Category Archives: Policy & Funding

State legislation proposed regarding transportation sales taxes

Posted by

Here’s the latest from Metro’s government relations staff — and not exactly a surprise considering the narrow losses at the polls of transportation sales tax ballot measures in Los Angeles and Alameda Counties. Both received more than 66 percent ‘yes’ votes but lost by less than one-half of a percentage point:

Senator Carol Liu (D-Pasadena) Introduces Legislation To Establish A Lower Vote Threshold For Transportation Sales Taxes

Yesterday marked the first day of the 2013-2014 legislative session for the State of California and a number of bills were introduced.

Senator Carol Liu (D-Pasadena) introduced a proposed constitutional amendment, SCA 4, that would establish a lower vote threshold of 55 percent for propositions related to funding local transportation projects. Metro staff will bring this to the Board for consideration and further discussion during the January 2013 Board cycle.

 

The text of the bill is posted after the jump.

Continue reading →

December Service Council meetings

Posted by

A wide range of topics will be included in Metro’s December Service Council meetings. The Westside/Central and San Gabriel Valley Service Councils will be holding meetings at new locations, and will also be conducting public workshops to receive public input on the lines serving the corridors adopted by each council. The public is strongly encouraged to attend and share ideas for improving service in the corridor areas the Councils are evaluating. For more information about the various Corridor Studies, click here to view a recent article on that subject.

The Westside/Central Service Council will conduct their December 12 meeting and corridor workshop on Santa Monica Lines 4 and 704, and 3rd Street Line 16. The meeting and workshop will be held in West Hollywood, at the Plummer Park Community Center, located at 7377 Santa Monica Blvd. at 5 pm. The Westside/Central Service Council will return to their regular meeting location, at the La Cienega Tennis Center, in January.

The San Gabriel Valley Service Council will return to their former meeting site adjacent to El Monte Station on December 10, at 5 pm for their corridor workshop on Lines 70, 770, and 76. The meeting site had been moved during the construction period for the recently renovated station, but the San Gabriel Valley Council will continue to meet at monthly on the 3rd Floor of Metro’s Division 9 Building at 3449 Santa Anita Ave.

Continue reading →

Latest Measure J results; 66.02 percent approval

Posted by

Here are the latest Measure J results, posted online by the Los Angeles Country Registrar a few minutes ago. The percentage of ‘yes’ votes for Measure J jumped from 65.88 percent after the last update on Wednesday to 66.02 percent today.

It’s still extremely unlikely that Measure J will muster the number of votes to pass. But it’s certainly fascinating to watch how close J came to the two thirds (66.67 percent) it needed to be approved.  In terms of raw votes, it looks like Measure J is about 16,500 votes shy of passage.

The Registrar told Metro that it was planning on counting about 50,000 votes today and the final 25,000 on Sunday. So the final ‘yes’ votes may go up again.

As for the issue of turnout, a total of 3,001,783 votes were cast in the Measure R election in Nov. 2008 when Barack Obama was first running for president. It looks like roughly 2,858,755 will have cast ballots for Measure J this time around — in other words, about 143,000 fewer. Was that a factor in J’s defeat? I think so — I believe many people who came out to vote for Obama in 2008 were also likely to vote for expanding Los Angeles County’s transit system.

Overall, statistics from the Registrar show a turnout of 69.69 percent for this past election compared to 81.92 percent in Nov. 2008.

Another interesting twist: a similar sales tax extension in Alameda County to help fund transit failed with 66.53 percent of the vote. The Alameda County Transportation Commission has asked for a recount, hoping to recover the 400 votes needed for passage.

RELATED:

Measure J results by map and by spreadsheet

The Source ponders Measure J’s loss at the polls

Metrolink posts record-setting Thanksgiving ridership

Posted by

Here’s the news release from Metrolink, the commuter rail agency partially funded by Metro:

LOS ANGELES – Metrolink experienced record ridership this Thanksgiving holiday. Operating the same number of trains as last year, Metrolink reported 4,448 Thanksgiving Day riders; a 36 percent increase from 2011.

On Thanksgiving, a Sunday schedule offered 20 trains on the San Bernardino and Antelope Valley Lines.

Regular service resumed the day after Thanksgiving. Metrolink reported a record 15,019 boardings for the Friday following the holiday, compared to 13,350 last year.

Passengers were able to utilize an extended $10 Weekend Pass beginning Wednesday. This was a special offer for the Thanksgiving holiday weekend only.

For details on Metrolink’s $10 Weekend Pass, please visit www.metrolinktrains.com.

 

ABOUT METROLINK (www.metrolinktrains.com)

Metrolink is Southern California’s regional commuter rail service in its 20th year of operation. The Southern California Regional Rail Authority (SCRRA), a joint powers authority made up of an 11-member board representing the transportation commissions of Los Angeles, Orange, Riverside, San Bernardino and Ventura counties, governs the service. Metrolink operates over seven routes through a six-county, 512 route-mile network. Metrolink is the third largest commuter rail agency in the United States based on directional route miles and the seventh largest based on annual ridership.

Latest Measure J results: Nov. 26 update

Posted by

The Los Angeles County Registrar has added two more updates since we last looked at the numbers before Thanksgiving and the number of ‘yes’ votes keep rising. It now stands at 65.66% — which is exactly one percent less than the two-thirds ‘yes’ votes it needed for approval.

I’ll update this post when I find out how many ballots are left to be counted — I think we’re in the neighborhood of about 100,000 ballots remaining. As we’ve said before, it’s possible but very unlikely that Measure J will pass.

Measure J results updated again; yes votes rise to 65.33 percent

Posted by

Here are the latest Measure J results, posted a few minutes ago the Los Angeles County Registrar.

According to the Registar, 130,063 ballots were added to the election results today. It appears of those, 112,383 cast a vote in the Measure J election. That brings the estimated total still to be counted to 215,991 ballots, according to the Registrar.

Measure J needs two-thirds voter approval to pass. As we’ve said the last two weeks, it’s possible but unlikely due to two issues: 1) of the remaining votes to be counted, it’s unlikely all of them cast votes for or against Measure J, and; 2) Of the ballots remaining, it’s likely that at least 75 percent of them would need to be ‘yes’ votes for Measure J to pass.

The news release from the Registrar is posted after the jump.

Continue reading →

Measure J results update

Posted by

On Friday afternoon, Measure J crossed the 65 percent threshold but is still 1.59 percentage points away from passage.

As of Friday, there were still 340,684 votes to be counted, according to the Los Angeles County Registrar’s latest news release. In order for J to pass, more than 78 percent of the remaining votes (if all cast a vote for or against Measure J, which is doubtful), would have to be ‘yes’ votes.

As we’ve said before, that is possible but unlikely. It will, however, be interesting to see if Measure J can stay above 65 percent or perhaps climb within one percentage point of approval. For that to happen, the remaining votes likely need to come from the more central parts of the county, where support for J was the strongest.

Related: Measure J results by map and spreadsheet

Go Metro to the East LA Safe Connections Festival

Posted by

This Saturday, Nov. 17, take the Gold Line to the East LA Civic Center for the East LA Safe Connections Festival. The free community event will take place from 11 a.m. to 3 p.m. and features safety courses, workshops and live entertainment. East LA residents can also provide input on neighborhood improvements during the community open house.

This is the first of two community events for the Metro Gold Line Eastside Station Access Project, a Measure R project that will provide $9 million worth of improvements. The full press release from Metro is after the jump.

Continue reading →

Metro ridership estimates show double-digit increase in October reports

Posted by

We posted Metro’s October ridership numbers earlier. Here’s the accompanying news release:

Metro systemwide ridership estimates in Los Angeles County rose by double digits in October compared with the same month one year before, according to the latest service performance reports released today.

Overall, Metro Rail ridership rose by more than 23 percent from 8.1 million boardings in October 2011 to 9.9 million boardings in October 2012. Metro Bus ridership rose by nearly 5 percent during the same period, going from 31.1 million boardings in October 2011 to 32.7 million last month.

In terms of average weekday boardings, Metro Rail ridership showed a 19% gain compared to one year ago, totaling 360,901 average weekday boardings on the entire 87.7-mile system.

The Metro Blue Line, up 19.5% from one year ago, tallied an average of 92,953 weekday boardings. The Metro Green Line recorded an average 46,544 weekday boardings, up 8.7%. The Metro Gold Line logged 42,417 average weekday boardings, up 15.3%. The Metro Red/Purple Line averaged 157,605 weekday boardings in October, an increase of 8.1% from one year ago.

Continue reading →

Ridership on Metro makes gains in October; new records on four lines

Posted by

Below are the October ridership statistics for Metro. Numbers were up across the board when compared to the previous two Octobers. Here are the comparisons month-to-month numbers — it looks like record months for the Orange Line, Silver Line, Blue Line and the newly-opened Expo Line.

Bus – Directly Operated

Oct. 2012 Oct. 2011 Oct. 2010
Average Weekday Boardings 1,141,759 1,119,721 1,094,143
Average Saturday Boardings 737,193 741,178 726,981
Average Sunday and Holiday Boardings 551,674 543,027 520,636
Total Calendar Month Boardings 31,415,925 29,935,166 29,215,088

Directly operated bus ridership includes Orange and Silver Line ridership.

Bus – Contract

  Oct. 2012 Oct. 2011 Oct. 2010
Average Weekday Boardings 48,503 45,588 45,590
Average Saturday Boardings 26,218 25,337 25,125
Average Sunday and Holiday Boardings 19,107 18,366 17,501
Total Calendar Month Boardings 1,296,868 1,175,868 1,170,529

Bus – Systemwide

  Oct. 2012 Oct. 2011 Oct. 2010
Average Weekday Boardings 1,190,262 1,165,309 1,139,733
Average Saturday Boardings 763,411 766,515 752,106
Average Sunday and Holiday Boardings 570,781 561,393 538,137
Total Calendar Month Boardings 32,712,793 31,111,034 30,385,617

Directly operated bus ridership includes Orange and Silver Line ridership.

  Orange Line

  Oct. 2012 Oct. 2011 Oct. 2010
Average Weekday Boardings 32,069 26,614 23,958
Average Saturday Boardings 19,396 15,376 13,520
Average Sunday and Holiday Boardings 14,140 11,564 10,311
Total Calendar Month Boardings 871,731 693,594 622,273

  Silver Line

  Oct. 2012 Oct. 2011 Oct. 2010
Average Weekday Boardings 13,765 11,234 8,118
Average Saturday Boardings 5,235 4,095 2,892
Average Sunday and Holiday Boardings 3,782 2,433 2,044
Total Calendar Month Boardings 352,663 268,554 195,158

Rail Ridership Estimates

  Red/Purple Line

  Oct. 2012 Oct. 2011 Oct. 2010
Average Weekday Boardings 157,605 145,737 143,174
Average Saturday Boardings 97,768 86,230 93,780
Average Sunday and Holiday Boardings 84,308 74,723 76,831
Total Calendar Month Boardings 4,353,213 3,865,234 3,859,706

  Blue Line

  Oct. 2012 Oct. 2011 Oct. 2010
Average Weekday Boardings 92,953 77,738 77,528
Average Saturday Boardings 63,619 56,637 49,469
Average Sunday and Holiday Boardings 62,213 45,345 43,710
Total Calendar Month Boardings 2,641,237 2,142,398 2,093,990

Blue Line estimates do not include Expo boardings.

  Expo Line

Oct. 2012    
Average Weekday Boardings 21,382
Average Saturday Boardings 13,279
Average Sunday and Holiday Boardings 13,146
Total Calendar Month Boardings 597,496    

  Green Line

Oct. 2012 Oct. 2011 Oct. 2010
Average Weekday Boardings 46,544 42,810 40,385
Average Saturday Boardings 28,022 22,256 24,079
Average Sunday and Holiday Boardings 17,964 17,523 17,254
Total Calendar Month Boardings 1,254,462 1,097,915 1,054,743

  Gold Line

  Oct. 2012 Oct. 2011 Oct. 2010
Average Weekday Boardings 42,417 36,784 34,440
Average Saturday Boardings 23,743 23,688 21,960
Average Sunday and Holiday Boardings 14,859 21,833 18,495
Total Calendar Month Boardings 1,129,997 1,000,060 925,502

Rail Systemwide Ridership Estimates

  Oct. 2012 Oct. 2011 Oct. 2010
Average Weekday Boardings 360,901 303,068 295,526
Average Saturday Boardings 226,432 188,810 189,287
Average Sunday and Holiday Boardings 192,490 159,424 156,290
Total Calendar Month Boardings 9,976,406 8,105,607 7,933,941

Includes Expo Line ridership.

 

Systemwide Ridership Estimates

  Oct. 2012 Oct. 2011 Oct. 2010
Average Weekday Boardings 1,551,163 1,468,378 1,435,260
Average Saturday Boardings 989,843 955,325 941,393
Average Sunday and Holiday Boardings 763,271 720,816 694,427
Total Calendar Month Boardings 42,689,199 39,216,641 38,319,558