Here’s the news release from Metro:
The Metro Orange Line Extension — a four-mile addition to the wildly popular Orange Line busway — will open to the public on Saturday, June 30 with community celebrations and free rides on the extension from 7 a.m. to 7 p.m. The Orange Line Extension is going to connect with Metrolink and Amtrak and in so doing, further expand the regional reach of the fast-growing Metro system. And more great news for Los Angeles: The project is coming in ahead of time and well within budget.
“We’re thrilled that the Orange Line Extension will open earlier than anticipated and that the contractor is completing it well within budget,” said Los Angeles Mayor and Metro Board Chair Antonio Villaraigosa. “It’s another great example of why building in this economy makes excellent business sense, at the same time it provides much needed jobs. And with the Orange Line Extension — the first Measure R project to be completed — we are continuing to build out a new 21st Century mass transit system for the people of Los Angeles and for future generations.”
The Orange Line Extension is the latest addition to Metro’s rapidly expanding transit system and the latest link in the plan for regional connectivity. As part of the existing Orange Line it will run from the Chatsworth Metrolink and Amtrak Station — gateway to Ventura County — to the Metro Red Line Station in North Hollywood. The Red Line connects with the Blue Line to Long Beach, the Gold Line to the Eastside and Pasadena, the Purple Line to Koreatown, the Green Line toward LAX and the Expo Line to Culver City. The rail system alone is 87 miles … all opened since 1990. And it connects with 180 Metro bus routes that crisscross L.A. County.
In addition to free rides all day on the four-mile busway, June 30 celebrations will include community events at the Orange Line Extension Chatsworth and Canoga stations from 10 am. to 4 p.m. Reflecting its history, Chatsworth will host a country/western theme, while Canoga organizers are planning eco-friendly events and food trucks in celebration of the new line.
The project includes four new stations at Sherman Way, Roscoe Boulevard, Nordhoff Street and the Chatsworth Metrolink Station. New platforms are being added at the Canoga Station. An elevated crossing at Lassen Street will keep the busway separated from railroad tracks. All stations will include public art. Parallel to the busway, a bikeway and pedestrian path has been planted with beautiful landscape similar to the drought-tolerant plants along the existing Metro Orange Line. And there will be a new park and ride lot at the Sherman Way Station, as well as additional parking at the Chatsworth Station.
When the 14-mile Orange Line opened in 2005, 7,000 to 8,000 boardings a day were predicted. Now there are more than 25,000 daily boardings. For more information on the Metro Orange Line go to metro.net/projects/orangeline.
I hope metro looks into getting double articulated 80ft buses to run on the orange line since light rail is not going to happen anytime soon. The line really needs the additional capacity especially on the east end of the valley.
80-foot double articulated buses are not going to happen so long as California law says they cannot be driven on the street. Period.
Even shortline buses from Sepulveda, running a couple of minutes in front of the long line buses, would help. Unfortunately the Orange Line was never designed for this capability.
At least the orange line buses are comfortable. I cant stand riding on the articulated rapid buses, back-killers.
“In fact, I know this will be hard for you to believe, but the average bus patron travels 4 miles.”
How does Metro even know this to be the case and where do you get the data from? We don’t have a tap-in/tap-out system to know how far the average Metro rider rides the bus for.
We don’t have some magical NASA made technology with a satellite database uplink that scans that a person getting on the bus at point A is the same person who got off 4 miles away at point B. I doubt bus drivers have photographic memories or writes down a note that “red shirted white male, age 40, got on the bus at Wilshire/Western, got off at Wilshire/La Brea.”
Average length for a bus trip is quite simple since the automatic passenger counter tracks ons and offs and is linked to the GPS. The trip information just needs to be calculated in aggregate to determine trip lengths, and no tracking of passengers is required. You can do the math yourself by dividing passenger miles by passenger trips.
Folks:
This is a post about the Orange Line Extension — not about fare media, fare policy, etc. Please stay on topic for the readers who actually want to read about the Orange Line.
Thanks
Steve Hymon
Editor, The Source
The Orange Line can be drastically improved by making sure the buses NEVER have to stop for a single red light. Those lights should be green a few seconds BEFORE the Orange Line buses even reach an intersection regardless of surface street traffic (and all they have to do is to install pavement signal sensors 1/4 mile before each intersection). I mean, why would someone want to get out of their car and use the Orange Line if it gets stuck at the exact same intersections they’re already stuck at in their cars?
Safety-wise, the two biggest problems with the Orange Line, which are easily correctable, are the placement of the “No Turn On Red” signs and the traffic signals installed for folks using the bike route, which are very confusing for traffic running parallel to the busway. In the former, the signs should be moved right next to the right-turn signals for maximum visibility. (Right now they are several feet above the signals themselves. And, actually, they should exchange the current “No Turn on Red” signs for the much better “No Turn on Red Arrow” signs.) And the unnecessary signals need to be removed; I think most cyclists understand the concept of the pedestrian crossing signals that are already in place. If Metro feels further clarification is needed, then they can install a white-lit bicycle signal next to the white-lit pedestrian signal; the flashing (or steady) red hand is universal for both cyclists and pedestrians. (Of course, the biggest danger, which Metro doesn’t seem to want to address, is the massive overcrowding on these buses, especially between the North Hollywood Station and the Reseda Station. They simply refuse to recognize the need for more buses. They will… after the first big accident––and subsequent litigation. But they seemingly can’t do ANYTHING until enough folks get killed. True genius, huh?)
Also, hopefully the Orange Line will eventually convert to an elevated monorail like the system in Vancouver, BC. These monorails are so quiet that it would put the NIMBY issue to rest and allow elevated monorail transport to spread throughout L.A. (and the San Fernando Valley needs this particularly along Ventura Blvd. and along Van Nuys Blvd. through the Sepulveda Pass to LAX). It would also allow the expansion of the Orange Line eastward to areas such as Burbank Airport and the Burbank Media Center, Griffith Park & L.A. Zoo, Glendale and Eagle Rock, and then connect with the Gold Line in Pasadena (with a possible extension to Pasadena City College). And it’s one heckuva lot quieter, faster, safer, and cheaper to install and run than is “light rail”.
The Valley also needs to start putting the screws to Villaraigosa and the rest of the Metro Board. The Expo Line runs down an abandoned rail right-of-way just like the Orange Line; yet they got a train (and it doesn’t stop for ANYTHING but passengers!). Yaroslavsky’s office claims the Expo Line’s ridership is WAY higher than the Orange Line’s. I don’t care. The next time the issue of Valley secession comes up, compare the Orange Line to any of the dedicated transit corridors in L.A. proper. To put it quite bluntly, it’s a joke and an insult.
To: Steve Hymon
Hi, Steve,
So does that mean that you’ll need to transfer buses at the Canoga Station or Warner Center Station to get from Chatsworth to North Hollywood? Or will there be Orange Line buses that will stay on the busway the entire trip and bypass Warner Center? That’s what I’d like to see happen. (Actually, I like to see a free Warner Center shuttle between the Canoga Station and the Warner Center area (or, even better, a DASH bus that would drop people at a variety of stations even closer to where they work in Warner Center. Of course, if the Orange Line would eventually morph into an elevated monorail as I recently suggested in my post, then the detour to Warner Center barely add any time on to the overall trip.)
Hi David;
There will be buses running directly from Chatsworth Station to North Hollywood via the Canoga Station. There will also be buses running directly between NoHo and Warner Center as well as buses running between Chatsworth and Warner Center (during peak hours). Please see this previous post on the operating plan for the Orange Line.
Steve Hymon
Editor, The Source