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 Headlines blog, which you can also access via email subscription or RSS feed.

TAP coming to the Big Blue Bus (Santa Monica Lookout) 

Very good news obviously as the BBB is a major carrier with buses running between major attractions — i.e. downtown Santa Monica, UCLA, Century City and downtown L.A., to name a few. The city of Santa Monica is also working on getting new bus shelters and a real-time bus arrival app.

Fix for flawed light rail junction is outlined (L.A. Times) 

A consultant has offered several proposed solutions to permanently fixing an issue with the track at the junction of the Blue Line and Expo Line that was causing excess wear on train wheels. The most practical solution is reducing the width in the rails by a half-inch in one part of the junction.

New York MTA votes to raise cost of single rides, monthly passes (New York Times) 

The Board voted to increase the cost of a single ride (transfer included) from $2.25 to $2.50 and the cost of a monthly pass from $104 to $112 — in 2010, the monthly pass was raised from $89 to $104. By comparison, a single ride on the Los Angeles Metro is $1.50 (transfer not included) and a monthly pass is $75. As this Bloomberg article notes, Hurricane Sandy in October delivered the worst damage to the New York subway in its 108-year history and the New York MTA may borrow up to $4.8 billion for repairs and infrastructure upgrades.

California gas and diesel demand down in August (California Board of Equalization)

The dip was slight — 1.1 percent for gasoline and 2.1 percent for diesel. As for the overall trend with gasoline, here’s an interesting graph showing the ‘trend’ is all over the place:

USC would gain control of taxpayer-owned parking lots at Exposition Park (L.A. Times) 

The deal is part of a lease package between USC and the state, which owns the L.A. Memorial Coliseum, the home to Trojans football. The school may also share some profits from the parking. Of course, if you don’t want to get stuck in horrible, horrible game-day traffic, there’s always the Expo Line and parking near many Metro Rail stations is free or cheap.