come and gone is a proposed monorail from 1960, the transit vision for LA in 1974, the map produced based on the Kelker-Deleuw study of 1925 (when the city's first subway was built), and a map from the time when the Red Line was called the Orange Line.

A warning, of sorts, came from a delegation of local members of congress today. Two mainstream media headlines begin to the tell the story. From this morning, the Pasadena Star News: 14 SoCal congressional leaders call for prioritizing Gold Line And this afternoon from the LA Times: Mayor's effort to fast-track Westside subway faces challenge

Thanks to a U2 concert at the Rose Bowl this Sunday evening, train service will be extended into the wee hours of Monday morning. 100,000 people are expected to descend upon the stadium and officials with the Rose Bowl and Live Nation--both which paid for the extended service--are encouraging fans to take public transit.

If Metro's regional connector project is built, passengers will be able to commute between Pasadena and Long Beach without transferring from the Gold Line to the Red Line, then the Blue Line. Likewise, those traveling between East LA and Culver City (and maybe someday Santa Monica) will be able to skip a similar transfer process. That means faster travel times and more accessibility car-free.

According to a report posted on Metro's website, it appears the Gold Line Eastside Extension could be opening on Saturday, November 14th. It is listed in a powerpoint presentation (.pdf) meant for a board committee meeting this Wednesday.

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.

The first of four public meetings about the Crenshaw Corridor project was last night, with 50 to 60 people reportedly showing up. Out of those who attended, "about a dozen spoke their two minutes — with nearly every public speaker in favor of the light rail option," wrote transit blogger LA Wad on MetroRiderLA. That included LA County Supervisor Mark Ridley-Thomas who paid a surprise visit to the meeting in support of the light rail option.

Metro is sure putting on a good number of community meetings in October. From the Wilshire Bus Lanes project to the Crenshaw Line to LAX and now another one is set for a plan to overhaul the pedestrian experience at the second busiest rail station in the system (Metro/7th in downtown being the busiest) where the Blue and Green lines converge.

But don't get too excited as it's just one step in a long process that's almost completed. Although the timetable (.pdf) for the Gold Line now include eastside extension stations, they've been left blank. What a tease!

If you see the Gold Line running through the Eastside and East L.A. on a regular basis next week, don't think you can hop on board at the nearest station. Metro officials announced today that pre-revenue light rail train testing will begin Sunday, lasting at least a month before opening to the public.

October is going to be a busy month for public meetings about transportation. The city of Los Angeles is hosting a set of them on the draft master bicycle plan while Metro will gather input at a series of meetings about the Wilshire bus lanes.

As Metro works on a subway to the Westside, they are also working on peak hour bus lanes down Wilshire Boulevard to the Santa Monica city line and excluding Beverly Hills. The project aims to improve traffic flow along Wilshire Boulevard, encourage the shift from car to public transit, improve bus travel times and reliability on bus service.

The Metro board yesterday directed staff to apply for federal grants in hopes of capturing start-up money for the a subway to UCLA and a the regional connector in downtown.

But don't get too excited, the money from the feds going to the transit line is not for extending it northbound towards Burbank airport or anything close to that. Today's announcement from is about reducing energy consumption. The White Explains in a press release:

Senator John McCain has his eye on several transit projects all over the nation that he is labeling "wasteful government spending," including two here in Los Angeles, explains StreetsblogLA. His target is the US Department of Transportation's 2010 spending bill, which comes up "for a vote this week in the upper chamber of Congress."

The current timetable has the first subway trains hitting the Westwood/UCLA area by 2036. Buy then, we might all be in flying cars, jet packs or just working from home instead of commuting. Frustrated with the timeline for a project that in theory could take five years if funded upfront, Villaraigosa called for the Westside Extension to be completed by the time he was 66, or 10 years from now, reports the LA Times. "I’m 56 now,” he said. “We are here today to make sure that it gets built before I am 66.” He wants local government agencies to put their aside and work together to get it expedited. He's been a staunch supporter of the Subway to the Sea concept, but that language has since been dropped. Still, he's fighting very hard to hit Westwood/UCLA in much speedier timeline than proposed.

Over the past few months, Metro has been drilling for soil samples throughout the Westside so below ground conditions could be analyzed as plans for the subway route and construction can be made. The Metro Board still has not voted on whether or not to move forward with a subway, but this information is part of the environmental research that must be done before such a decision can be made. Over 70 locations were drilled.

Metro has intimated that they'll be voting on a preliminary line for their proposed Wilshire extension later next year, and hopes to connect their "current terminus in Koreatown to the Westside," explains MetroRider LA. But where the stops will be are still very much in flux; "one of the stations along the line is still kept as optional: Wilshire Boulevard and Crenshaw Boulevard."

Just like they eventually did with the Orange Line, Metro is beginning to install red light enforcement cameras along the Gold Line. By the end of August, the agency expects to have installation complete at a few intersections along First Street. An opening date for the new light rail line between Union Station and East LA has not been announced.

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.

The MTA has "revamped its policy" and now the Los Angeles County Sheriff's Department will assume responsibility for "supervising transit security guards," according to abc7.com. The changes to the transit system's supervisory structure most likely stems from the recent revelation that there have been 11 investigations launched in the past two years by the L.A. County's Sheriff's Department...

Apparently, Los Angeles County Sheriff's have been doing random bag checks for Metro since March, according to Damien Newton at StreetsblogLA. Metro staff emphasized to him that the searches are legal, after he spoke to them when a reader witnessed it happening to commuters entering the Gold Line platform at Union Station. Notes Newton: "When Metrolink announced it was going to begin randomly searching passengers' belongings last summer, there was a firestorm of protest. After the horrific crash last September, the agency came under fire for spending money Keeping Us Safe from Terrorists instead of improving rail safety."

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.