For a larger view of the route image, click here The city's Department of Transportation (LADOT) begins operation a new DASH bus route that will serve the Central City East area of Downtown. From 6:30 a.m. to 6:30 p.m., the new DASH Central City East route will serve Little Tokyo, the Toy District, the Arts District and the Flower District. The new DASH route also offers riders the ability to connect with other DASH routes......

It was another dramatic morning at LAX today. Around 10:30 a.m., a man with a large carry-on bag accidentally set off the bus' on-board fire extinguisher in a Van Nuys bound FlyAway Bus that was just beginning its rounds at Terminal 1, according to Nancy Castles, spokesperson for LAX, in a telephone press conference. Initial reports stated it was an explosion, but the discharge caused a loud sound and the release of a "white powdery......

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......

Even though it is Labor Day weekend and the state has entered into a historic period without a budget, good news came Sunday for public transportation advocates and well-wishers. AB2321, the bill that would allow Metro to put a half-cent sales tax increase on the November ballot that could raise $30-40 billion for transportation projects over the next 30 years, took another critical step: the state Assembly passed it. That means two more steps until......

For those of you following AB 2321, a state assembly bill that would allow Metro to put a proposed half-cent sales tax increase on November's ballot (they say it could raise $30-40 billion dollars over 30 years), it passed out of the state senate this afternoon, according to Steve Hymon at the Bottleneck Blog. That means there are three more steps to go for a large increase for public transit funding in Los Angeles: 1)......

Take Metrolink from Santa Clarita to Union Station via Google Maps After finding out about Metro's new and improved transit map earlier today, we see that Metrolink is now on Google Transit, thanks to ExperienceLA's blog. We can't directly link to routes or embed them on a website, but give it a try yourself. As for Metro and Google Transit, they're talking, last we heard. (UPDATE, 2:46 P.M.: Metro just called us and said......

A Portland Streetcar | Photo by pdxjeff via Flickr Skipping the bureaucracies of Metro and the city's own Department of Transportation, a coalition of downtown stakeholders, including government officials, voted last week to create a nonprofit to build a 3-mile streetcar line that would travel mostly along Broadway from LA Live to the some-day Grand Avenue Project. The nonprofit will tentatively be named L.A. Streetcar Inc., inspired by Portland Streetcar Inc. who built that......

Yesterday evening, a southbound Surfliner train from Los Angeles to San Diego ran out of fuel. Amtrak told the Associated Press that is was “an unusual occurrence” and that they will be looking into it. Passengers were stuck for two hours into early Monday morning about 15 miles from the last stop in downtown San Diego.......

From Metro's full system transit map For the past three years, public transit has been our guiding way to the Sunset Junction Street Festival. To try to find reasonable parking is just not very realistic. Still, we've felt alone on the subways and buses when en route to the fest. There's maybe only a handful of people with us heading to or from the event (one LAist friend asked us if hipsters hate public......

Metro has their half-cent sales tax increase proposal working its way through the capitol, but Schwarzenegger has his own sales tax increase he officially announced yesterday within a large budget compromise. Here's one part of his plan to fix the $15 plus billion budget: "A temporary 1-cent sales tax increase for three years (excluding diesel, gasoline and jet fuel) followed by a permanent 1¼-cent reduction beginning in year 4. The additional ¼-cent reduction would be......

As of last May, these were the 4 remaining rail options (View Larger Image) | Provided by Metro Here's one of the maps that will be seen at the upcoming Westside Extension meetings that Metro will be holding in September. Metro won't say what routes/alternatives have made the cut, but we do know this: the above map shows all four remaining subway possibilities from last May and all four might remain as possibilities. As......

The City Hall Shuttle is being renamed and rerouted "up the northern Figueroa Corridor and travel across 1st Street into Little Tokyo," still serving all the original shuttle stops except 2nd and Broadway and 2nd and Spring and with the addition of 11 new stops expanding the circuit, according to downtown blog angelenic. Steve Hymon at the LA Times says the blog's description is better than the city's.......

The always popular Santa Monica based Big Blue Bus has done it again, adding its second Rapid bus line to their service line. Like Metro's Rapid Routes and their own Rapid 3 that runs down Lincoln Blvd. between Santa Monica and the LAX area, Rapid 7 will have a limited number of stops, cutting down on travel time (even beyond the Super 7 that it's replacing). It basically runs back and forth between downtown Santa......

Photo by stevendamron via Flickr The US Dept. of Transportation released its report (.pdf) on miles driven in the country for June 2008. It found that Californians drove more than billion fewer miles this year when we drove 28.8 billion miles than June 2007. That's a 3.7 % drop. Still, California topped the nation in miles driven. But as Dan Walters at SacBee's California by the Numbers The Numbers blog notes, "we're more than......

Photo by Salaam Allah West Coast Transitphotography KING! via Flickr A huge hurdle has been cleared so that a half-cent sales tax increase proposal can be on November's ballot. Yesterday afternoon, a state Senate committee approved the bill that allows LA County to ask for the tax hike. If it makes it there and is approved by voters, it could raise $30 to $40 billion a year over the next 30 years for public......

'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......

It's amazing that it's so hard to allow the people of Los Angeles County to choose their own fate when it comes to taxes and public transportation. Two locally elected bodies have already given the go ahead (albeit a fight with one of them) to put a measure on November's ballot that will ask us residents if the sales tax should be kicked up a half-penny to raise $30 to $40 billion worth of......

What a week. As we wait for state politicians to decide if a sales tax transportation increase can be put on the ballot for voters to decide, the LA County Board of Supervisors are going to revisit their decision of putting it on the general ballot or a separate, confusing and costly one. Don Knabe, who voted not to support the measure on Tuesday has changed his mind. That doesn't mean he's all for the......

County Supervisor Michael Antonovich responded early this evening to Mayor Villaraigosa's letter from yesterday that urged a reverse vote to put a sales tax increase for transit funding on the November ballot. The increase could raise $30 to $40 billion for the county in 30 years, all dedicated to transit, but mostly public transit (and it could still make the ballot if state politicians pass a bill allowing voters to authorize a tax, albeit......

For decades, a 4.5 mile gap on the 710 Freeway between Pasadena and Alhambra has been a headache for many commuters. The freeway, which begins in Long Beach, was always planned to be finished, but lawsuits and a storied history within the city of South Pasadena stopped that. In an unexpected and maybe confusing move, the South Pasadena's city council voted to support a state bill that would allow Metro to seek private financing for......

Photo by Adan Garcia via Flickr The half-cent sales tax increase that is projected to bring in $30 to $40 billion over the next 30 years and has been a focus for Metro in getting the proposal on November's ballot has been an long and stressful journey. Today did not help. In an unexpected move that was a 3-2 vote, the LA County Board of Supervisors rejected putting the sales tax increase on November's......

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......

Well, not so fast, but starting last Friday, two test shoe scanners went into use at Los Angeles International Airport. "The TSA is well aware that the removal of shoes is not our most popular policy," they stated via their blog, which is known for taking complaints and criticism in the comments section to improve services. "Since this is a test to collect data, passengers will still need to remove their shoes prior to walking......

Conceptual view of a generic high speed rail station interior. | Photo by NC3D for the California High Speed Rail Authority This weekend, it was reported that the Sierra Club is still undecided on Proposition 1, which would authorize a $9.95 billion bond for High Speed Rail (as in less than three years to train it from Los Angeles to San Francisco). Sierra, along with the Conservation League, feel that the train's route through......

Rendering of high speed trains in the Pacheco Pass | Photo by NC3D for the California High Speed Rail Authority When state planners completed the last bit of the proposed High Speed Rail route between LA and San Francisco last month, some environmentalists like the Sierra Club and Planning and Conservation League were and and still not sure with that portion, citing that a train from the Central Valley to Northern California through the......

A taxi on Cahunega Blvd. in Hollywood on Day 1 of the new Hail-A-Taxi program | Photo by Tom Andrews/LAist Los Angeles has caught up with what most other American big cities have been doing for years--you can stand on the sidewalk and hail a cab legally and the cabbie won't get ticketed. Well, there are a couple stipulations, at least for the moment. It's only in certain areas of Downtown and Hollywood and......

Photo by Silly Jilly via Flickr Proposition 1, which seeks high speed rail funding (you know, LA to SF in less than three hours?) on the November ballot, is one of the many proposals that won't go without a fight this political season. One of the latest is from an op-ed in the San Francisco Chronicle that says the interstate highway system from 50 years ago "smashed through the heart of urban areas, cutting......