As I gazed at this morning’s transportation headlines, a question kept bouncing around my head: Which side is the front side of Union Station? The side that faces Alameda or the side with the transit plaza where all the buses go?
The story that brought this to mind was one in the L.A. Times about the Los Angeles’ City Council’s resolution that two potential stations for the bullet train be studied at Union Station. One would be stacked above the current Metrolink and Amtrak platforms, the other out along Vignes street.
It certainly seems as if the front of Union Station was intended to be on Alameda but in recent years it seems more activity is being shifted to the rear of the building. There’s already the busy bus plaza, Metro headquarters and entrances to the parking garages. If the bullet train ends up stopping back there, the back of the building may as well be the front.
The navigation device manufacturer TomTom crunched data gathered by GPS units to determine that the top five worst traffic cities are, in order: Seattle, Los Angeles, Chicago, San Francisco and New York. On average, 43% of the Emerald City’s roads show heavy delays. This does not surprise me at all: one of the worst traffic jams I’ve ever participated in came in the middle of a weekday on the 5 freeway between Olympia and Seattle.
I’ll be honest — because I don’t commute by bus the nuances of bus schedules and routes often escape me. But LAist has a good item explaining why Metro’s new 902 bus line should provide a quicker ride for passengers between the subway stop in North Hollywood and Pacoima.
The rest of today’s headlines, courtesy of the Metro library (where the front door remains the front door!) after after the jump:
Building Lasting Economic Recovery Through High Speed Rail
Calitics
Changes At Metro Beget The Silver Line, New Valley Service & More
LAist
Colton, Railroads To Negotiate Crossing Deal
Riverside Press-Enterprise
Congress Gets Project Lists For Jobs Bill: $15B For Transit, $48B For Roads
DC StreetsBlog
County Plans To Seismically Reinforce Planned Gold Line Bridge
Pasadena Star-News
DOT Authorizes Rail Transit Safety Advisory Committee
Transit Talent
Dubai’s Money Woes Won’t Stop Grand Avenue Project
LAist
East Hollywood Residents Steamed About Curb Removal
LAist
Eastside Extension Safety Concerns
Plus Metro
Grand Ave. Project Not In Jeopardy
Daily News
GPS Users Reveal Which US Cities Are Truly The Most Congested
Fox Business
Include Bus Rapid Transit on Rapid Transit Maps?
Human Transit
L.A. 2.0 Is In Beta: The Conference On Saturday Aims To Come Forward With A Plan For The City’s Physical Future
Los Angeles Times
L.A. City Council Wants Bullet Train Officials To Weigh Two Options For Union Station
Los Angeles Times
L.A. MTA’s Art Leahy (interview)
Transit Talent
Metro In Transition
LA StreetsBlog
Metrolink To Consider Cutting 50 Trains From Schedule
LAist
New 902 Bus Line Expected To Relieve Orange Line Congestion
LAist
A Pair Of Applications
Transit Wire
Public Transit Jobs Will Support And Create Hundreds Of Thousands Of Jobs
APTA
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