Transit forecast for Monday, June 20

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.

Line 110

Due to street paving the listed lines will be on detour between Florence Pl. & Granger Ave.

Eastbound: Regular route to Florence Pl. and Sudan St., then continue via Florence Pl. to (L) Emil Ave., (R) Florence Ave., (L) Perry Rd. and layover after left turn.

Westbound: Depart via Perry Rd. to (R) Clara St., (R) Garfield Ave., (R) Florence Ave., (L) Emil Ave., (R) Florence Pl. and regular route.

Dates: today only.

Green Line

Due to system maintenance from 9am to 2pm, westbound trains to Redondo Beach will run 4 minutes earlier than regular schedule.

  • Westbound trains to Redondo Beach will depart Norwalk at 9:07am, 9:22am, 9:37am, 9:52am and every 15 minutes until 1:52pm, then regular schedule.
  • During this time, trains in both directions will share ONE track at Vermont Green Line Station. Please check train destination signs and announcements before boarding.

Dates: through Wednesday.

Gold Line

Due to vehicle testing after 9pm, southbound trains to East LA or Union Station may depart Sierra Madre Villa 2 minutes later than normal.

  • Southbound trains may depart Sierra Madre Villa at 9:22pm, 9:42pm, 10:02pm, 10:22pm and every 20 minutes until last train at 12:40am. Times are approximate and subject to minor work related delays.
  • Southbound trips continuing to East LA Atlantic will depart on regular schedule from Union Station.
  • During this time, trains in both directions will share ONE track at Allen Station. Please check train destination signs and announcements before boarding.

Dates: through Wednesday.

After the jump: service advisories for Blue Line, Red Line and Lines 2, 233 & 761. Continue reading →


The MetroDuo Blog is a guide to L.A. events by Metro Rail

Posted by

Here’s a new local blog worth checking out: The MetroDuo Blog.

The tagline of the site is “See Los Angeles by rail!” and the posts center on Metro accessible events throughout the city. These are more than just listings à la Go Metro Weekends – they’re nice detailed write-ups by the Duo that include great pictures (the writers are photographers by trade) and maps that tell you exactly how to get to any given event on Metro Rail.

Despite focusing on events and destinations, the blog’s philosophy is of the “it’s the journey, not the destination” variety, as summed up in the About Us blurb:

We see the Metro as more than transportation. It is part of our activities and outings, not just a way to get to an event or place.

The latest posting takes a look at MOCA’s Art in the Streets exhibition and is accompanied by some photos that make me want to hop on the Gold Line right now and check out the show. Added bonus: the Duo reveal that MOCA waives the entrance fee to the show during certain hours on Mondays and Thursdays. Nice.

Another useful post from the Duo: a guide to the Pasadena City College Flea Market, also accessible by the Gold Line. The post includes a nice tip about an e-waste recycling drop point at the market. Good to know for those of us who upgraded to a fancy smartphone and are at a loss about what to do with our old Nokia brick.

The MetroDuo Blog looks to be a worthy bookmark for Metro riders and L.A. explorers alike. Check it out.

Go Metro Weekends, June 17-19

Posted by

Make dad proud this Father’s Day weekend by going Metro to any, or – if your dad is an alpha male – all of these great L.A. events. Try this itinerary on for size: tonight, take in a flick at the L.A. Film Festival or head over to Opening Night at The Hollywood Bowl. On Saturday there’s the free music festival Make Music Pasadena, easily accessible by the Gold Line. Or head to Long Beach on the Blue Line with dad and enjoy the Urban Ocean Festival at The Aquarium of the Pacific. On Sunday take dad to a Free Cumbia Concert at MacArthur Park or hop on the Red Line to Hollywood for a special Father’s Day Egyptian Theatre Historic Tour. Dad will be so proud of your ability to save money, bypass traffic and help the environment.

All events are subject to change or may be be sold out, please check with the venue before making plans.  To plan your trip and to check all other transit options, please consult Google Transit or the Metro Trip Planner.

Friday, June 17

DESTINATION DISCOUNT AVAILABLE
Los Angeles Film Festival
The festival provides access to outdoor screenings and star-studded galas, one-of-a-kind panels and signature events with the most critically-acclaimed filmmakers, film industry professionals and emerging talent from around the world.
Website: http://www.lafilmfest.com/
When: Various times, all weekend
Price: $13/screening (Show your Metro Pass, Metro Rail Ticket or TAP Card at the box office and receive $2 off)
Where: Regal Cinemas at L.A. Live, 800 W. Olympic Blvd.
Nearby Metro Rail: Blue Line Pico Station
Nearby Metro Bus Stops: Figueroa/Olympic (28, 81, 439, 728, Silver Line)

DESTINATION DISCOUNT AVAILABLE
“Departures” at NoHo Arts Center
In DEPARTURES, fifteen travelers find their life stories entwined in this humorous and touching story.  From a runaway bride in her wedding dress with an extraordinary case of cold feet to a grandfather determined to bring his young grandson home from Iraq; these characters share their dreams, their fears and their secrets with each other as each one takes the defining journey of their life.  At turns comical and moving, hopeful and nostalgic, DEPARTURES blends the voices of an eclectic group of eight writers into a tapestry of lives at their most daring moment – the moment of leaping into thin air, and letting Faith give you wings.
Website: http://www.thenohoartscenter.com/
When: 8pm
Price: $25 (Show your Metro Pass, Metro Rail Ticket or TAP Card at the box office and receive 25% off)
Where: 11136 Magnolia Blvd.
Nearby Metro Rail: Red Line North Hollywood Station
Nearby Metro Bus Stops: Orange Line North Hollywood Station, Magnolia/Lankershim (152/353, 156/656, 183, 224)

Dance Downtown – Lindy Hop/Swing
Two left feet? Learn how to dance and shake it, move it and groove it under the stars with live music/DJ and beginner dance lessons sprinkled throughout the evening. No experience necessary.
Website: http://www.musiccenter.org/
When: 6:30pm
Price: FREE
Where: L.A. Music Center, 135 North Grand Ave.
Nearby Metro Rail: Red/Purple Line Civic Center Station
Nearby Metro Bus Stops: Temple/Grand (2/302, 4, 10/48, 92, 445)

Insect Ensemble at Hammer Museum
Performers will be scattered around the Hammer terraces making insect noises with hand percussion and mouth sounds.
Website: http://hammer.ucla.edu/
When: 6pm
Price: $10
Where: Hammer Museum, 10899 Wilshire Blvd.
Nearby Metro Bus Stops: Wilshire/Westwood (20, 233, 720, 761)
Other Operators: Wilshire/Westwood (Big Blue Bus 2, 3, Culver City 6)

Opening Night at The Hollywood Bowl
One of the most anticipated highlights of the season! This star-studded evening features performances by 2011 Hall of Fame inductees Harry Connick, Jr. and Gloria Estefan, plus an exclusive live sneak preview of Cirque du Soleil’s first Hollywood production, Iris
Website: http://www.hollywoodbowl.com/
When: 8:30pm
Price: $11-$158
Where: The Hollywood Bowl, 2301 North Highland Avenue
Nearby Metro Rail: Red Line Hollywood/Highland Station (Transfer to Bowl Shuttle), Red Line Universal City Station (Transfer to Bowl Shuttle)

More weekend events, after the jump Continue reading →

Opinion: the 405 closure as a case for multi-modal transportation in L.A.

Posted by

Traffic on the 405 freeway. Photo by biofriendly, via Flickr.

By now it should be no secret that a massive chunk of the 405 freeway will be closing the weekend of July 15 – the big countdown clock on our sidebar kind of gives it away.

If the countdown clock, press releases and media coverage (“carmageddon” anyone?) haven’t made it clear, allow me: this is a big deal for L.A.

Of course, some of our regular and more transit-oriented readers may scoff and even revel in the suffering of our car-dependent cohorts. I know there’s a part of me that thinks: 1) the media and some officials are unnecessarily sensationalizing the event (but that’s what they do best), and; 2) haha, eat it gas guzzlers.

But on the other hand, most Angelenos are car-dependent and by default, freeway dependent. So even if it’s just a weekend, the closure is going to have a big impact on a lot of people – and make a lot of people feel stranded, trapped and confused.

In a sense the apocalyptic hyperbole of the media may be grounded in the reality that, due to our overwhelming dependency on cars, many Angelenos will suffer. To be sure, it’s no tsunami, hurricane or earthquake – but maybe L.A.’s worst natural disaster is actually a man-made one.

Continue reading →

Update on state budget — outlook for transpo funding fuzzy at best

Posted by

California's State Capitol Building: where budgets go to die. Photo by Jimmy Emerson, via Flickr.

I’m betting most of us would ratherdrive staples into our own heads than take more time to contemplate California’s 24-7-365 perpetual state budget crisis.

Gov. Brown vetoed the latest proposal on Thursday. In one sentence, here’s what you need to do on the transportation funding front: With no budget, California can’t sell voter-approved transportation bonds in the fall that are needed to fund many local transit and road projects in L.A. County.

Here’s the latest update from Metro CEO Art Leahy’s daily email to staff:

State Budget Update

Governor Brown today vetoed the Budget passed by the Legislature yesterday. The process from here is unclear, but a significant delay could jeopardize funding for transportation projects. Under the current budget proposal, Caltrans would have been authorized to use existing resources, along with a reduced fall bond sale, to keep projects funded through the end of the year. An extended budget delay may impact Caltrans’ ability to allocate funds to projects. In addition, without a state budget the state cannot engage in the now reduced fall bond sale. Adding to this uncertainty, State Treasurer Bill Lockyer commented that the budget passed by the Legislature is not financeable and would not have allowed the state to borrow to meet its obligations.


Meetings to update public on Regional Connector begin Tuesday, June 21

Posted by

Click above to see larger map.Community Update Meetings

Good news — the final environmental study for the Regional Connector project — to link the Blue, Gold and future Expo lines — is almost done. The project team has scheduled three meetings to talk about some of the issues they’re working on. Here’s the announcement:

Metro is currently completing the Final Environmental Impact Statement/Environmental Impact Report (Final EIS/EIR) for the Regional Connector Transit Corridor project.

Ahead of the Summer 2011 release of the Final EIS/EIR, Metro is hosting three community meetings to present the designated Locally Preferred Alternative (LPA) and project refinements accomplished since October 2010. Please mark your calendar and plan to join us at one of these upcoming meetings:

Tuesday, June 21, 2011; 11:30 a.m. – 1 p.m., 
Colburn School of Music, Olive Hall
, 200 S Grand Ave, Los Angeles.

Wednesday, June 29, 2011; 6:30 – 8 p.m.
, Japanese American National Museum
, 369 E First St, Los Angeles
. (This meeting will be broadcast through Ustream).

Thursday, June 30, 2011; 6:30 – 8 p.m.
, Los Angeles Times, Community Room
, 145 S Spring St, Los Angeles.

Meeting format and content will be identical.

For more information:

Email: regionalconnector@metro.net

The Web: metro.net/regionalconnector

Facebook: facebook.com/regionalconnector

Twitter: @metroconnector or twitter.com/metroconnector

UStream: http://www.ustream.tv/user/

Regional Connector 
Phone:  213.922.7277

Each meeting will have Japanese, Korean, and Spanish interpreters and materials available.

Transportation headlines, Friday, June 17

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 costs and savings of bicycle commuting (Forbes)

In this guest post, So Cal resident Duran Valdez crunches the numbers on his bike commute and finds that he has saved almost $1,000 this year. He didn’t even have to ditch his car to achieve those savings; they came solely from reducing how much he drove, and therefore the amount he paid in gas, repairs and vehicle depreciation.

To top it off, he’s lost 10 pounds this year from all the exercise. Valdez wonders towards the end of his post why more Americans don’t make biking part of their daily travel routine. My short answer: Most American city streets are designed to accommodate only cars traveling at high speeds, and bike infrastructure is often scarce, making bicycling an intimidating proposition for many individuals.

Senate introduces fix-it-first bill to save crumbling U.S. roads (Infrastructurist)

Transportation reformers have long complained that the Federal Government has been too eager to pay for new highways and roads, without setting aside funds to help local governments with their upkeep. The result is that our highways are in a rather sad state. The American Society of Civil Engineers — who admittedly have a stake in better funded repair work — gave American roads a D- in their latest report card.

But that could all change: Senator Ben Cardin (D-Md.) has introduced a “fix-it-first” bill, which would establish standards for road quality and hold state governments accountable to meeting them. It turns out to be a very cost effective approach, too. Delaying maintenance until a road is in really bad shape can lead to more expensive repairs than paying much smaller sums on upkeep, more frequently.

Transit agency weighs a digital upgrade for aging subway cars (New York Times)

The upside of having a century old subway system like New York’s is that it has had time to expand its reach over the years. The downside? Old school technology like hand-cranked display signs on some of the “vintage” subway cars. However, the New York MTA is determining the feasibility of making tech upgrades to some 1,700 cars. One such improvement would be automated recorded station announcements — like Metro Rail has — to replace announcements by train operators. Though some lament the loss of that human touch, one NYC transit advocate points out that he’s never heard a recording make a mistake.