Category Archives: Transportation News

Engineering, geotechnical and safety issues involving Westside Subway Extension to be discussed at Metro Board committee meeting Wednesday

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There will be an oral report given by Metro staff and consultants at the Metro Board of Directors’ Planning Committee on Wednesday on engineering, geotechnical and safety issues involving the building of the Westside Subway Extension in Beverly Hills, Century City and Westwood.

The meeting begins at 1 p.m. at Metro headquarters and is open to the public.

The information in the oral report will be part of the project’s Final Environmental Impact Statement/Report that is scheduled to be released this winter.

Transportation headlines, Friday, October 14

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LADOT shows off triple bike racks on its new Commuter Express buses.

Here is a look at some of the transportation headlines gathered by us and the Metro Library. The full list of headlines is posted on the library’s blog.

Better buy a ticket to ride (ZevWeb)

Supervisor Zev Yaroslavsky, who is also a Metro Board member, dropped by a subway station in L.A. on Wednesday to see how the gate-locking experiment is going. This post does a nice job of summing up the issues and challenges involved — clearly there were still a lot of people without TAP cards and, in some cases, more than a few people trying to cop a free ride.

Ray LaHood says he’s out after four years (Washington Post)

The 2012 presidential election is still a full year away, but U.S. Secretary of Transportation Ray LaHood announced yesterday that he will be stepping down after four years on the job. It’s a little premature to start reminiscing, especially with America Fast Forward still waiting in the wings. That said, LaHood’s leadership in the areas of sustainable transportation, road safety and livable communities has been a welcome feature of Obama’s cabinet. Plus, his staff — more than many others — really grasped the potential of social media for creating a dialogue with citizens. Robert Cruickshank of the California HSR Blog reflects on what LaHood did for passenger rail and floats some suggestions for his successor.

Where’s the rock? (Zev’s Blog)

L.A. County Supervisor Zev Yaroslavsky’s blog takes a look at the path a 340-ton rock will take from a quarry in Riverside County to LACMA, where it will be part of an art instillation. Beyond the engineering challenge of moving such a hefty load, there are a logistical challenges too. According to Zev’s Blog, “The Rock can only travel slowly and at night. The trip will require eight daylong stops in eight jurisdictions.” Check out the story to see a map of planned route which somehow involves a stop in Long Beach. I know I’m not alone in hoping this turns into #rockVSbike.

Cornfield Arroyo Seco Specific Plan – Draft EIR meeting (Councilman Ed Reyes)

Here’s an intriguing note from the office of L.A. City Councilman Ed Reyes. His office is helping get the word about the creation of a planning blueprint for the stretch of largely industrial land that straddles the L.A. River from Chinatown to Lincoln Heights. Lots of potential for transit oriented development along the Gold Line there and redevelopment in the area — which could be really neat if the L.A. River is restored, as the city proposes to do. The rest of the press release is after the jump.

Cornfield Arroyo Seco Specific Plan calls for transforming about 650 acres into housing, jobs and open space

Councilmember Reyes invites the public to weigh in on the Cornfield Arroyo Seco Specific Plan(CASP) at a meeting this Saturday, Oct. 15, 2011 from 10 a.m.-Noon at Goodwill Job Center, 342 North San Fernando Rd., Los Angeles, CA 90031.
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Transportation headlines, Thursday, October 13

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Here is a look at some of the transportation headlines gathered by us and the Metro Library. The full list of headlines is posted on the library’s blog.

Take the bus: [Chicago] City employees ordered to use public transportation (Chicago Sun-Times)

Chicago Mayor Rahm Emanuel has set up new rules that require city employees to ride public transit to meetings or assignments during the work day. The change comes after a crackdown on abuses of the previous reimbursement policy which allowed city employees to be reimbursed for a litany of car related travel costs – including car washes and parking tickets.

Railroads Adding 15,000 New U.S. Jobs (ABC)

In this time were jobs can be tough to come by, one industry is bucking the trend and going on a hiring frenzy. The American Association of Railroads said the industry is looking to hire 15,000 people in 2012 as the railroads continue to prosper. One reason the railroads are doing so good during the recession? They’re a more efficient and affordable way to move goods, especially with rising gas prices. More good news: these aren’t low paying jobs. Salaries can average around $100,000 and many jobs only require a high school diploma.

Can Smart Transportation Apps Curb Greenhouse Gases? (Government Technology)

A new study reveals that wireless technology and traffic apps could lead to a 20% reduction in fuel consumption. As an example, wireless fleet management apps could be used in the trucking industry to improve efficiency an eliminate 9 million tons of carbon dioxide emissions annually.

Transportation headlines, Wednesday, October 12

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Here is a look at some of the transportation headlines gathered by us and the Metro Library. The full list of headlines is posted on the library’s blog.

America‘s commutes start earlier and last longer (BBC)

The BBC discovers (drum roll) that Americans are driving more and enjoying it less. And yet there is an interesting aspect to this article, which is not news to those of us Americans actually stuck in traffic. It lies in the responses. Among them: “Unfortunately, most of the globalized world is now following in the footsteps of Uncle Sam — competition over cooperation; greed over frugality; exploitation over fairness; selfishness over altruism; and stupidity over wisdom.” Is this how the world sees us? Is there any truth to it?

Government scientists investigating connection between air pollution and health effects such as asthma, heart disease and autism (Scientific American)

Linda Birnbaum, director of the National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences, visited Los Angeles and Long Beach to witness firsthand how communities are struggling with health issues related to their environment. In this region alone, her institute spent $23 million over the past few years, mostly awarded to scientists investigating the connection between air pollution and an array of health effects.

Los Angeles history comes alive at largest ever archives bazaar (Metro Transportation Library Primary Resources Blog)

This sound like fun and it’s free. The story tells of a day of expert speakers, documentary films and rare and/or privately held documents that tell the story of L.A. — who we are and why. And it’s at USC, which is easily reached by Metro.

A provocative (ahem) ad campaign by General Motors

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Ah, to be hip and trendy…or not. Check out this post at BikePortland.org about a new General Motors ad campaign for its college discount program that mocks — get this — cyclists and pedestrians. Hmm.

The screen shot above of a pedestrian getting a puddle bath by a passing GM vehicle was taken from the GM website.

I look at it this way: it’s fun to see Detroit threatened by students on sidewalks and bicycles. As they should be. Maybe next time GM could make fun of people taking transit, too.

UPDATE, WEDNESDAY, OCT. 12: General Motors is changing the ad campaign in response to criticism. Here’s an L.A. Times story.

Transportation headlines, Tuesday, October 11

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Here is a look at some of the transportation headlines gathered by us and the Metro Library. The full list of headlines is posted on the library’s blog.

Model Street Manual: A road map to sustainable transportation planning (L.A. Streetsblog)

Progressive transportation planners heralded the launch last week of the Model Streets Manual for L.A. County. Funded by a grant from the L.A. County Department of Public Health, the manual will serve as a guide for cities that want to create safer and healthier streets for their cities. L.A. Streetsblog has an in depth look at who’s behind the manual and what’s in it. Two particularly noble looking objectives: “Provide transportation options for people of all ages, physical abilities, and income levels,” and “Enhance the safety and security of streets, from both a traffic and personal perspective.” The manual is free to download in PDF, Word or Adobe InDesign format here.

Should California put hybrids back in the carpool lane? (KQED)

Talk about unintended consequences! A UC Berkeley study found that, when hybrid vehicle drivers lost the perk of driving in the carpool lane, traffic got worse for everyone — even carpools. Apparently, when non-carpool lanes slow down — as they did when hybrids were reintroduced — the adjacent carpool lanes slow up too, because cars have to slow down and speed up more to get in and out of the carpool lane. The percentage of L.A. County motorists carpooling also dropped in the past decade. Related phenomenon? And here’s a related post: Another look at how we get to work in Los Angeles County.

Packed parking lots pinch [D.C.] Metro riders (Washington Examiner)

Here’s the crux of the problem: “[D.C.] Metro has 58,323 parking spots, but an estimated 80,000 riders out of the peak rush of 250,000 seek parking each weekday morning.” Building more parking garages for suburban stations would cost D.C. Metro about $25,000 per space – a pretty typical figure nationally. On top of that, some transit officials argue that scarce real estate should be used for transit oriented development, not storing people’s cars. One more reason that transit planners everywhere are looking to enhance pedestrian, cycling and bus connections to rail.

Transportation headlines, Monday, Oct. 10

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Here is a look at some of the transportation headlines gathered by us and the Metro Library. The full list of headlines is posted on the library’s blog.

Brown vetoes three-foot passing law (L.A. Streetsblog)

Gov. Jerry Brown on Friday vetoed AB 910, a law that would have required motorists to stay at least three feet away from cyclists when passing them when traveling more than 15 mph. In his veto message, Gov. Brown said he liked the buffer but didn’t like a provision that would have also had motorists to slow to 15 mph when passing a bike — which he said could cause rear-end collisions on streets with higher speed limits.

Seeking the Steve Jobs of transit (Human Transit)

Not much of a post here, but I like the sentiment: that mass transit really needs someone to step up to the plate and figure out how to design it better, make it more useful and more appealing to the vast majority of Americans who still drive everywhere they go.

Putting a bus app together in a weekend (San Francisco Chronicle)

Instead of waiting for five years for the city of S.F. to revamp its approach to technology, a group of programming enthusiasts created an iPhone app that would help San Francisco Muni run its buses on time and allow customers better info about where their buses are. They plan to tweak the app and submit it to Apple for listing in their app store. The newspaper says this is another example of Government 2.0 in which citizens use technology to help government function. Works for me.

Scant CO2 benefit from China’s electric car push (New York Times Dot Earth blog)

China can pump out all the electric cars it wants. But as long as the electricity consumed by the cars is created by dirty coal-fired power plants, it’s not going to do much good reducing the country’s output of the global warming ingredient carbon dioxide. One more reason to clean up our power grid here — clean power equals cleaner cars and transit that is powered by electricity — such as light rail and subways.

 

 

Metro receives award for converting bus fleet to CNG

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Metro and Foothill Transit just picked up an award from the South Coast Air Quality Management District for “Promotion of Good Environmental Stewardship.”

The award honors Metro’s switch to 100 percent alternative fuels earlier this year, which made it the first major transit agency in the world to operate only CNG-fueled buses. Here’s the excerpt from the news release:

Award for Promotion of Good Environmental Stewardship – Foothill Transit and Los Angeles County Metropolitan Transportation Authority (MTA):

Foothill Transit, which serves 21 cities in the San Gabriel and Pomona valleys, began purchasing CNG buses in 2002 and has almost exclusively purchased CNG buses ever since. Foothill aims to have a 100 percent Clean Air fleet by 2013. Foothill Transit also has deployed three zero-emission fast-charge Ecoliner buses since 2010. In addition to having zero tailpipe emissions and using renewable energy, the Ecoliner’s unique structure, recyclable batteries and long life make its carbon footprint one of the lowest of any transit buses today.

When MTA officially retired its last diesel bus in January 2011, the public transit agency became the nation’s largest operator of a compressed natural gas fleet with 2,221 buses. Metro’s emission reduction efforts have brought about an 80 percent reduction in cancer-causing particulates and a reduction in greenhouse gases by more than 300,000 pounds a day. In addition, Metro has been an environmental steward in other ways, with the largest solar panel installation in the transit industry.

The entire news release from the AQMD is after the jump.

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Transportation headlines, Friday, Oct. 7

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Here is a look at some of the transportation headlines gathered by us and the Metro Library. The full list of headlines is posted on the library’s blog.

A walk on the risky side (L.A. Times)

A column by Hector Tobar looking at the factors that may have played into three girls being struck in a crosswalk on W. Temple Street in late September. Among them: the city’s timing of traffic lights to help Temple Street serve as an alternative to the busy 101 freeway. The girls survived, but the eldest has had two surgeries for serious injuries. The driver won’t be charged — police say she was driving the speed limit and driving into the sun that was rising behind a hill. I didn’t realize it was okay to hit pedestrians in a cross walk if you’re driving below the speed limit.

High-speed rail agency to study revised route (Fresno Bee)

After howls of protest, the California High-Speed Rail Authority has said it will spend five to six months on a revised environmental study on the train’s route near Hanford. The planned route east of the city has many unhappy over the impacts on homes — so the Authority will now investigate a route west of Hanford it once considered but dropped due to impacts on sensitive wetlands. Neither route follows the 99 freeway through the area — crazy!? — and the town of Visalia doesn’t appear to get a station anywhere near the actual town (which is quite nice). Still, the Authority says construction is set to begin near Fresno next year on the Fresno-to-Bakersfield segment.

In praise of the electric trolleybus (Portland Transport)

Good insight here — while Portland may boast a productive light rail system run on electricity, the area’s diesel buses are still chugging around town producing a lot of pollution. The blogger suggests that Portland and other cities think about converting some of their bus lines to electric buses powered by overhead wires. San Francisco has these on many of their lines and the buses, as a result, are often far quieter than their diesel or CNG counterparts.


Transportation headlines, Thursday, October 6

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Here is a look at some of the transportation headlines gathered by us and the Metro Library. The full list of headlines is posted on the library’s blog.

Brooklyn’s super convenient but mostly illegal private bus service (The Atlantic Cities)

Well clearly I made a glaring oversight during my transit tourist trip to New York. Writer Lisa Margonelli examines the thriving — but technically illegal — private transit system operating in New York’s outer boroughs. There are a couple interesting debates brought up in the article, including whether or not the private transit service actually undermines the existing public transit system. Margonelli argues that the private jitneys provide a complementary and fundamentally different type of service.

Bike-friendly events like L.A.’s CicLAvia promote fun fitness (L.A. Times)

The Times’ Boostershots blog takes a look at how events like CicLAvia can promote public health by making physical activity fun. And I cannot overstate how fun CicLAvia is. The next one is this Sunday, October 10 from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m.

More rail service could spring from new agency (San Diego Union Tribune)

Here’s a story from a few weeks ago that fell through the cracks. Various regional transportation agencies along the San Luis Obispo–Los Angeles–San Diego (aka LOSSAN) rail corridor are exploring the possibility of creating  a super-agency to improve management of the services they operate. The Union Tribute suggests that we could see “as many as 27 additional daily train trips along the San Diego-Los Angeles corridor,” on top of the 11 operated daily today. This intercity corridor is the second busiest in the U.S. behind the Northeast Corridor.