Bus riders: whatever your feelings are about Transit TV, you might want make sure to pay attention to the programming on those bus bound televisions this week. “Out The Window” is a project that brings local youth and artists together to create video art that will be displayed on all Metro bus routes throughout the city.
Forty short videos produced by 75 high school students and their artist teachers will be airing all week on Metro buses. The videos will appear for five minutes every half hour on Transit TV during the work week and for 45 minutes of each hour this weekend.
Transit TV is donating the air time for these videos to be aired. The project is a collaboration between Freewaves, Echo Park Film Center, Public Matters and UCLA REMAP.
If you’re not a regular bus rider but would still like to see the videos in their intended environment, Out The Window is holding two video watching bus rides. The first ride starts at 9:30am on Saturday, June 18 and it tours East L.A. with Public Matters and East L.A. Renaissance Academy students. The second ride meets at the Echo Park Film Center at 12pm on Sunday, June 19 and makes its way down to the Santa Monica Pier on the Metro Rapid 704. For more information please visit the Out The Window website.
While the bus is the intended screening room, the videos can also be viewed online at http://out-the-window.org/videos/.
Have you seen the videos on the bus yet? Do you enjoy this kind of presentation on Transit TV? Let us know in the comments.
Categories: Metro Lifestyle, Transportation News
@Steve (1st poster guy): The no radio policy should stay because the people shouldn’t be playing radios on the buses.
I have actually seen people playing radios on the buses in the past but most times the bus operators don’t enforce the rules and we have to keep hearing some things I don’t like.
I don’t like Transit TV either as well, but at least not all LA Metro buses have Transit TV. Sometimes they are buses have have the Transit TV monitors off or muted (on but muted) or even on but it’s not working.
When it’s off or muted or not working, it’s just better then hearing it, but I prefer to still ride buses that do NOT have Transit TV monitors still.
Any bus unit that doesn’t have Transit TV are usually my favorite bus unit and the best unit. I don’t like a bus that has Transit TV.
Now speaking of TVs, Riverside Transit Agency does use Direct TV Satellite TV monitors on the 2003/2004 Thomas Dennis SLF232 CNG #3000 series buses (they are short buses) only which operates on Commuter Link Routes (express routes) but all of other RTA’s bus fleet don’t use TV. No RTA doesn’t use Tranit TV, they use direct TV and the #3000 series buses had them since 2005 problary. Only slected Vehicles have them so not all #3000 series buses have them.
To be honest here, I don’t like Transit TV on the buses. I want my quiet rides to be respect but Metro seems to not care about it!
Transit TV is the worst thing to mass transit ever, I wish they go out of business and be outlawed.
Transit TV monitors don’t look good on bus interiors and on some buses, they are loud and make the my bus ride painful and really gets annoying.
I rather see the TVs off or muted, but I don’t like seeing these things on the bus still.
Things were so much better before most of the buses got Transit TV. I miss the old days.
I’m gald not all buses in the fleet have the Transit TV monitors which thank god. With these Transit TV around in most buses, it always makes me avoid to ride Metro a lot which I have been doing lately.
I hope one day Metro considers to end contract with Transit TV and have the monitors from any bus that has them.
The bus interior looks better without Transit TV monitors anyways.
Metro should find another source of revenue for their system. I rather pay more higher fares then seeing Transit TV.
I do know Chicago PACE (A Transit Agency Suburbs of Chicago, ILL), Milwaukee County Transit System (Milwaukee, WI),
Metropolitan Atlanta Rapid Transit Authority (Atlanta, GA), and Central Florida Regional Transit Authority- LYNX (Orlando, FL) also had used Transit TV until 2009 since Transit TV was bankruppted, but unfortanley came back in summer of 2009 since they were brought by Transit System company (I know its Tezo System too), but at least they didn’t came back to those other cities/Transit Agency yet at all and hopefully never again, Those listed other Transit Agency don’t even have them working at all and the monitors are off which is a good thing.
I’m gald all Municipal Transit Agency (Montebello, Norwalk, Long Beach, etc) in LA, Omnitrans, Riverside Transit Agency, AVTA, Santa Clarita Transit Agency, OCTA San Diego Metropolitan Transit System, and other Transit Ageny in California did NOT install Transit TV on their buses at all.
However, San Diego Metropolitan Transit System did install 2 Transit TV monitors on their 2 buses and 2 Trolley rails to try them out but at that time, Transit TV was shut down in early 2009 (I know they came back in summer of 2009) but thank god that Transit TV is not in the other cities but unfornatly, they are alive in Los Angeles. It also means Most San Diego MTS Bus and rail fleet don’t have them.
I really oppose Transit TV on the buses and I belive quiet rides should be respect for passengers like me.
I wish Metro would understand that not everyone likes Transit TV.
Transit TV is a terrible intrusion into my bus ride. You can block out the visuals but not the sound. I can’t read or sit in peace with Transit TV. It discourages me from taking the bus. Plenty of world class transit systems have video monitors in their train cars and buses. Only Metro forces its riders to listen. Why is there a “no radios” policy aboard buses when Metro blatantly violates its own rules?
Hi Steve;
You raise excellent points and I will forward them to the relevant people at Metro. Thank you for reading and commenting,
Steve Hymon
Editor, The Source