Category Archives: Transportation News

Zipcar coming to Hollywood and Western Red Line Station

Posted by

A Zipcar, as seen in the wild, in New York City (zipcar.com).

Tomorrow morning, car-sharing service Zipcar is deploying its fleet into the heart of Hollywood. The new service, called Zipcar on the Street, brings another valuable addition to the urban transportation toolkit, helping travelers make that tricky last-mile connection to their destination or providing car-free Angelenos with easy access to short-term car rentals.

Up until now, Zipcar has typically operated out of parking lots at universities. In Los Angeles County, the service has been primarily geared towards college students, with locations at UCLA, USC, CalTech, Cal State Long Beach and the Claremont Colleges.

In September, the L.A. City Council approved allocating ten parking spots to Zipcars at the urging of Council President Eric Garcetti, who expressed his desire to bring more sustainable transportation options to the 13th District.

Renting a Zipcar requires a $50 annual membership and an extra $8 per hour of usage, which covers everything from gas to maintenance and insurance. For those who occassionally want the flexibility of a car, but who don’t use it enough to justify the expenses, a car share membership can help find that happy medium.

Update 1:44pm: As commenter Heather points out, local car sharing operator LAXCarShare currently has cars stationed at eight locations throughout the L.A. area, including quite a few very close to Metro Rail stations at Union Station, Pershing Square, 8th Street and Flower, and Wilshire and Normandie.

Transportation headlines, Wednesday, Dec. 15

Posted by

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.

The best and worst commutes (Bundle)

Yet another list of who has the most joyful and most awful driving commutes around the United States. The gist of it: Eugene, Oregon, is apparently some type of commuting nirvana, whereas most large cities in Texas and California — L.A. included — are not.

Southwest U.S. could be first to be hardest hit by climate change (New York Times/Climate Wire)

There’s another new round of research based on the study of tree rings that shows the Southwest has suffered monster droughts in the past. That’s not exactly news, but more scientists are saying climate change may lead to new crippling droughts for the region, with the particular problem being how to find water for more than 50 million residents of the Southwest if such a drought occurs. Attentive readers see tailpipes and think “greenhouse gas.”

Lake Mead, by the way, was nearly full in 1999 and is now at about 39 percent of capacity due to an ongoing dry cycle, according to the U.S. Bureau of Reclamation.

A toll to enter San Francisco not warmly received to the south (Mercury News)

The Board of Supervisors in San Francisco are considering a congestion pricing-type plan that would charge motorists up to $6 a day to enter the city from the south. And how is San Mateo County, which is south of S.F., responding? By preparing a plan — i.e. a threat — of their own to charge motorists up to $12 a day to enter the peninsula from San Francisco.

Red Line trains resume service; minor delays to 5:45 p.m.

Posted by

Red Line trains are resuming normal operations with minor  residual delays until 5:45 p.m.

What was happening: Red Line  experiencing delays this afternoon between 3 p.m. and 4:50 p.m. Red Line subway trains were single tracking between Universal City and the Hollywood/Western station due to an incident involving an eastbound train at the Hollywood/Vine station.

Transportation headlines, Tuesday Dec. 14

Posted by

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.

The first nationwide count of parking spaces demonstrates their high environmental cost (Inside Science)

Engineers at the University of California Berkeley had been working on a report that attempts to assess the total environmental impact of the nation’s transportation infrastructure, but along the way they hit a snag.  They had no idea how much car parking there was in the country. So, after revising their methodology, the Berkeley engineers ultimately concluded that the mostly likely scenario is close to 800 million parking spaces, or about 3 for every car. The environmental impacts of parking, they concluded, ranged from encouraging driving over transit, biking, and walking, as well as the pollution caused by its construction.

Grant will help Monrovia officials develop transit village (San Gabriel Valley Tribune)

The California Strategic Growth Council has awarded the city of Monrovia a $995,000 grant to help design and construct a new park to go with its planned transit village. The Foothill Extension of the Gold Line to Azusa – a Measure R project scheduled to be complete in 2014 – will stop in Monrovia. The grant will also provide funds to construct a walking path next to the Gold Line along its route through the city.

Tax break for transit commuters extended in bill (Baltimore Sun)

A federal program that allows some transit riders to spend up to  $230 per month in fares as pre-tax dollars was set to expire on January 1, 2011. However, it looks as though the tax deal making its way through Congress will include an extension of that program. Without the extension, the cap of the transit tax break would have been cut in half to $115 per month. Such an outcome would especially hurt local Metrolink riders, for whom monthly passes are often more than $200. For example, a monthly pass for travel between Union Station and Anaheim costs $213.75.

Build America Extension Sought by Democrat Wyden in Senate Tax Compromise (Bloomberg)

Unlike the transit tax break, it looks as though the Build America Bond program will not be extended by Congress’ financial legislative package.  Also created under the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act, Build America Bonds have helped state and municipal governments sell a total of $179 billion in infrastructure bonds since April 2009.  Metro itself took advantage of the program’s 35% interest rate subsidy, when it sold $574 million in Build America Bonds earlier this year to finance Measure R projects.

Transportation headlines, Monday, Dec. 13

Posted by

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.

Feds insist that first leg of bullet train reach Bakersfield (Bakersfield.com)

The first leg of California high speed rail may now go as far as Bakersfield thanks to $1.2 billion in new funds from states that turned it away. Also, if the tracks make it to Bakersfield the project will qualify for an additional $616 million in federal money. There’s also hope that by reaching Bakersfield, a city of over 300,000, opponents may lose the “train to nowhere” argument.

Downtowns get a fresh lease (Wall Street Journal)

In the American battle between suburbs and central cities, suburbs have long been the reigning champ. But the recent economic downturn has show that maybe downtowns are on the way back. Office vacancy rates are way up in the ‘burbs and fairly stable in central business districts. A cultural shift may be responsible as young people choose the center over the fringe. Does transit play a part? Denver’s light rail line is mentioned:

In Denver, a light-rail system has contributed to a more vibrant downtown. Colliers International broker Brad Calbert, who helped arrange moves by energy companies SunCor Energy Inc. and Black Hills Corp. from the Denver suburbs to downtown, said, “There is a cultural transition going on.”

Finally, a draft bike plan that cyclists actually like (Streetsblog L.A.)

L.A.’s bike activists are notoriously hard to please, but it looks like their high standards have finally been met with the newest draft bicycle plan from the City of Los Angeles. Bike activist Alex Thompson says this about the document:

“The bike plan has turned around three times now, but this last one was a pirouette.  It’s a great document – this is what can happen when experts of all sorts get together and work it out.”’

Metro in talks to buy Union Station? (blogdowntown)

Blogdowntown noticed an item on the Metro Board of Directors closed session agenda last week that guesses at a possible deal with Union Station, currently owned by Prologis. According to blogdowntown, Prologis recently announced intentions to sell all of its non-industrial properties by early 2011.

Transit village will impair transit, residents say (Lookout News)

The Bergamot Transit Village Project planned near Phase 2 of the Expo Line has some Santa Monica residents speaking out against it. The main reason? Residents think the height and density of the project will make traffic unbearable. One interesting twist on this story of residents opposing development – a rather common story – is that residents are also opposed to increased parking spaces that will come with the project. A 1,900 car underground parking garage is planned, which residents say seems at odds with the whole “transit village” idea.


Transportation headlines, Friday, Dec. 10

Posted by

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.

California gets $616 million more in fed funding for bullet train (Sacramento Bee)

Politicians in Ohio and Wisconsin said “no thanks” to federal funding for high-speed rail projects there — saying they’d never get completed. So the U.S. Department of Transportation is re-plopping that money elsewhere, with the Golden State the biggest beneficiary. The money, reports the Bee, may be enough to allow the state to extend the initial stretch of track it wants to build south of Corcoran toward Bakersfield.

Seattle rolls out its new Rapid buses (Human Transit)

The big features are fewer stops, a new paint scheme for the buses and the ability to pay fares before boarding the bus AND the ability to board the bus using both the front and rear doors. Key point by Jarrett Walker:

The last point is especially important because there as been so much resistance to all-door boarding in the North American and Australasian bus operations worlds, even as it becomes routine in Europe. I’ve always thought that the ritual of front-door boarding, which includes paying the driver and often feeling judged or inspected by him or her, is one of the most offputting aspects of bus-riding, especially for people who aren’t used to it every day.

In the last 30 years of light rail and streetcar development, many cities have settled into a practice of requiring fare payment to the driver on buses, while allowing all-door boarding and alighting, with roving fare inspection, on rail. This has created an often subliminal but powerful difference in “feel” that has nothing to do with the intrinsic value of rail vs bus technology.

Vancouver chooses Cubic for its smart card, gating system (Buzzer Blog)

The contractor that produces TAP cards — as well as smart cards in London, San Francisco, Atlanta and Miami — gets the nod to do the job in Vancouver along with IBM.

The Ice Man warneth (New York Times)

“”Why then are climatologists speaking out about the dangers of global warming? The answer is that virtually all of us are now convinced that global warming poses a clear and present danger to civilization,” writes Lonnie Thompson in a new research paper on global warming. Thompson has probably spent as much time as anyone studying the melting of ice on mountains around the world. The NYT’s Andrew Revkin notes that more climate scientists are making personal statements to go along with their scientific ones. Attentive readers know that the transportation sector in the U.S. contributes nearly one-third of the nation’s CO2 emissions, the leading greenhouse gas.

Board of Directors give initial approval to Wilshire bus lane project without Condo Canyon segment

Posted by

The final environmental impact report for rush hour bus lanes on parts of Wilshire Boulevard was initially approved by the Metro Board of Directors on Thursday, with a roughly one-mile stretch in the Condo Canyon area of Westwood removed from the project. Board Member Mark Ridley-Thomas abstained from the vote.

Metro staff now have to conduct additional environmental analysis of the project without the Condo Canyon stretch. So the Board will have to vote on an updated environmental study in April. Construction is expected to begin in early 2012, with the lanes opening in 2013.

A motion by Board of Director Zev Yaroslavsky asked to remove the segment of the bus lanes between Selby and Comstock avenues in Westwood. His motion also asked Metro staff to “assess travel time delay and traffic impacts in the mixed flow lanes along the project corridor. This analysis should serve to help determine what additional mitigation would be necessary to address time delays along the corridor and in the region.”

Many public speakers — including more than a dozen from the Bus Riders Union — testified in favor of keeping the Selby-to-Comstock segment, saying the bus lanes would be a lesser project without it and that the bus lanes shouldn’t be further fragmented.

But Yaroslavsky, who represents Westwood as part of his supervisorial  district, said that other areas along Wilshire had also been exempted from having the bus lanes, including Santa Monica, Beverly Hills and the area around MacArthur Park.

The bottom line, Yaroslavsky said, is that the Condo Canyon area is already heavily residential and one of the few parts of Wilshire where traffic moves decently at  rush hour. He said the project would not do enough to improve bus times — 30 to 60 seconds at most — but could cause other travel times for other traffic to deteriorate by as much as 26 percent. Continue reading →

Metro Board of Directors meeting is underway

Posted by

The final Board meeting of 2010 just started a few minutes ago.

Among the items on the agenda is consideration of the final environmental impact report for the Wilshire Bus Rapid Transit project — i.e. the rush hour bus lanes. Part of that conversation will involve the Board deciding whether to keep an about one-mile stretch of Wilshire in the Condo Canyon part of Westwood as part of the project.

We’ll have more coverage of the meeting throughout the day. Here’s a recent post looking at some of the items on the agenda today.


Transportation headlines, Thursday, Dec. 9

Posted by

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.

Putting the mute in commute (Boston Globe)

In response to passenger complaints about other noisy passengers, the T is trying something novel: a quiet car on some of its lines in which riders are encouraged to act like they’re in a library. In other words, no loud music leaking out of headphones, no jabbering on cell phones and no sustained conversations with other passengers. What do you think, Metro Rail passengers?

Time running out for development on Little Tokyo lot (blogdowntown)

A 5.6-acre plot on the northeast corner of Alameda and First in Little Tokyo — which is adjacent to the Gold Line station — will likely need a new developer if anything is to get build there. A large mixed-use development was planned but it appears that the economy has tanked that for now and the city of Los Angeles will need to search for a new developer.

Putting cost of high-speed rail in perspective (Urban Insights LA)

Blogger Adam Christian crunches the numbers and reports that the cost per mile of the 65-mile segment of bullet train tracks to be built between Borden and Corcoran in the San Joaquin Valley is less than bullet train tracks in other countries. His calculation required taking cost estimates from this 2005 British report on high-speed rail and making a bunch of conversations. Even if his calculations are not precise, his work suggests that California’s bullet train may be expensive, but not more so than in other countries.

Schools chief plans to fight subway (Beverly Hills Patch)

Lisa Korbatov, the incoming president of the Beverly Hills Unified School District, says in an interview that her top priority will be ensuring the Westside Subway Extension doesn’t tunnel under Beverly Hills High School. Of course, the decision on the route in that part of town has yet to be made.

New tower approved for Wilshire Boulevard in Westwood (Curbed LA)

The City Council gave the okay Wednesday to a 29-story tower at Wilshire & Gayley in Westwood that would either be a hotel or condo building. And it will be adjacent to the Westside Subway Extension station in the area — whether it’s built at Wilshire & Westwood or under UCLA parking lot 36.

Winter Metro Motion features transit-devoted Actor Vincent Kartheiser of TV's 'Mad Men'

Posted by

In the newest edition of Metro Motion, now running on television and the web, we tag along on a trip down the Metro Red Line with actor and regular Metro rider Vincent Kartheiser of TV’s “Mad Men.” Kartheiser gave up his car for public transit to help make Los Angeles — and the world — a better place. He says the switch has improved his life, as well as his commute.

Also on the show:

•A winter visit to Pasadena on a rainy day on the Gold Line includes museums, shopping and dining and, if the timing is right, the Rose Bowl and Rose Parade.

•Construction crews for the I-405 Sepulveda Pass Enhancement Project show what it’s like to labor in the dark of night so that rush hour freeway traffic is minimally inconvenienced.

•An interview with Metro Board Member and L.A. County Supervisor Mark Ridley-Thomas explores the upcoming Crenshaw/LAX Line and how it’s going to make our region more mobile.

•What’s new in green vehicles, low- and no-impact cars that currently are on the market and the newest in Metro’s clean-burning fleet.

Metro Motion runs quarterly on cable stations throughout Los Angeles County, as well as on metro.net. That’s part two of the show above. Here is part one and part three.