Results tagged “subway”

Despite a recommendation from a city council committee (.pdf) to once again run trains into the wee hours of night, late-night subway service this holiday season will not happen. The culprit? The economy, of course.

If you've ever seen the stickers on buses or around stations and bus benches asking "Who is John Scott?" the mystery is over. He is 74-year-old John Scott (yeah, he has a website) of Los Angeles, the oldest tagger (specifically, a slap tagger because they are stickers) caught by LA County Sheriff's Deputies, finds the LA Times. He was arrested this morning, ending a seven-month mystery, at the 7th/Metro Station in downtown after putting up a sticker.

Photo rights advocate blogger Shawn, otherwise known as discarted, recently was taking photos inside the Hollywood/Western Metro Station when two L.A. County Sheriff's approached him. Shawn, who always wears a video camera, caught his whole 25-minute ordeal and uploaded it to YouTube yesterday (an abbreviated version is posted above), sparking off some good debate on photographer's rights vs. public safety.

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?

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 you happened to be around Hollywood & Highland on Saturday evening, you may have encountered a spooky sight: Zombies! Organized by fans of the genre, a "Zombiewalk" took place this weekend, which found a band of bloody, creepy, blank-faced undead Angelenos making use of the public transit system and taking a stroll through the heart of Hollywood to celebrate all that is zombie.

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.

Is this normal for life after the passage of Measure R or is Metro trying to make transit nerds go crazy? Metro today announced the sixth, yes, the sixth public meeting about transit taking place this month. Projects seeking community input include the bicycle draft master plan (this one is actually under the jurisdiction of LADOT), bus lanes on Wilshire Blvd., the Crenshaw corridor to LAX, the Harbor corridor, the Rosa Parks station and now the Westside Subway Extension.

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.

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."

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.

Although the installation of new gates along Metro rail lines has been partially suspended, a pilot program of sorts will be going in at Union Station and a number of others soon. "It was decided last week to do a pilot test of the gating system at four stations," Metro told Damien Newton at LA Streetsblog in an e-mail. "So gates will be installed at Union Station, Wilshire/Normadie, Westlake and Pershing Square stations on the Red/Purple lines. This will give staff an opportunity to test the gates and see how they are working. During the testing period, the gates will be 'free-spinning.'"

A new bus line between the Santa Clarita and the NoHo Metro Red/Orange Line stations will begin service next week. This is actually a pretty good idea for the fourth largest city in Los Angeles County as Metrolink trains run between the city and downtown, but only six days a week as opposed to the NoHo Express, which will run everyday. Additionally, this delivers commuters to a transit hub. Service will begin on August 1st with the first two weeks completely free of charge. Then if riders want to ride for the rest of the month for free, they can take an online survey to give feedback on the route. Wow, immediate feedback and evaluation so they can improve service right away? Imagine if all government agencies did that?

Metro is continuing to study the conditions below the ground surface as they prepare an environmental impact report for the possibility of placing a subway line or two in the Westside. Next week, exploratory drilliing with minimal sound, vibration and traffic effects, will take place at San Vicente/Gracie Allen, Wilshire/West of Irving and at UCLA Parking Lot 36 near Wilshire/Veteran. Next month, there will be five public meetings where the public can hear updates and ask questions.

As exploratory drilling for the possibility of a subway to the Westside continues to take place on city streets, Metro is gearing up for another set of community meetings for updates on the project (meeting info is below). Last Spring, public meetings gathered input on the Draft Environmental Impact Statement/Report (DEIS/R) process that is currently underway. Next month, they will present a summary of what was heard at those meetings, provide updates to possible route alternatives and discuss the subway construction process if the project goes forward.

As part of the environmental review analysis, Metro is continuing their ongoing and weekly effort to study conditions below the surface for the possibility of a subway to the Westside. This week, the majority of the light drilling will take place in West Hollywood overnight. Spots include San Vicente/Melrose, Santa Monica/Ogden, Santa Monica/Fairfax and Santa Monica/Sweetzer. Crews will also be seen in Los Angeles along Wilshire Blvd during the day: Wilshire/La Jolla (Tues-Thur) and Wilshire/Crescent Heights (Wed-Fri). Traffic, noise and vibration impacts will be minimal.

   

Although they won't be operational for some time now, the first of Metro's fare gates are being installed at the Purple Line's Wilshire/Normandie station. LAist Featured Photos contributor LA Wad shares a few shots. Expect to see these popping up at most train stations over the next few months and say goodbye to the honor system.

By the end of this week, we should see gates in the Metro Purple Line Wilshire/Normandie station, reports LA Streetsblog: "Once the Wilshire/Normandie installation is completed, Metro will continue along the Red and Purple Lines, a process that Rick Jager estimates could take up to six months before moving on to the Green Line, then the Blue Line and finally, the Gold Line." But that doesn't mean they'll be in working condition. "A start date for the turnstiles to be operational hasn't been announced, nor whether they will begin operation "piecemeal" or wait until the system is installed at every rail stop."

On July 1st, our taxes in LA County increased a half penny on the dollar to fund a mix of transportation projects, whether they be rail, highway or something else, thanks to Measure R, which was voted in by the public last November. This Thursday morning, Metro will hold a Measure R committee meeting (.pdf) to discuss aspects of that and part of that discussion will be the possibility of moving up the timelines of three projects.

It's getting closer to reality. That subway route for an expansion of mass transit to the Westside , commonly referred to as the Subway to the Sea, will undergo some serious study beginning Sunday. Metro contractors will be conducting exploratory drilling as a part of the planning and environmental analysis for the proposed Westside Subway Extension.

At yesterday’s Metro meeting, officials said they may do with the current rush-hour bike-on-rail ban to accommodate the system’s growing cyclist ridership, but they’re also considering implementing a two-bike-per-car rule. During their 6 p.m. meeting, which was considerably quieter than their earlier one at noon, officials said they also want to improve signage that directs cyclists and clearly state the rules (no blocking doors or walkways).

Just a week on the job and City Controller Wendy Greuel is kicking butt. The city's Emergency Management Department was charged with feeding some 3,200 officers that were deployed for the Michael Jackson memorial service in case the crowds outside the Staples Center grew, possibly to a million people.

After a week of meetings regarding Metro's Regional Connector, which would in fill much needed light rail track for the Blue, Gold and Expo lines, the transit agency will host a series of meetings in a couple of weeks for the Westside Subway Extension, usually dubbed as the "Subway to the Sea."

A bomb threat called in at around 4 o'clock this morning indicated there was a pipe bomb at the Pershing Square Metro station. The call led "sheriff's deputies and police to shut down the facility," at 5th and Hill in Downtown, according to the Press-Telegram. Although Metro's Red Line trains were operational this morning they were "bypassing the Pershing Square stop," up until around 5:42, when "Bomb squad investigators and police dogs [who had] rushed to the scene to investigate the threat" determined it was a false alarm. A similar false alarm occurred at the Pershing Square station in March of 2007.

Heading west via Wilshire by bus is slowly getting faster, but better news for many might be that the Westside Subway Extension is prepping meetings for the next phase of planning. Subways are a century-plus old mode of transit, but these days to spread the word even Metro (who remain stagnant in getting hooked up with Google Transit) knows that Facebook is the way to go. CurbedLA points to the Westside Subway Extension's Facebook page, where they've begun to murmur audibly about April community meetings.

No bombs or explosives were found this morning during a random bag check at the Hollywood & Vine Metro station, but one young male was arrested for impersonating a peace officer by carrying fake police IDs and carrying a replica gun.