Metro adds more free bus service for weekend of 405 closure in Sepulveda Pass

Posted by

The agency had previously announced free service on the Orange Line busway and the Red and Purple line subway on the weekend of July 16-17, when the 405 will be closed over the Sepulveda Pass for the partial demolition of the Mulholland Bridge.

In addition, the Metro Board of Directors last month gave Metro CEO Art Leahy the discretion to add other free service. Leahy has chosen to add 26 bus lines which should greatly help riders move between the San Fernando Valley and the Westside — as well as provide an alternative to freeways that are expected to be clogged that weekend.

Many Source readers have asked about 761 Rapid Bus service between the Valley and the Westside. Now we have an answer: the bus will continue to use Sepulveda Boulevard as it normally does over the Sepulveda Pass. Sepulveda Boulevard will only be open to local traffic and 761 riders should expect much longer travel times than usual, due to congestion in the area.

Here is the news release from Metro:

In addition to providing free rides on the Metro Orange, Red and Purple Lines, The Los Angeles County Metropolitan Transportation Authority (Metro) today announced that it will make 26 additional Metro Bus Lines free the weekend of July 16-17 when the I-405 will be closed between the I-10 and U.S. 101 for Mulholland Bridge demolition work.

Metro selected bus lines for free fares that operate on major Westside and San Fernando Valley streets in areas most affected by the closure. Free rides on the selected bus lines are intended to help mitigate congestion during the closure weekend.  Free fares are being offered on the following Metro bus lines:

  • 2 Downtown LA-Pacific Palisades via Sunset Bl
  • 4 Downtown LA-West Hollywood-Santa Monica via Santa Monica Bl
  • 20 Downtown LA-Santa Monica via Wilshire Bl
  • 33 Downtown LA – Santa Monica via Venice Bl
  • 150 Canoga Park-Universal City Station via Ventura Bl
  • 152 Woodland Hills-North Hollywood Station via Fallbrook Av
  • 155 Sherman Oaks-Burbank Station via Riverside Dr, Olive Av
  • 156 Van Nuys-Hollywood-Panorama City
  • 158 Chatsworth Station – Sherman Oaks via Devonshire St, Woodman Av
  • 161 Thousand Oaks Transit Center-Warner Center
  • 183 Sherman Oaks-Glendale Station via Magnolia Bl
  • 224 Sylmar Station – Universal City Station via San Fernando Rd & Lankershim Bl
  • 230 Sylmar-Studio City via Laurel Canyon Bl
  • 233 Lake View Terrace-Sherman Oaks via Van Nuys Bl
  • 234 Mission College-Sherman Oaks via Sepulveda Bl & Brand Bl
  • 236 Sylmar Station-Encino via Glenoaks Bl & Balboa Bl
  • 240 Northridge via Reseda Bl
  • 242 Porter Ranch-Woodland Hills via Tampa Av
  • 243 Porter Ranch – Woodland Hills via Winnetka Av
  • 244 Chatsworth Station-Woodland Hills via De Soto Av
  • 245 Chatsworth Station – Woodland Hills via Topanga Canyon Bl
  • 656 Van Nuys/Hollywood Owl
  • 704 Metro Rapid – Downtown Los Angeles – Santa Monica via Santa Monica Bl
  • 720 Metro Rapid – Santa Monica/Commerce via Wilshire Bl & Whittier Bl
  • 733 Metro Rapid – Downtown Los Angeles/Santa Monica via Venice Bl.
  • 761 Metro Rapid Pacoima/Westwood via Van Nuys Bl & Sepulveda Bl. (Note: buses will be using Sepulveda Boulevard between Ventura Boulevard and Getty Center Drive. Passengers should expect greatly extended travel times on this line between Sherman Oaks and Westwood due to anticipated traffic congestion). Continue reading →

The art of transit

Posted by

photo by Ken Quail, via Flickr

This photo actually dates to 2007, but it’s too good not to post. It was taken on a subway in Korea, where a few passengers had decided to work some exercise into their transit experience.

To submit a photo for the Art of Transit, post it to Metro’s Flickr group, email it to sourcemetro@gmail.com or Tweet it to @metrolosangeles with an #artoftransit hashtag. Many of the photos we’ve featured can be seen in these galleries on Flickr.

Transportation headlines, Tuesday, July 5

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.

In Los Angeles, cuts will make bus commuters longer (New York Times)

The 305's route between UCLA and Willowbrook. Click to see a larger map.

The NYT takes a look at the recent bus service cuts recommended by Metro staff and approved in March by the Metro Board of Directors(on a 7 to 6 vote). Specifically, the paper looks at the 305, which runs a long, stair-step route between Willowbrook and UCLA and carries many low-income workers to their jobs.

The 305 will be eliminated after the Expo Line opens, a decision that the NYT predicts will greatly increase the transfers that current riders of the 305 will have to make and could take twice as long and cost three times as much. Metro staff explains that the agency is trying to build a grid-system for its bus lines that will be more efficient for more people instead of customized lines that zigzag across the region.

Obviously it remains to be seen how the future commutes come together for current 305 riders. It is also interesting that this is perhaps the most critical media story about the recent service cuts and it comes from the NYT and not a more local media outlet.

That said, Human Transit blogger Jarrett Walker has posted a lengthy and critical response to the NYT story. He argues that cutting the 305 is a fair move, that the line was low-frequency and that it’s better to invest resources into fast, frequent travel on a grid system that serves far more people. Excerpt:

The other moral of this story is even simpler: If your mission is to serve a whole city or region, designing bus routes around any self-identified group of people is almost always a bad idea.  Most successful and attractive transit seeks maximum versatility, by serving the most diverse possible range of demographics, trip purposes, and origin-destination pairs.

1984: the year of catastrophic traffic that never was (KCET)

As excited as Angelenos were about the Olympics coming to town, many were equally fearful of the traffic the summer games would create. In the end, it turned out to be much ado about nothing, writes Erin Aubry Kaplan. Traffic never materialized and many people took pride in the fact that the games were in town, even parts of town that don’t see much tourist traffic. The post is loosely pegged to the 405 closure on July 16-17. We’ll see if history of sorts manages to repeat itself.

The case for not-so-high-speed rail (Washington Monthly)

This long article is well worth reading. The author argues that as nice as 180 mph bullet trains may be, it’s perhaps best for the U.S. to upgrade its current rail system to something that’s relatively quick and convenient for medium-range trips, where trains already enjoy a high market share. On the other hand, big bullet train projects are often so expensive and politically challenging that they often fail.

The bicycle dividend (New York Times)

This blog post looks at the economics of bike lane and infrastructure construction and concludes that it’s a pretty good deal for taxpayers on a number of fronts, ranging from job creation to helping reduce greenhouse gas emissions. Still, federal spending on bike programs amounted to $4 per American in 2010.

Construction scheduled to begin tonight on bridge over 210 for Gold Line Foothill Extension

Posted by

The Foothill Extension will take the Gold Line from its current terminus in Pasadena to the Azusa/Glendora border. It’s a project funded by Measure R, the half-cent sales tax increase approved by L.A. County voters in 2008.

The Santa Fe Railroad's Super Chief crosses the old bridge over the 210 freeway's eastbound lanes in 1971.

The last station on the Gold Line at present is at Sierra Madre Villa in the middle of the 210 freeway. The old Santa Fe rail right-of-way continues east along the 210 for about a mile. The new bridge will carry the tracks over the 210′s eastbound lanes as the tracks curve south toward downtown Arcadia, where there will be a new station — the old bridge was torn down years ago because of seismic concerns.

The Foothill Extension Construction Authority, the independent agency building the line, is currently selecting a contractor to build the rest of the line. The Authority says the scheduled completion date is 2015.

Here’s the news release about the bridge from the Construction Authority, which we received late Friday:

CONSTRUCTION BEGINS ON I-210 GOLD LINE BRIDGE

After nearly a year of design work, permit approvals and hiring of subcontractors, crews will start work on the I-210 Gold Line Bridge next week. The 584-linear foot bridge crosses over the eastbound lanes of the I-210 Freeway between Baldwin and Santa Anita Avenues, and will facilitate connection between the existing Sierra Madre Villa Station in East Pasadena and the future Arcadia Station. It is the first component of the Metro Gold Line Foothill Extension light rail project from Pasadena to Azusa to move from design to construction.

Over the next few months, crews will clear the center and southern freeway medians, build a 500 foot long temporary retaining wall, and then start work on the massive foundations for the bridge structure. Intermittent late-night closures of the Eastbound I-210 Freeway will be necessary during the year-long bridge construction. The Metro Gold Line Foothill Extension Construction Authority will issue regular construction notices to update the community on bridge construction activities and schedules.

Continue reading →

Sen. Schumer plugs elements of America Fast Forward last week

Posted by

As we’ve crossed the halfway point of 2011, Metro’s government relations staff are still plugging away and hoping to persuade Congress to make America Fast Forward [AFF] the law of the land.

AFF would provide government loans and other financing that would allow Metro to accelerate the construction of 12 Measure R transit projects. As things stand now, those projects would be built between now and 2038. With AFF, Metro is hoping to condense that timeline to the next decade or so.

The goal is to make AFF part of the next multiyear transportation spending bill, which is already two-plus years overdue. On the plus side, AFF continues to get some plugs from both sides of the aisle — including the following one from Sen. Charles Schumer (D-New York). Here’s the email from Metro CEO Art Leahy to staff:

Yesterday [last Thursday], key elements of America Fast Forward received a significant boost in Washington, D.C. Senator Chuck Schumer (D-NY), the third Ranking Senate Democrat and the Chair of the Senate Democratic Policy Committee unveiled the Democratic Senate’s job creation plan that focuses primarily on “A Highway Bill that will put people back to work building critical infrastructure,” as well as creating a National Infrastructure Bank.

Continue reading →

Transit forecast for Tuesday, July 5

Posted by

For a complete list of planned service advisories please visit the Service Advisories page on Metro.net. And for the latest service alerts follow @MetroLAalerts on Twitter.

Blue Line

After 8:15pm, Blue Line trains run every 30 minutes due to construction work for the future Expo Line.  Please see schedule here.

Dates: through Thursday.

Gold Line

Due to maintenance work after 9pm, trains may be delayed 1-2 minutes.

During this time, trains in both directions will share East LA Atlantic bound track at Mariachi Plaza, Soto, and Indiana stations. Please check train destination signs and announcements before boarding.

Dates: through Wednesday.


Don't forget: Meet Me @ Metro II starts this weekend!

Posted by

The above video is an edit of last year’s Meet Me @ Metro, a unique performance art experience where the performers and the audience ride together on Metro Rail.

I rode along last year and the show exceeded my expectations – read my take on it here.

Last year was such a success that the Watts Village Theater Company has brought back the concept for another year with an expanded route, schedule and artistic vision.

This should be a great family event for the holiday weekend. Performances start at 11am on Saturday and Sunday at The Watts Towers Art Center and goes down to Long Beach on the Blue Line with 5 station stops along the way.

Tickets on Saturday are $11 and Sunday is pay-what-you-can. Tickets can be purchased online.

If you can’t make it this weekend, there are two more performances next Saturday and Sunday.