Results tagged “orangeline”

Groundbreaking is scheduled to take place this morning on Metro's Orange Line extension, which will expand the dedicated busway that currently runs from North Hollywood to Warner Center. The $215.6 million extension "is the very first project to begin construction under the new voter approved Measure R half-cent transportation sales tax," reports abc7.

Following up on yesterday's Orange Line Clean-up post, here's a video showing how dirty just one small spot was. Even that black trash bag was found back there. Ick!

       

After LAist exposed the Orange Line's bike path as a mini skid row (and followed up on by the Daily News), the city finally got down to work this past weekend when police from the Van Nuys Division, volunteers and those filling community service by court order all met to clean the path between Hazeltine and Van Nuys Boulevard.

Not owning your own property can be a bitch. And such is life when leasing from the government, one who will now be using some of the land for a transportation corridor. The Orange Line busway extension from the Warner Center up Canoga Avenue to the Chatsworth Train Station is slated to break ground this June. That means the businesses that have been leasing right-of-way property from Metro--some have for 50 years--will be booted or have their lease properties be chopped up into small ones.

Although there is no specific mention of the high speed train between the Los Angeles area and Las Vegas, Republicans are crying foul.

Today, over 20 people from various city departments, nonprofits and volunteer groups met to find a long-term solution to keeping the Orange Line bicycle in path in Van Nuys clear of transients and landscaping from growing onto the path. LAist first reported on the dire conditions of the bike path to which the Daily News picked up on.

       

What was a solution to prevent graffiti tagging on soundwalls became a problem as transients moved in. When Metro's Orange Line opened in 2005, the bike path walls had little growth around them, leaving them as a blank canvas for graffiti. Landscaping was planted to discourage tagging and it was a success for the most part, but when you have space and shrubbery, it also become shelter. As seen here, many have made it their home.

Once again, Metro will be offering free rides to transit users on Metro Bus and Rail lines Christmas Eve and New Year's Eve. The free fare program runs from 9 p.m. to 2 a.m. December 24th-25th and 31st to January 1st. According to Metro, "the free rides are being offered during this period to promote safety during the holiday season. Metro is an option for people attending holiday parties so they don’t have to drive." Unfortunately, Metro's late night weekend service on the Red Line ends December 27th, which means in the new year we're going to have to get a lot better at hailing cabs instead of climbing aboard the subway in the post-closing time hours.

After 10 weeks of rerouting buses to congested streets while some sections of Metro's Orange Line were being repaved, service is now back to normal operation, Metro said today in a statement. The repaving was needed to improve strength and durability of the roadway because soon after its October 2005 opening, the pavement began to rut. Metro blamed the contractor, the contractor blamed Metro and they finally settled to split the costs of the $1.5 million project. " am an enthusiastic supporter of the Busway and ride it regularly, but this is just bureaucratic and institutional stupidity," opined Andrew at Here in Van Nuys.

With all the talk of Prop 1a passing--partially funding the High Speed Rail between Southern and Northern California--there is little talk about the high speed train being planned by a collection of smaller outlying cities in Los Angeles County that they say will serve "shorter-distance intra-regional commuter [between Palmdale and Irvine], airport access and other non-work trips within Los Angeles and Orange Counties."

Daily News' transit writer Sue Doyle today explores the Orange Line and why some people are frustrated with it. Namely, to go 14-miles between North Hollywood and Warner Center, it takes 40 minutes. That's too slow so how can it be sped up? Some want light rail, others say put gates at the intersections and give the buses a right-of-way so they don't have wait at lights. But a light rail could be too costly and inflexible, some say. Gates can be costly too and if you add syncing lights to that equation, it could gridlock crosstraffic.

If it gets prioritized funding, the Metro Orange Line's swoop to the north from Canoga Park to the Chatsworth Train Station could begin construction in 2010 and be in operation by 2013, finds Curbed LA. Four new stations will be added and every other westbound bus from North Hollywood will travel the new route. The Gold Line extension to East LA will open next year and the Expo Line from downtown to Culver City is expected to open in 2010.

"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.

A small grass fire during the 8:00 a.m. hour lit up near Victory and Woodley along the Orange Line this morning at the north end of the Sepulveda Basin. One Los Angeles fire company responded and quickly knocked the fire down. The current red flag warning ends at 8:00 p.m.

The gas price spike may be over, but it would seem that some are sticking to public transit. The latest numbers coming from Metro show that the Orange Line continues to grow in popularity. September saw the highest ridership ever for the Orange Line in the Valley at 28,000. Which has us asking, when will that feared and applauded (depending on who you are) proposal to turn the dedicated busway into a light rail happen?

Have you ever noticed that Google Maps displays Metro Subway and Light Rail stations but not Orange Line ones, even though the buway pretty much acts like train on rubber wheels (yeah, cheesy description). We posed that question to Google and a spokesperson quickly responded saying those stations would be marked on the map if Metro joined the Google Transit program.

If you're talking about the Orange Line, over a year. Not too long after the 2005 grand opening of the busway that travels 14 miles across the San Fernando Valley, some pavement was found to be already rutting. Metro said the contractor did a subpar job, the contractor said Metro was running more buses than estimated, therefore damaging the pavement earlier than expected. But in the end, they came to an agreement to split the costs, according to the Daily News. For eight to ten weeks starting today, crews will work on fixing two segments in two different spots in two phases delaying buses a couple minutes.

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.

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 half the time. And the buses seem to be getting slower. It’s supposed to take 45 minutes to cross the Valley on the Orange Line. It’s five minutes longer than that many times. That may not seem like much, but if I’m spending 50 minutes traveling I might as well be in my car and in control." Metro told him that they are in "catch-up mode" since they weren't expecting this "balloon" in ridership.

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.

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." Cardenas also voted against a sales tax increase that could go towards public transit projects such as the "Subway to the Sea."

Yesterday, all the buzz was about the Orange Line's record ridership last month. Today, Metro released the June 2008 numbers for all their rail lines, which had an increase in daily ridership, up 12.8 percent. Around 309,000 people rode the rails, most of them, 153,928, on the subway system. Steve Hymon at the LA Times broke down the numbers nicely:

What was originally expected for ridership on the Valley's "shortcut" busway when it started is now a weekend number as weekday average ridership last month soared to 26,596 daily bus trips, a 63% increase since the first days of the line. Now officials are looking to add more buses and are considering adding express lines. There's one problem, though: the high ridership has made it uncomfortable for at least one longtime rider. "I now take the 750 Metro Rapid along Ventura Blvd. to Woodland Hills instead of the Orange Line," he explained. "It's only 5-minutes slower and I don't have to stand for the hour."

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 Orange Line stops" (which are conveniently listed out in their board post, nice!). We've got the line's starting point, NoHo Arts, somewhat covered, but what about from here to eternity Woodland Hills, just off the busway's path?

SuggestionBoxLA to Metro - No Idling on Layover!

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.

In January, Los Angeles City Councilman Eric Garcetti announced that City Hall and other downtown facilities would provide bicycle lockers, more racks, access to showers and a subsidy to City Hall staffers who ride a bike to work. Yesterday, Garcetti blogged that they have already won an award, the Rideshare Diamond Award, for their efforts.

After a one year hiatus, one of the best green festivals, Worldfest, is back. Two years ago, the solar-powered festival scheduled near Earth Day was a gem among the numerous green events around the city. Located at Woodley Park in Encino, steps away from the eponymous Metro Orange Line station, a slew of eco-friendly vendors showed off their wares, vegan chefs shared their creations and music and recognizable faces from the eco-scene were everywhere to be heard and seen.