This week’s thoughts:
photo by Bradley Tollison, via Twitter
•The more big events in downtown L.A., the better for Metro Rail. Downtown is the hub of the rail system, of course, and events such as the NHL and NBA playoffs I suspect give people a chance to ride a transit system they may otherwise not use.
And every indication is that they are using it.
The victory parade for the L.A. Kings on Thursday at noon is yet another chance to use the system. The parade route on Figueroa between 5th Street and L.A. Live, is easily accessed by the Red/Purple Line subway, Blue Line and Expo Line. The Silver Line also offers easy transfers to Metro Rail in downtown L.A.
On a related note, I went for a nice, long hike across the Dodger Stadium parking lot before a recent game. That’s just a silly amount of pavement, people. Downtown transit-adjacent ballpark, please!
•May ridership estimates are in and show the Expo Line carried 11,347 average weekday boardings, 9,000 on Saturdays and 7,000 for Sundays. In total, there were an estimated 320,627 boardings in May, the Expo Line’s first full month of service. That’s not bad considering that two stations — Farmdale and Culver City — don’t open until June 20.
Again, I’d like to ask for everyone’s feedback who uses the line — use the comment board please. The one issue that keeps coming up is speed, particularly in the stretch along Flower Street.
•The question over whether to ask voters to extend the Measure R sales tax increase finally comes to the Board of Directors this month. The Board’s Executive Management Committee is scheduled to discuss the extension at their meeting on June 21 with the full Board taking up the matter on June 28.
I’m working on a fairly extensive post that should be ready soon about the extension, which is recommended by Metro staff as the best way to accelerate transit and highway projects, among other things.
•Media has overlooked that the lawsuit filed by the city of Beverly Hills against Metro over the Westside Subway Extension alleges that impacts of constructing the Wilshire/La Cienega station were not properly studied (it’s on page 6 of the lawsuit).
The La Cienega station is within Beverly Hills city boundaries and is part first phase of the project between Western Avenue and La Cienega that is currently scheduled for completion in 2020. Up to now, the controversy in Beverly Hills has involved the route of the subway tunnel from the Wilshire/Rodeo station to Century City in the second phase of the project, currently scheduled for completion in 2026.
There is LEGAL private transit in Los Angeles, it’s called Super Shuttle. And there’s competition in the form of Prime Ticket.
In the case of Honda vs. GM, both are required (as are Nissan, Toyota, Ford, etc.) to follow the same safety and environmental regulations. If a private company wants to compete with Metro, let them follow the same rules as Metro.
Nope. Private mass transit is ILLEGAL in Los Angeles.
Super Shuttles cannot cruise around LA, go to any Metro Bus stop, pick up passengers, charge them by the distance and drop them off at another bus stop.
Much like cabs, Super Shuttle vans in LA have to be called or “radioed in” for in advance; they cannot be cruising around the City of LA and start picking up passengers.
BTW, yes it’s even defacto ILLEGAL to hail down a cab in LA too because of stupid regulations and fines that “they impede traffic” (like buses don’t?) when they pick up passengers from the street.
http://la.curbed.com/archives/2007/11/hailing_at_taxi_1.php
Hence there is no private mass transit in LA. Stupid laws and regulations prohibit all of these activities, providing Metro defacto monopoly in mass transit, courtesy of taxpayers expense.
James,
I would be more confident that Japanese private transit buses, if allowed to compete directly with Metro, would have even stricter safety and tighter environmental regulations than Metro or any other transit buses serving any of American cities.
They even have automatic engine shut off/idle state mode when the bus makes stops at traffic signals, they make automated announcements that the bus is about to make a turn (“the bus will be making a right turn”) and when it’s going to brake (“the bus’ brakes have been applied”) so the passengers can “pre-react” to that motion, the buttons that the passenger presses when alighting lights up and the button is also raised in braille.
Wait, wait, wait.
You mean to tell me you can get arrested in LA for hailing a cab from the street?
What bonehead put this dumb idea into law?
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Frank M.
You said: “BTW, yes it’s even defacto ILLEGAL to hail down a cab in LA too because of stupid regulations and fines that “they impede traffic” (like buses don’t?) when they pick up passengers from the street.” and pointed to a 2007 article.
Since then things have changed:
http://articles.latimes.com/2009/jan/01/opinion/oe-morrison1
Hail-a-cab Approved
http://mannfinalblog.blogspot.com/
No, not arrested.
But I do believe there are certain places where cabs are not allowed to stop in order to keep traffic moving.
Steve Hymon
Editor, The Source
What’s your take on this, which claims Expo line ridership is way under estimates? Yes, the article is a few weeks old, but their low numbers are still higher than what you cite here.
http://reason.com/archives/2012/05/05/new-light-rail-ridership-falls-short-by/singlepage
Hi Ben;
The article is dated May 5, which means it was published about a week after Expo opened. I don’t have any reason not to believe the numbers we published.
Steve Hymon
Editor, The Source