Good news today for Metro: the agency has been awarded two grants from the Federal Transit Administration:
•$25 million for the purchase of new compressed natural gas (CNG) buses. Attentive readers will recall that Metro earlier this year retired its last diesel bus, with the vast majority of Metro buses now powered by CNG, which is far less polluting than diesel.
•$9.6 million was awarded under the FTA’s Livability Grant Initiative for a new station linking the Patsaouras Plaza at Union Station to the Silver Line and El Monte Busway. The lovely rendering above shows what that new station will look like — a big improvement over the existing stop.
Categories: Policy & Funding, Projects
The empty space was originally for more high-rise development or turn-key projects for public agencies. Several high-rise buildings were part of the entire Union Station vision as it would put many workers at the heart of public transit instead of far away from it.
I’ve never liked the proposed busway Pat Plaza access solution that now seems certain. It is a very LONG and TIME-CONSUMING walk that even for the youngest will mean missing a few transfers.
I commute fair amount Union Station to El Monte Busway, and the my biggest peeve is the TIME it takes to get from the Metrolink platforms to the bus stop at Alemeda when we are all in a hurry in the morning and afternoon rush. This proposed new platform seems nearly just a LONG a walk as the current mess.
Infrastructure should have been built to bring El Monte Busway buses directly INTO the now UNDER utilized Pat Plaza. This would make transfers much faster and attractive. I thought that was what the Pat Plaza bus island was supposed to be used for. But, I’ll take what I can get.
It Guy in Irvine: Not if it means airport-like food prices! 😛
I haven’t ridden on the El Monte Busway since I was a Cal State LA student in the early ’90s, but that station rendering looks niiice. Though it looks like an awful lot of walking to transfer from the busway to the transit plaza. If I were an older person, I would probably miss two buses by the time I would have reached the plaza from the busway station. Architects need to better see things from a transit rider’s POV.
An airport or mall style food court is desperately needed at LA Union Station.
Nope, no more parking. Metro employees should be taking public transit to work anyway, not driving there.
The land space would be put to better use for as a larger extension of Union Sta. We need more shops, restaurants, and places to relax.
My wish is for LA Union Station to become more like Shinjuku Station in Tokyo, full of activity like department stores, bakeries, restaurants, you name it.
This new station is very nice and definitely elevates the status of the El Monte “busway”(mostly just an HOV-3 lane), and will certainly help a lot with transfers. But to really fix this transit corridor, it really needs to go back to a dedicated bus only lane like it originally was.
The Dude, I can’t tell if you’re being serious or not. But, okay: Build parking, but then put something ON TOP of the parking.
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“However, it does rather call attention to the blank space behind the plaza. Something ought to go there — shops or the high-speed train tracks or something.”
More parking for Metro employees. I am sure there is a knock out panel there for a parking ramp.
[…] Metro Wins Grants to Improve El Monte Busway, Bus Fleet (The Source) […]
Moving walkways included? 🙂 OK, don’t want to be greedy, just walking along the walkway is going to be cool enough, though the rider experience when first transitioning off Silver Line to Red/Purple was an adventure in self-navigation-absent-signage (especially as it was late at night). Gorgeous illustration btw.
I sure hope that the run through tracks project and whatever the heck HSR is thinking of is being considered by this project. Anything is better standing out on Alameda waiting for a Silver Line or any other bus. Once this happens, some the local bus lines from El Monte need to short turn at LAUS. Silver Line does need to continue trough downtown and head south. I just wonder how many people transfer now from buses to other modes at LAUS and what they are thinking it will increase to after this project.
That’s a cool-looking illustration for the new bus stop, especially the ramp/ pedestrian bridge from the platform area to the rest of Union Station.
However, it does rather call attention to the blank space behind the plaza. Something ought to go there — shops or the high-speed train tracks or something.