$4.145 billion annual budget for Metro approved by Board

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In the sixth hour of their monthly meeting on Thursday, the Metro Board just approved a $4.145 billion budget for the next fiscal year, which begins July 1.

It’s the largest budget in the agency’s history, mostly due to money being spent on the construction and planning of Measure R transit and road projects approved as part of the half-penny sales tax increase in 2008.

Here is the press release from Metro:

The budget will keep Metro fares at current levels, however, the Metro Board today approved lowering the cost of the Metro day pass from $6 down to $5 for a one year test starting Aug. 1 to help attract commuters and others squeezed by rising gas prices.

In FY 12 Metro will trim some unproductive bus lines that were either underutilized or that duplicate service operated by Metro, the municipal bus operators or by the expanding Metro Rail system. Trains are being tested for the first phase of the Expo light rail line that will run from downtown Los Angeles to Culver City past USC. An opening date has not yet been announced but it should be soon.

Metro CEO Art Leahy stressed that Metro is not skimping on maintenance or on street supervision and is focused on improving on time performance, equipment reliability and cleanliness. He also said he is positioning the agency to strategically add service where it’s needed and to give commuters and others more incentives to beat the high price of gas. Service is being added to the Silver Line express bus service from the South Bay into downtown Los Angeles, the Metro Gold Line and the Metro Red Line subway. In addition, Metro will be adding service on selected bus lines to ease overcrowding.

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Board votes to add Leimert Park Village station to Crenshaw/LAX Line — if the funds can be found

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The Metro Board of Directors voted Thursday to add an underground station in the heart of Leimert Park Village as part of the Crenshaw/LAX light rail line — but on one big condition. The station would only be built if funds, estimated at about $131 million, can be secured.

The money could potentially come from a variety of sources, the most likely being lowered construction costs. In essence, the Board agreed that the project must stay within a budget of $1.715 billion with or without a Leimert Park Village station at Vernon Avenue and Crenshaw Boulevard.

The 9 to 3 vote for an amendment by Board Member Richard Katz ended a five-hour debate on an issue prompted originally by a motion by County Supervisor Mark Ridley-Thomas — a member of the Metro Board — that sought the new station. 

Ironically, Ridley-Thomas ended up voting against the motion, saying he wanted stronger language to ensure the station gets built. “We know what we need to do to move forward to ensure we have a credible project at the end of the day,” an obviously disappointed Ridley-Thomas told the audience after the votes. Board Members Mike Antonovich and John Fasana also voted against the motion.

In particular, the Board asked that the station be included when construction firms bid to build the project. The hope is that the winning bid can find a way to get the station done within the project’s budget — or, at the very least, an underground box where a station can be added at a later date.

If neither is possible, the motion recommends that a street level station be built at 48th Street — two blocks south of Vernon — and that non-Metro funding be found to build it.

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Metro Board approves 7.7 miles of peak hour bus lanes for Wilshire Boulevard

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Click above to see a larger map.

The Metro Board of Directors approved a 7.7-mile route for the Wilshire peak hour bus lane project. The approval came as part of voting to adopt the final environmental impact report for the project and followed the Metro staff recommendation for the project.

The vote was 10 to 0 11 to 0 with two absences and one abstention from Board Member Jose Huizar.

The route would include 5.4 miles of peak hour lanes on Wilshire immediately east of Beverly Hills — between San Vicente Boulevard and Park View Street, which is just west of downtown L.A. The other 2.3 miles would be in several segments between Centinela and the western border of Los Angeles and Beverly Hills.

The map above shows the route and various improvements to be made along Wilshire, which is the heaviest traveled bus corridor in Los Angeles County with about 80,000 boardings on the average weekday.

A segment of about one-mile between Comstock and Selby avenues in Westwood was not included in the project. The area was originally planned to have peak hour lanes. But the Metro Board decided to exempt it because of community concerns that the loss of a traffic lane in that area would severely impact traffic.

Construction could begin later this year. The bus lanes are scheduled to open in 2013 at an estimated cost of $31.5 million, which also includes rebuilt curb lanes to accommodate heavier buses and improved traffic signal priority.

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Crenshaw/LAX Line update, 1 p.m. edition

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As of 1 p.m., here’s where we are:

•The Board voted 10 to 3 to build the light rail line at street level between 48th and 59th streets in Park Mesa Heights. The motion by Supervisor Mark Ridley-Thomas requested it be built underground. The votes to build underground were from Board Members Ridley-Thomas, Mike Antonovich and Gloria Molina.

•An amendment to the other part of Ridley-Thomas’ motion — seeking to add a station at Vernon Avenue and Crenshaw Boulevard in Leimert Park Village — is currently being circulated to the Board of Directors. Once properly digested, a vote will be held on whether to add that station.

In the meantime, the Board is working through other items on today’s agenda.

Board votes to lower cost of day pass to $5

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The Metro Board of Directors voted unanimously today to lower the cost of the day pass to $5 from $6 for a one-year test period beginning this summer.

Here’s the staff report on the issue. One nice development: TAP cards preloaded with a day pass will be available on Metro buses for $6. The cost of a new TAP card is normally $2.

The idea behind the change is to provide relief to Metro customers because of high gas prices and the continuing tough economy. Here is the press release from Metro:

The Metro Board voted today to lower the price of the Metro Day Pass from $6 to $5 beginning Aug. 1 and to make the Day Pass available on TAP cards sold on buses at the same time. The new program is part of a 1-year test to determine whether the price roll back and convenience changes will encourage more commuters to try the Metro system.

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Metro Board meeting update — Crenshaw/LAX Line still being discussed

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More than an hour of public testimony was taken over Board Member Mark Ridley-Thomas’ motion to add a Leimert Park Village station and underground segment through the Park Mesa Heights neighborhood to the Crenshaw/LAX Line.

The Board of Directors are now discussing the item. They also approved a motion by Board Member John Fasana to take two separate votes — one on adding the station and another on whether the line should be built underground through Park Mesa Heights.

Transportation headlines, Thursday, May 26

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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 Fast Forward moves closer to becoming reality (L.A. Streetsblog)

Led by Sen. Barbara Boxer (D-Calif.), a bipartisan group of Senators on the Environment and Public Works Committee has laid out some key tenants for the federal transportation bill that the committee is presently drafting. Of particular interest to Metro, the plan calls for a ten-fold expansion of the TIFIA loan program to $1 billion per year. The program would be renamed — wait for it — America Fast Forward and would help metro areas with local transportation taxes to leverage those funds. This is precisely what Metro hopes to do with its 30/10 Initiative. It needs to be said, however, that it is still relatively early in the legislative process and a lot could change. But it’s encouraging news nonetheless.

Facing up to end of ‘easy oil’ (Wall Street Journal)

As easy-to-access oil dries up, oil producing countries and oil companies are going to increasingly extreme lengths to extract oil. In Saudi Arabia, Chevron has won a contract to extract the country’s reserves of thick-as-molasses heavy oil using steam to make the oil less viscous. Chevron says that as long as the price of a barrel of oil stays above $60-70 — today it’s around $100 — they can make a profit, even with the more costly process. Interesting to note: The article makes no mention of the effects of burning oil on global climate change.

California’s high-speed rail won’t go nowhere (Miller-McCune)

While critics have derided the California High-Speed Rail Authority’s choice to begin construction in the Central Valley, writer Michael Scott Moore makes the case that it’s the perfect location to start. That stretch of track is comparatively “uncomplicated” compared to building HSR through urban communities and would bring construction jobs to counties that dearly need them. To support his argument, Moore looks to Germany’s experience in the early day of its HSR program and draws some interesting parallels. For instance, who knew that first tracks there were laid between Hamm and Gütersloh, combined population of 300,000 people?

U.S. rejects proposed changes to bullet-train project (Los Angeles Times)

On a related note, U.S. Department of Transportation officials have rebuffed a proposal suggested by California’s Legislative Analyst’s Office to delay the start of construction and change the location of the first segment. According to Undersecretary Ray Kienitz, the $3 billion in federal funding for the project requires a 2012 groundbreaking and U.S. DOT lacks the administrative power to change that, only Congress could.