We hope that General Aldo likes baseball.
Dodger Stadium Update: A Freeway World Series is still possible. I can’t speak for the rest of Metro’s digital team, but I think it might be very good sport to, uh, interact with the Anaheim Angels while promoting Metro’s Dodger Stadium Express, the free bus to the ballpark from Union Station and Harbor Gateway.
Anaheim is currently holding the second wildcard spot in the AL. That means Anaheim could get to the November Classic by beating the Yankees, then beating presumptive AL #1 seed Houston and then taking care of either the Red Sox or Indians or other possible AL divisional winners.
It’s not likely to happen but I’m sure stranger things have occurred in America’s 56th most populous city. As for the NL, there’s a greater chance of the apes taking over the planet during the eclipse Monday than the Dodgers not claiming the pennant. If the apes succeed, let’s hope they at least allow the humans — or what’s left of us — finish the baseball season.
Chargers Express reminder: Long Beach Transit is running a free shuttle bus between the Blue Line’s Del Amo Station and Harbor Gateway to StubHub Center for games this season. Carson hosts New Orleans in pre-season action Sunday night.
Dept. of Geography/Sports Marketing: At least Carson shares a border with the city of Los Angeles. Anaheim does not.
Diverging Diamond Interchanges, Complete Streets and the 710 (Investing in Place)
Scott Frazier doesn’t think much of the ‘diamond’ interchanges proposed as part of the 710 Corridor project that would widen the freeway between downtown Long Beach and the 60, among other changes. His beef: he says the speed upgrades to traffic don’t justify the diamond interchanges not being terribly pedestrian or bike friendly.
As is, the existing crossings of both the L.A. River and the adjacent 710 freeway are pretty — what’s the word — horrible in Long Beach for peds/cyclists. I realized that last week while trying to figure out how someone could take the Blue Line to Long Beach for CicLAvia and then get across the river and 710 to reach Wilmington and San Pedro. (FWIW, I ended up driving from Pas and parking in a Wilmington neighborhood).
The 710 South’s DEIR burped forth over the summer, btw. It hasn’t received much attention although it’s a pretty big project involving an oft-congested freeway that carries a lot of truck traffic from the ports, in addition to connecting the second-largest city in our county (Long Beach) to the rest of the Southland. Read all about the project here.
Transportation transformation (Globe and Mail)
The idea of one-price-for-all-your-transpo needs is being discussed in the Great White North, although there’s some reluctance. Cool idea, but we’ll see if any American city manages to implement it.
The 5,000 Pound commuter club (BBC)
Commuting by rail in the UK is pricey but the destinations are sure to thrill.
There are more than a few rail commuters in the UK who pay the equivalent of $6,400 to reach London every day. That’s a lot of dough but commuter rail passes in the U.S. aren’t super cheap either. A monthly pass (for example) on Metrolink between Lancaster and Union Station runs $322 a month or almost $3,800 a year. And you can spend more than that on some commutes in the Gotham/Metropolis metro area.
Portland introduces a fairer way to pay for transit fares (Streetsblog)
The gist of it: those who pay per ride never have to pay more than the cost of a day pass. How’s that possible? The fare card software tracks rides and knows how to do math.
The Portland is the first in the U.S. to implement “fare capping,” says Streetsblog. We don’t have it at Metro, but we do have two hours of free transfers with each ride and a $7 day pass. I like fare capping but I don’t think it’s as salient an issue here as it was a few years ago before riders were allowed to transfer for free (yes, such a time actually existed).
I think fare capping becomes more salient when someone figures out how to do it across several agencies so there could be a daily regional fare.
White House disbands another advisory council, this one on infrastructure (Wash Post)
I’m not sure this is a big deal as any infrastructure deal that comes forth from 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue (and none has) must go through Congress. Such a bill would have to survive an army of “advisors,” by which I mean elected officials and the lobbyists who lobby them.
Categories: Transportation Headlines
Wait, I thought Metro did have fare capping. I remember, before the free transfers were implemented, that after my fourth tap of the day (two lines, round trip), the machine would display “Day pass purchased.” IIRC, back then each ride was $1.50, and the day pass was $6, so it worked out.
Of course, now with the transfers, I get the same value for $3.50. Come to think of it, the $3 parking fee sounds justifiable that way.
About ‘fare-capping’ in Portland. AC Transit in Oakland has had it for several years now.
Fare capping is great. It’s been around in London for well over a decade. Trimet in Portland are not the first in the U.S. to use fare capping — AC Transit up in the Bay Area have daily fare capping using the Clipper card. Trimet are the first in the U.S. to have monthly fare capping.
However, capping does not apply to Trimet’s 7-day, 14-day and 30-day passes, but only to the daily and monthly passes; this is because fare capping can only be implemented using fixed intervals, not with rolling intervals. In London too, the 7-day pass (bought in advance) can be used for any consecutive 7-day period, but pay-as-you-go caps are applied to a fixed calendar week (Monday to Sunday).
Implementing fare capping in L.A. would be great, especially if done on a regional basis. In response to my comment, a certain Steve Hymon wrote 3 years ago: “it would help greatly to have all the muni agencies on TAP”. Well?
http://thesource.metro.net/2014/09/15/reminder-new-metro-fares-take-effect-on-monday-sept-15/
It’s nice that LBT provides a shuttle bus to the Chargers’ games, but who’s paying for it?
Not sure who is paying for it, but there is info on the StubHub website. FWIW, Dodger Express is paid for with a state air quality grant although the Dodgers certainly help promote it.
Steve Hymon
Editor, The Source
But remember, that $6,400 commuter pass to London includes free birth to grave medical care!