Category Archives: Transportation Headlines

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Transportation headlines, Tuesday, Nov. 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 Headlines blog, which you can also access via email subscription or RSS feed.

ExpressLanes off to smooth start, despite some grumbling (L.A. Times)

The ExpressLanes opened on the 110 freeway on Saturday night; this article reports that everything has gone well through Monday. My understanding is the commute on the ExpressLanes this morning went smoothly. Anyone drive them today? Comment please.

Bullet train planners face huge engineering challenge (L.A. Times)

A look at what it will take to build 141 miles of high-speed rail between Bakersfield and Los Angeles — a stretch of track in which preliminary estimates say 59 percent will need to be in tunnels or on viaducts. The California High-Speed Rail Authority is working on the plans now and says this stretch of track will cost about $20 billion — or about $141 million per mile. That’s comparable to what it will cost to build some light rail lines in the L.A. area — lines that don’t need to burrow over/under the Tehachapi and San Gabriel ranges.

Supporters continue push for downtown L.A. streetcar as vote nears (blogdowntown)

Ballots are being mailed this week to the roughly 20,000 downtown Los Angeles residents who will be voting whether to create a new tax district to raise money for the project. The election is being done entirely by mail — results will likely come in early December. A two-thirds super-majority is needed to pass. A lot is at stake: without a new district the $125-million project would lack the local dollars needed to secure federal funds.

Is transit speed obsolete? (Human Transit)

One transportation academic says that slow transit works better in terms of building cities. Transportation planner Jarrett Walker isn’t convinced. I agree. Slow transit is usually just a great way of encouraging people to keep and use their cars.

U.S. to become world’s largest oil producers in five years, report says (New York Times)

The International Energy Agency has revised its numbers, saying the U.S. could overtake Saudi Arabia earlier than expected. About 55 percent of the chane is due to more production and 45 percent from greater efficiency. Natural gas in the U.S. is also booming, meaning less coal is needed here — and meaning more coal will likely be consumed elsewhere. While the news may be good for the U.S. economy, it’s not seen as good overall for climate change as the world’s reliance on oil, natural gas and coal remains very high.

Fuel economy of vehicles in U.S. hits new high (University of Michigan)

The average in October was 24.1 mpg, which is four gallons better than five years ago — a major increase. Check out the charts. I’m guessing the Toyota Prius (now in several models) and other hybrids have helped.

 

 

Transportation headlines, Friday, Nov. 9

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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 Headlines blog, which you can also access via email subscription or RSS feed.

To win, Measure J needs yes votes on nearly three-fourths of remaining ballots (Urban Insights LA)

Blogger Adam Christian crunches the numbers and finds that 73.6 percent is the magic number needed for Measure J to overcome its current 1.95-percentage-point deficit after Tuesday's election. About 792,000 ballots remain to be counted. We've done a similar analysis at Metro and came to a similar conclusion.

Results of Nov. 2012 transportation ballot measures (Center for Transportation Excellence)

Somewhat of a mixed bag. Items in smaller cities tended to do well, but measures in populous in L.A. County and Alameda County both lost with similar results, getting about 65 percent of the vote when 66.7 percent was needed. Ouchy. A one cent per gallon gas tax hike in Memphis to help pay for local transit went down in flames, mustering 38 percent support. To repeat: that was one cent per gallon. Triple ouchies!

How to create a culture of public transit (The Atlantic Cities)

Nice post on the transit program serving 30,000 workers at a sprawling office park outside San Francisco built on former farm land. The answer to the headline's question: be obsessive about putting transit near jobs and selling some of transit's other attributes.

A gas station without gas earlier this month in the Bronix. Photo by bee721 via Flickr creative commons.

Gas rationing begins in New York City (New York Times)

About 25 percent of gas stations in the New York metro area actually have gasoline to sell. As a result, Mayor Bloomberg announced a rationing system based on license plate numbers that will allow motorists to buy gas every other day. It's the first time that gas has been rationed in the area since the energy crisis of the early 1970s.

Subway repairs border on the edge of magic to some (New York Times)

Excerpt from good story about the subway in New York overcoming damage from Hurricane Sandy:

To the subway’s chief maintenance officer, the storm’s encroaching waters were even more obvious. He was forced to flee with his flashlight from the South Ferry station in Lower Manhattan as the waters charged over the platform and up the terminal stairs, chasing him like an attack dog.

It has been less than two weeks since the most devastating storm in the New York City subway system’s 108-year history. Seven tunnels beneath the East River flooded. Entire platforms were submerged. Underground equipment, some of it decades old, was destroyed.

The damage was the worst that the system had ever seen. And yet, the subways have come back — quicker than almost anyone could have imagined.

Less than three days after the storm hit, partial subway service was restored. Most major lines were back within a week. Repairs came so quickly in some cases that the authority was ready before Consolidated Edison had restored power.

 


Transportation headlines, Thursday, Nov. 8

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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 Headlines blog, which you can also access via email subscription or RSS feed.

J's out but is Mayor V daunted? No way! (LA Times)

Gary Toebben, president of the Los Angeles Area Chamber of Commerce, a major supporter of Measure J, said Tuesday's results dealt “a major setback” to transportation advocates who hoped to take advantage of low interest rates and cheaper construction costs to continue building out the Metro system.

“This was an opportunity to move forward and save money, and we just won't be able to do that,” Toebben said.

Mayor Villaraigosa was more upbeat. “We learned that 65 percent of county voters want a fast-track completion of one of the most ambitious regional transportation plans in the country,” he said, adding that he will go “back to the toolbox” to accelerate several projects, including a subway to the Westside.

L.A. County Supervisor Michael Antonovich, who is also Metro Board Chair, had a different take: “Despite the big-bucks campaign of distortions, the voters defeated this special interest tax,” he said.

Measure J rejection was not an anti-transit vote (L.A. Streetsblog)

Excerpt from editor Damien Newton:

It’s an article of faith among Metro Board Members and many in the media that ballot measures need to have freeway funding to pass, but most of the opposition to Measure J was because not enough was being spent on transit projects and operations. In the San Gabriel Valley politicians were clambering for more funds for the Gold Line.In South L.A., they wanted more money for the Crenshaw Line. In the San Fernando Valley they wondered why support a transit tax after the Orange Line was built. In the San Gabriel Valley the No on 710 Coalition was fighting funds for the Big Dig. There was no opposition arguing for an 11th lane for the I-405 through the Sepulveda Pass or a new carpool lane on the I-10. The only opposition to Measure J that is also opposed to a transit project and used that as a reason to fight Measure J was the Beverly Hills Unified School District, and they maintain they would support the project if there were a route that did not go under Beverly Hills High School.Some proponents look at the nearly 65% of voters that voted for Measure J as a moral victory. After all, Proposition 30 barely received 50% of the vote and is widely being touted as proof that Californians support public education. If the voter threshold were lower, even down to what passes as a “Super Majority” in legislative houses at 60%, we would be writing a different piece today.

The Measure J campaign focused largely on “traffic relief” without a lot of particulars about the transit side of J. Was that the difference? Hard to say, but Damien may be onto something, as Steve Hymon wrote yesterday.

Near 70 percent of transit measures pass (Metro Magazine)

The Mayor's enthusiasm for building out our region's transit infrastructure seems to reflect national sentiment. By a passage rate of nearly 68.4 percent, voters across the country continued a track record of success for pro-transit measures as 13 of 21 local public transit-related ballot initiatives were approved on Tuesday, according to the American Public Transportation Association (APTA) and the Center for Transportation Excellence (CFTE).

Obama victory likely to preserve Amtrak and highway funding (The Hill)

While it may have seemed that public transit wasn't exactly front and center in this election, many believe that the Obama victory is positive for public transit. Unsuccessful Republican nominee Mitt Romney had pledged to eliminate government funding for Amtrak and GOP vice-presidential nominee Paul Ryan's (R-Wis) budget would have limited transportation funding to revenues generated by the federal gas tax. While that money mostly goes to roads, some of it does trickle down to public transit.

How do you capture the San Fernando Valley through art? (LA Weekly)

The Expo Line opening last spring may have snagged all the headlines, but a few months later the Valley debuted its own transit triumph: The Orange Line busway completed its 18-mile route connecting North Hollywood to Chatsworth. The Orange Line has become an internationally recognized and locally beloved institution, and a new exhibition showcases its public art program, explaining the process behind the artworks that are at 18 stations now dotting the San Fernando Valley. The exhibition ends Dec. 13.

 

Transportation headlines, Wednesday, Nov. 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 Headlines blog, which you can also access via email subscription or RSS feed.

Measure J, L.A. County transportation tax measure, fails (L.A. Times)

The proposal to accelerate transportation projects by extending the Measure R sales tax for 30 more years received 64.72 percent of the vote — a nice show of support. But J needed a super-majority of two-thirds of the vote to pass and came up a little less than two percentage points shy of that. In the Times, an organizer for the Bus Riders Union says that she’s very happy about the result. Turnout may have been an issue. When Measure R was approved with 67.92 percent of the vote in 2008, about 889,000 more people voted. There are still some votes to be counted so the final J tally may change a little, but it’s unlikely the result will.

Here’s an interesting discussion about J on Twitter this morning, led by Los Angeles Times architecture critic Christopher Hawthorne:


The Vote 2012 (Transport Politic)

Scroll down this post for some key transportation-related elections around the country. Perhaps the one most relevant here is that a proposal to extend an existing sales tax for 30 years in Alameda County failed with 65.5 percent of the vote.

A good night for Honolulu light rail (Honolulu Star-Advertiser)

Kirk Caldwell won election last night; his opponent had been threatening to shut down construction of a federally-funded light rail project, saying it was a waste of money and buses could better do the job. Caldwell is a key supporter of light rail.

Ontario Airport will lose more flights in 2013 (LA Observed)

The outlook for next year is not promising and the bottom line is this: LAX keeps growing while second tier airports such as Ontario are losing business. Something perhaps for supporters of extending the Gold Line to Ontario to think about.

Greyhound launches non-stop service between Las Vegas and L.A. (L.A. Times)

The five-hour trip is part of the carrier’s “express” brand service and includes plush seats and free wi-fi.

Transportation headlines, Tuesday, November 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 Headlines blog, which you can also access via email subscription or RSS feed.

 

Happy Election Day, Source readers. After enduring an endless campaign season, I thought I’d toss some topic-appropriate music into today’s headlines. Don’t read anything into my selections. They’re just great songs, not my personal political statements. I am, however, beaming with pride that I finally got Alice Cooper on a government owned and operated blog.

Beyond the spin, breaking down Measure J (L.A. Streetsblog)

Damien Newton offers a thorough analysis of who is supporting J and who isn’t and some of the reasons why. Some people want an expanded transit system, others worry that will come with a price — fare increases.

 

Life in the ExpressLanes (ZevWeb)

County Supervisor Zev Yaroslavsky’s website offers a nice overview of the ExpressLanes opening this Saturday on the 110 freeway. And, yes, everyone who uses the lanes needs to have a FasTrak transponder. LA Observed’s Kevin Roderick also discusses the ExpressLanes on his weekly KCRW segment.

 

Which Mitt would shape U.S. transpo policy — the Governor or the candidate? (D.C. Streetsblog)

As Governor of Massachusetts, Mitt Romney had one of the nation’s largest transit networks in his backyard in Boston and worked toward progressive zoning, road maintenance and building smarter campaigners. As a candidate, Streetsblog characterizes his energy policy as a parody of “desperate political pandering to Texas oil barons.”

 

Tales from a post-Sandy commute (BikePortland)

A cyclist visiting New York last month heaps praise on New York City for using pylons to create an instant bus lane from Brooklyn into Manhattan when the subways weren’t running last week. Lines were ungodly long for the bus — a good argument for the capacity of trains — but it somehow worked.

 

Transportation headlines, Monday, Nov. 5

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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 Headlines blog, which you can also access via email subscription or RSS feed.

Service resumed on all but one line of the Long Island Railroad this morning. Photo by New York MTA, via their Flickr page.

Transit in New York area still trying to recover from Sandy (New York Times)

Long Island Railroad and New Jersey Transit commuter trains literally had to turn away riders this morning due to overcrowding as all forms of transit struggle to recover from the super storm that battered the region last Monday night. The Times describes road traffic as somewhere between “bad and terrible” today, with delays of 60 to 90 minutes on the inbound Lincoln Tunnel into Manhattan from New Jersey.

This excellent chart runs down the status of all basic services in the New York area, including transit. The New York subway is mostly back, with only four lines still out. The PATH trains between New Jersey and Lower Manhattan are also still out of service.

As for the gasoline shortage, it continues and may take more time to ease. This Fortune blog post asks the question whether the shortage was preventable but more importantly fully explains the supply chain that gets gas from refineries to vehicles and how the storm tore that chain apart. Finally, here’s an excellent photo gallery from the New Yorker on the storm.

A line at a gas station in Brooklyn on Sunday morning. Photo by Karen Blumberg, via Flickr creative commons.

Pay lanes: a first for L.A. County will start Saturday (Daily News)

Metro officials say the ExpressLanes that open on the 110 this week and on the 10 early next year will help increase capacity on both roads by selling surplus space in the carpool lanes. Critics say people who have been helping all along by carpooling will be unfairly punished by having to get transponders.

What has President Obama done to improve American transportation policy? (Streetsblog Network)

The answer from Streetsblog writer Tanya Snyder: big ideas but not enough follow-through. Praise comes for installing Ray LaHood as U.S. Transportation Secretary, a push for more sustainable communities and swinging for the fences with high-speed rail, albeit that was a program mostly defeated. The criticism comes for not appeasing Republicans by finding revenue streams to pay for ambitious spending increases on the transpo front.

Measure J still worthwhile, despite possible fare hikes (L.A. Times)

The Times’ editorial page supports Measure J for a second time, this time in response to allegations by the Bus Riders Union that Measure J will automatically lead to higher fares.

The delusion about Measure J tells you a lot about L.A. (L.A. Observed)

Mark Lacter says lawmakers are too fixated on big transit projects that will takes years to build instead of making incremental changes that could ease traffic now.

Measure J will create jobs and help the environment (Huffington Post)

Occidental political professor Peter Dreier says J would help L.A. dig its way out of the recession and get more people out of cars and onto buses and trains.

Ron Kaye: Unraveling Measure J (Glendale News-Press)

The former Daily News editor is against Measure J, saying it’s premature. He gets the counterpoint from Glendale Council Member and Metro Board Member Ara Najarian.

 

Transportation headlines, Friday, Nov. 2

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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 Headlines blog, which you can also access via email subscription or RSS feed.

Transit tax measure fuels debate over price of fares (L.A. Times)

If Measure J is approved and accelerates transit projects, will fare hikes need to be accelerated to pay for increased operating costs? Critics of J and Metro have contrasting views.

Measure J aims to start public transit's engines (KPCC AirTalk)

Host Larry Mantle moderates a conversation about J with Supervisor and Metro Board Member Zev Yaroslavsky and the Bus Rider Union lead organizer Sunyoung Yang.

The New York Subway's recovery map -- what's operating and what isn't.

A scarcity of gas, but some transit gains (New York Times)

Excerpt:

Four days after Hurricane Sandy, the effort to secure enough gas for the region moved to the forefront of recovery work. The problems affected even New York City, where the Taxi Commission warned that the suddenly indispensable fleet of yellow cabs would thin significantly Friday because of the fuel shortage. City officials said they reached an agreement with a major supplier Thursday night that would ensure that emergency operations — fire, police, sanitation and work by the parks department to clean up downed trees — would continue uninterrupted.In Union, N.J., the problem was starkly highlighted on Thursday when lines of cars waiting for gas at a Sunoco ran in three directions: a mile-long line up the Garden State Parkway, a half-mile line along Vauxhall Road, and another, including a fleet of mail trucks that needed to refuel before resuming their rounds, snaking through a back entrance. The scene was being replayed across the state as drivers waited in lines that ran hundreds of vehicles deep, requiring state troopers and local police officers to protect against exploding tempers.“I’ve been pumping gas for 36 hours; I pumped 17,000 gallons,” said Abhishek Soni, the owner of an Exxon in Montclair, where disputes in the line Wednesday night had become so heated that Mr. Soni called the police and turned off the pumps for 45 minutes to restore calm. “My nose, my mouth is bleeding from the fumes. The fighting just makes it worse.”

As the map above shows, limited transit service is returning to New York but it's still a shadow of its usual self. All three commuter railroads that serve the area — the Long Island Railroad, Metro North and New Jersey Transit — are far from normal service levels.

Commutes complicated by storm (New York Times)

Click above to see this terrific and sobering photo gallery. The image of the cars pointed every which way at the gas station is priceless. Also, the images are a good reminder of the central role of transit and mobility in the lives of many city dwellers — something I think too many of our national elected officials forget to talk about.

At Strathmore and Westwood, it's UCLA bike box (Streetsblog Los Angeles)

Check out the photo with the article. The box is designed to help reduce right-turn conflicts between vehicles and bikes by putting the bikes out front at intersections.

A real Google Wallet card? (The Verge)

This is just rumor based on a supposed leak and could be flat out wrong, but Google may be working on a version of Google Wallet that allows you to program one credit card to serve as all your cards. One of the cards shown is something familiar to some of you.

 

Transportation headlines, Thursday, Nov. 1

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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 Headlines blog, which you can also access via email subscription or RSS feed.

Some New York subway service resumes; restrictions put in place on bridges (New York Times)

Fourteen of the 23 subway lines in New York began service again this morning although some lines have considerable gaps because of flooding and other damage from Hurricane Sandy. Service between Manhattan and Brooklyn remains by shuttle bus only and lines are long. Gov. Cuomo also announced that all bus and subway fares were waived for the rest of the week as a way to help people get around.

Traffic in the area has been more terrible than usual, resulting in a key policy change: vehicles headed over some key bridges into Manhattan were required to have three or more passengers. The Times reports that some police checks to enforce passenger loads may have added to traffic woes because they were so vigorous.

However, New Jersey Transit rail service — which connects Manhattan to the vast suburbs of the Garden State — remains suspended. There is both infrastructure damage and/no power to run trains, switches and signaling systems. Gov. Christie said that it will be seven to 10 days before PATH subway trains are running again between Newark, Hoboken and Lower Manhattan. The above slideshow from New Jersey Transit shows damage to the system.

A gas line in New Jersey. Photo by Jeff Jarvis, via Twitter.

New Jersey is running out of gas (Grist)

There were warnings before the storm that gasoline would likely be short supply after Sandy swept through the region. And the warnings were correct. Gas is in short supply for cars as well as the generators needed to supply electricity in some areas. Lines are long but here’s one interesting tidbit: there was a rule already in place prohibiting gas stations from gouging customers and the Christie Administration has been serious about enforcing it.

Are humans to blame? Science is out (New York Times)

Was Hurricane Sandy caused by or made worse by climate change? Scientists say they don’t know but do think that storm surges were likely made worse by seas that have already risen in response to global warming. Warmer seas may have also contributed to providing the storm with more energy. Bottom line, however, is this: scientists predict there will be a blizzard of scientific papers produced about the storm and climate change.

Californians commute ranks as 10th longest in U.S. (California Watch)

The average commute time in the Golden State between 2009 and 2011 was 26.9 minutes. Excerpt:

On average, Americans spent 23.7 minutes getting to work. More than three-quarters of them drove alone to their jobs, nearly 1 in 10 carpooled and 5 percent took public transportation. Californians were less likely to drive alone – about 73 percent did – and were more likely to carpool (11.4 percent) or ride public transit (5.2 percent).

Californians’ commuting habits have not changed much in recent years. They drive, carpool and ride public transit at about the same rates they reported in the 2006-8 American Community Survey, and their journeys to work are about the same duration.

Maryland has the longest average commutes at 31.8 minutes. In California, Contra Costa County had the longest commute times at 32.2 minutes. Contra Costa and Riverside counties had the highest proportion of commuters requiring an hour or more to get to work — 17 percent.

Transportation headlines, Wednesday, Oct. 31

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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 Headlines blog, which you can also access via email subscription or RSS feed.

The South Ferry subway station in Lower Manhattan. Photo by New York MTA, via their Flickr page.

A truck navigates flooding in the Wachapreague Marina in Virginia. Photo by Betty Flowers/NASA via Flickr creative commons.

LaGuardia Airport during Hurricane Sandy. Photo by Port Authority of New York and New Jersey, via their Twitter feed.

Flooded tunnels may keep subway closed for several days (New York Times)

Here’s the top of the story:

It spans 468 stations and over 600 miles of track, pulsing through four of New York City’s five boroughs as the great uniter of the area. Everyone pays the same fare. Everyone has a preferred line. Everyone curses its fussy weekend service.

And almost everyone uses the subway. Until it goes dark.

On Tuesday, as officials discovered the breadth of tunnel flooding from an enormous hurricane, New Yorkers were warned that the bulk of the muscular subway network could be lost for “a good four or five days,” Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg said.

As the remnants of Hurricane Sandy left the city on Tuesday, transit officials surveyed the damage to the system, which they shut down on Sunday night as a precaution. What they found was an unprecedented assault: flooded tunnels, battered stations and switches and signals likely damaged.

With the subway and regional commuter rail still shut down, many people returned to work in Manhattan today and traffic was predictably lousy, as the Times reports.

As bad as it for the New York system, it might have been worse for New Jersey Transit, which operates light rail, subway and commuter rail — all of which remain suspended. The Wall Street Journal reports that each of New Jersey Transit’s 11 commuter rail lines suffered serious damage, in addition to flooding that has crippled the underground PATH trains that connect New Jersey to Manhattan.

Transit systems in Baltimore, Philadelphia and Washington D.C. are back in service, albeit with some lingering effects from Hurricane Sandy.

In an entrenched car culture, painting a bolder face for mass transit (New York Times)

A nice mini-profile of Michael Lejeune, Metro’s first creative director who pushed for more striking marketing efforts to help brand Metro and raise awareness that Los Angeles County actually has a large transit system. The marketing is credited with boosting discretionary ridership. I’m a big fan of the signs but also take note of what readers tell me all the time: slogans are good but great service is even better.

Claremont officials angry over Measure J (Claremont-LaVerne Patch)

The Claremont City Council says they’re upset that Measure J won’t fund an extension of the Gold Line from Azusa to Claremont and beyond. As we discussed over the summer here, Measure J would only provide funds to accelerate Measure R transit projects — not extend any of them past their current end points.

Measure J: moving today for tomorrow (Jewish Journal)

The editorial endorses J, saying it would provide more mobility and more jobs. The editorial also examines the national security angle and the relationship between oil, the Middle East and Israel.

Opinion: Measure J equals gentrification, racism, and pollution with public funds (Long Beach Telegram)

The op-ed is by the Bus Riders Union’s Eric Mann and Sunyoung Yang; the headline is also the the first line of the op-ed piece, which sets the tone for the many allegations that follow.

Yes on Measure J (La Opinion)

The editorial backs Measure J because of the need for more jobs and transit improvements that would benefit all riders. However, the editorial has reservations about Metro’s ability to control costs and says that bus system needs more investment.

B.H. Chamber backs Measure J (Beverly Hills Patch)

The Chamber says that Measure J would help build transit projects and create jobs. For those keeping score at home, the Beverly Hills Unified School District Board voted to oppose J, the Beverly Hills City Council went neutral and the Chamber is for it. The city and the school district are suing Metro over plans to place tunnels for the Westside Subway Extension under part of the Beverly Hills High School campus.

Transportation headlines, Tuesday, Oct. 30

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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 Headlines blog, which you can also access via email subscription or RSS feed.

Metro North’s Croton Harmon station last night. Photo by New York MTA.

The Staten Island Railway’s Clifton Shop after the storm. Photo by New York MTA.

A boat rests on the tracks at Metro-North’s Ossining Station on the Hudson Line. Photo by New York MTA.

Worst disaster in New York Subway history (N.Y. Times)

In the 108-year history of the subway system, never has so much of it been battered and damaged at once — until Hurricane Sandy struck. Seven tunnels have been damaged by flooding from the East River, two Metro North commuter rail lines are without power, two bus facilities flooded and the Long Island Railroad had one East River tunnel take on water while its West Side Yards had to be evacuated. The New York MTA is saying that they will re-open the system in a piecemeal fashion.

New Jersey Transit also has suspended all service for Tuesday and much of the SEPTA system that serves the Metro Philadelphia area is also still suspended. There are also power outages throughtout the area and Con Ed is saying the electricity could be out for days in Manhattan. Some bridges in the New York area are reopening today.

That’s not to mention the 60,000 flights that have been canceled across the U.S. in the past few days, the fires in New York and damage to infrastructure and homes across the East Coast.

Santa Monica Bike Center pushes pedaling for commuters (L.A. Times)

The center is located in the throes of traffic-ridden downtown Santa Monica and was created with funding help from Metro. Among their programs: loaning commuter bikes to area residents to give commuting by bicycle a try — and then perhaps getting their own bike. Nice story about the upswing in cycling around the L.A. area.

About that long empty lot on 1st Street (L.A. Times)

Columnist Steve Lopez takes on the story of the empty lot on 1st between Spring and Broadway — a lot that sits across the street from L.A. City Hall and the L.A. Times and has been vacant for 40 years. A state building damaged in the Sylmar earthquake had to be torn down, leaving not much else besides an underground parking lot. The state owns the land and the city and county may want to co-purchase it. As Lopez writes, it’s pretty amazing no one at the newspaper or city knew that it had become a homeless encampment, although the state recently had the CHP evict the homeless. Now sitting next to the new Grand Park, it would be great to see the land developed into something as downtown L.A., in my view, could use the development.