For about a year Metro has been meeting with the public over the Westside Extension Project (they have a Facebook group too), usually dubbed as the "Subway to the Sea." In the Fall of 2007 Metro met with the public to talk about initial conceptual designs. Metro planners came back to the public in the Winter with 17 options (or alternatives as they call them) which included light rail, aerial rail, bus rapid transit and......

With one more step to go until the half-cent sales tax increase proposal goes on the November ballot, Metro has launched an extensive website to inform the public what a "yes" vote would mean: "Measure R is a half-cent sales tax increase that will provide the local resources to finance new transportation projects and accelerate those already in the pipeline. Over 30 years, it is expected to generate $40 billion for countywide congestion relief......

San Fernando Business Journal writer Jason Schaff is a fan of the Orange Line, but with the gas prices and higher ridership, the "Valley's Shortcut" is no longer that desirable he says. "At the end of summer 2008 the buses are crowded all hours of the day. I will go to the office sometimes at 7 a.m. – they’re crowded. I’ll come home sometimes at 8 p.m. or later – they’re crowded. I stand up......

Metro began with these options, but will likely recommend only one or two of these routes | Image provided by Metro The time is nearing for Metro to announce what they recommend should be the mode of transit for the Westside Extension. Will it be a subway down Wilshire Blvd.? Down Santa Monica Blvd. to Wilshire? Both? Just buses? Metro is keeping a tight lid on what these recommendations are until further notice. Until......

Four people were injured with superficial wounds on a Metro Red Line subway train at or near the Universal Red Line station after someone pulled out a pair of scissors this evening around 10:25 p.m. "Everyone is being detained and questioned at this point," said Lt. Greg Hinkel of the LA County Sheriff's. However, the Los Angeles Fire Department reported that paramedics transported at least one person to a local area hospital. Train service was......

'Metro bus variety pack, Koreatown/Wilshire' | Photo by LA Wad via LAist Featured Photos on Flickr Metro released July's ridership numbers this morning. It's up even while gas prices in July plateaued and then began to drop towards the current $4.090/gallon average. Here's how it breaks down via their statement: The Metro Red and Purple subway lines and the Metro Gold, Blue, Green and Orange Lines all set weekday ridership records in July 2008......

State Senator Jenny Oropeza represents coastal areas, including LAX, and also sits on the Senate Appropriations Committee that's currently deciding the fate of AB 2321 which will allow a measure asking the people to vote on a sales tax increase that would go towards transportation, mostly public transit projects like the "Subway to the Sea" and a Green Line extension to LAX. The airport extension is in the plan, but not written into the state......

A man at a station in downtown Los Angeles has died after being hit by a Metro Subway train in an apparent suicide this evening. At 8:36 p.m., Los Angeles Fire Department paramedics were called to the 7th Metro Station where the Red, Purple and Blue lines serve passengers. When rescuers arrived, they found a man of around 35 years of age wedged under a North Hollywood bound Red line train 100 ft. from the......

Photo by Ensie via Flickr The LA County Board of Supervisors voted not to put Metro's proposed half-cent sales tax increase that would raise $30 to $40 billion towards mostly public transit projects on the ballot in November. It could still be voted on, just via a separate (and confusing) ballot process (as Steve Hymon notes, remember Super Tuesday's "double bubble" trouble?). And it would cost millions. "Either the taxpayers will be stuck with......

The deadline to get props, measures and initiatives on this November's ballot is August 10. As for the proposed half-cent increase in sales tax for LA County for transportation projects, it has to go through a series of agonizing legal approvals to even make it to the point where the people get to vote on it. Metro has already approved it and the County Board of Supervisors will vote on it later today. But the......

A fight on an Orange Line bus yesterday evening continued on after six involved people got off at the Valley College station at Burbank Blvd. and Fulton Ave. One person was shot, another was beaten and three others were taken into custody. The two injured men were reported to be in fair condition according to the Daily News.......

Photo by Simon Shek via Flickr After yesterday's earthquake, Metro did something unusual for them. They informed the public in real time what was going on with the rail system. Metro's Twitter account, usually used for stating facts and promoting their services, was quickly put to work. "Bus and Rail Operations report no effects from the earthquake on Metro services. But trains operating at restricted speeds," they tweeted. Later on, an update: "After earthquake......

Photo by Adan Garcia via Flickr Metro has voted to ask LA County residents on the November ballot on whether or not to raise the sales tax a half-penny for transit projects. However, the state has still not fully finished their process enabling the sales tax to be raised, That's why local state Assemblyman Mike Feuer has been working extremely hard on his bill, AB 2321, which would officially authorize Metro "to place a......

It is now up to state legislators to pass AB 2321, and if they do, the half-cent increase in sales tax to 8.75% approved by the Metro board today will be put in the hands of Los Angeles County residents when they go to vote on election day this November. If the sales tax proposal, now called Measure R, is approved, it could raise as much as $40 billion over the next 30 years for......

Photo by KingoftheHill via LAist Featured Photos on Flickr Today, the Metro Board meets for their monthly meeting, but today is especially important because they will be voting on whether or not to ask voters in November to raise the sales tax a half-cent to 8.75%. Despite opposition, namely from the San Gabriel Valley over the Gold Line Extension, it is expected to pass. However, the politicians in Sacramento have to pass a bill......

What? So, Metro is set to vote this week on a mixed-use residential/commercial development that will literally be feet from the Orange Line Sepulveda station in Van Nuys (you know, in that huge parking lot no one uses). "When they first came to me about it, it was supposed to be all residential," Councilman Tony Cardenas, who represents the area, is quoted saying in the Daily News. "Now they are talking about having commercial development."......

Think LA's relationship with underground rail transit began with the first tunnels blasted out to make way for the Red Line? Think again! LA's first subterranean transit system was a short stretch of tunneling dubbed the "Hollywood Subway," which moved its first passengers under the city in 1925 via electric interurban rail cars. Opening Day in Toluca Yard (end of the Hollywood Subway at 1st and Glendale); original source unkonwn, via California Trolleys The idea......

In the Venn diagram of "foodies" and "public transit users" all those who fall in the intersected areas, this one's for you. It comes from a post that went up today on the Chowhound LA boards, from someone who has noticed a bit of a gap in good eats that can be got to from the Orange Line. It's pretty simple; they're looking for "good chow walking distance or a short bus ride from the......

A crash involving a Metro bus and a car has resulted in 9 injuries, 7 of whom were transported to the hospital. It occurred shortly after 3:30 p.m. at the intersection of 5th St. and Vermont Ave. Earlier this morning a collision between a Blue Line train and a vehicle occurred at 219 W. Washington Blvd. near Grand Ave. According to the Los Angeles Fire Department, the driver turned in front of the train, but......

Gold Line Photo by Fred Camino/MetroRiderLA and Metro Subway photo by Kwasi B. Next week, the Metro board will vote on two very important issues. One will put a half-cent sales tax increase, that would raise funds for public transit, on November's ballot. The other is the Long Range Transportation Plan (LRTP), a document guiding public transit in Los Angeles County for years to come. Gold Line advocates, who wish to see the line......

Photo by Adan Garcia via Flickr As an assembly bill that would enable Metro to put a half-cent sales tax increase on November's ballot makes its way towards the state Senate this month, a report released from the Los Angeles County Economic Development Corporation (LAEDC) said that such an increase would only cost people $25 extra per year (if the sales tax rate goes up, it will go from 8.25% to 8.75%, "translating to......

Photo by Fred Camino via Flickr As gas prices rise, so does public transit ridership. It was announced today that the Orange Line had a small 1.3% increase in boardings from this time last year, but also that Metro staff has decided that the agency should extend the busway north towards Chatsworth. Legally, when looking for a solution to a transit corridor (in this case, Canoga Blvd.), Metro has to vet through all alternatives......

Riding Metro's light rail trains with a bike is not fun, especially when there's a crowd. Space is limited and bikes, unless foldable, are clunky. In Portland, where the train cars are a different model, bringing a bike is a little easier, especially since you can store them vertically on a hook. Cody Fogh's post on "Metroquette" yesterday led one commenter to say "I feel like I need some bicycle 'Metroquette' tips." To that, we......

Photo by alistairmcmillan via Flickr To connect the Metro Green Line light rail to LAX, simply put, it would take about two miles of track and some money. This week, the Senate Transportation Committee passed SB 1722 by Sen. Jenny Oropeza, a bill that would allow a separate construction authority the single-focused job of connecting rail to the airport. The bill will now make its way to the Senate floor. Metro opposes the idea,......

This morning an MTA bus crashed into an SUV, sending the car off the road and both drivers to the nearest hospital. The accident took place on the eastbound 134 Freeway near the Figueroa exit, which is in Eagle Rock. Cecil Manresa of the LAFD explains: The vehicle flipped off the freeway at the Figueroa exit and the passenger was reportedly ejected approximately 20 feet. The bus driver an approximately 35 year old female and......

Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa has been taking public transportation more often lately, including the bus down Wilshire Blvd. Now, amid concerns pointed out by constituents at yesterday's Metro Board meeting about service cuts that could happen this June, the Mayor said he wasn't ready to vote yet, point out the hypocrisy of the situation. "We are encouraging people to take the bus," he said in a Daily News quote. "There is some contradiction at the same......

Photo by tobo via Flickr Which side of the Gold Line tracks do you live on? Southsiders (below the 10) better be representing because Northsiders are fighting hard for their piece of the cake too. Metro's Gold Line currently goes from Union Station in downtown to Sierra Madre, east of Pasadena. Metro is currently extending the Gold Line from Union Station southeast through Little Tokyo into East LA and is slated to open in......

One politician won't give up on his mission to get the Green Line moving directly to LAX. And Metro won't give up on saying "no" to that idea. It's not that Metro is trying to destroy any hopes of public transportation in Los Angeles, it's just the conservative and realistic tones they put out there when it comes future projects and funding. They say they want a connection to LAX and that possibility comes via......

Photo by Tom Andrews via the LAist Featured Photos pool on Flickr 45-year-old murder suspect Hovik "John" Mankyan, who engaged police in a lengthy standoff on Good Friday in Palmdale, is reportedly "clinging to life" in the hospital. Mankyan, who is wanted for a 2004 North Hollywood homicide "ingested poison and severed arteries" prior to surrendering. Honors on Ice: The Anaheim Ducks will honor SWAT officer Randal Simmons, who died in the line of duty,......

Students these days are so lazy...Instead of taking it to the streets like their parents' generation and brandishing signs and making noise they're opting to stay inside, chained to their computers. Except sometimes they discover that the medium is what makes the message, and in the SGV right now students who want the Gold Line extended to Montclair have found that their campaign is positively viral. Students have created a website called I Will Ride......