Have a transportation-related article you think should be included in headlines? Drop me an email! And don’t forget, Metro is on Twitter, Facebook and Instagram.
ART OF TRANSIT:
Getting a firm grasp on L.A.’s bicycling data (L.A. Times)
There are now more than 200 miles of bike lanes in the city of Los Angeles with hundreds of miles more planned. But “Transportation officials have no comprehensive way to analyze if and how the added lanes have increased cycling, either citywide or in areas where improvements have been made,” according to Laura Nelson’s article in the Times.
It’s also an issue for motorists and neighborhoods who have complained that the bikes lanes are lightly used and are making traffic worse. That said, there are statistics available from other cities that have added bike lanes — Santa Monica and San Francisco, for example, that shows that bike usage has increased.
CicLAvia open thread: it was a great day for South L.A. (Streetsblog L.A.)
Nice round-up of Sunday’s event by Streetsblog’s Sahra Sulaiman. Even though the event may not have generated some of the giant crowds associated with recent CicLAvias, she saw a lot of positives:
The local community turnout was quite good for a first time through the area and, for many of the advocates I spoke with yesterday, that felt like a tremendous victory.
So did finally pulling up to Leimert Park a little after 2 p.m. and seeing how packed it still was with both community members and people from every corner of the city. Leimert Park is festival central for South L.A. — it is constantly playing host to cultural celebrations, performances, and art events. But to see so many people who were new to the area be so surprised and thrilled to discover that open secret was truly exciting to me.
As many of your know, there will be an underground Crenshaw/LAX Line station at Crenshaw/Vernon that will serve Leimert Park along with another stop in the area at Crenshaw and Martin Luther King, Jr. Boulevard.
Opinion: four ways the 405 project has not made your life better (L.A. Times)
Westsider Carla Hall opines about the I-405 Sepulveda Pass Improvements Project, saying that traffic may be worse, there’s still work going on (on smaller items to be finished) and the Skirball onramp, which her friends say is too steep. The fourth complaint involves new work that has sprouted on Wilshire on the peak-hour bus lanes. On the other hand, the new Wilshire ramps get some love for being safer.
Semi-related: Metro’s new Valley Westside Express service begins next week — the bus will use the HOV lanes on the 405, including the new HOV lane on the northbound side that was part of the project — to travel between the Valley and Westwood. More details — including maps and timetables — about the new service and other bus changes in the San Fernando Valley can be found here.
New carpool connector opens between 605 and 405 (OC Register)
The project sits outside L.A. County but may serve those headed and returning from the south with a direct carpool lane connection now between the busy 405 and 605. Direct carpool lane connections are still somewhat of a rarity in the Southland (you’ll find them at the 105-110 and the 5-14), but it’s still nice when a new one comes online.
NJ Transit to train crews: next stop is charm school (NJ.com)
Employees who deal with the public the most will get a refresher on listening, non-verbal and verbal communication, “effective” listening and such. The training has been done in the past and the latest round was prompted, in part, by complaints made by rail passengers on social media. So there you go, people: someone is listening 🙂
Categories: Transportation Headlines
“Valley to west side express” ?? The valley is geographically as large as the rest of LA. Metro needs finer resolution of individual valley neighborhoods.
Are we going to stop funneling tax dollars into freeway widenings and instead build a high speed rail system?
Did Mayor Garcetti learn anything about Asian transit systems from his recent trip to Asia?
When will Metro compete the Wilshire bus lanes?