In Wednesday’s transpo headlines, we had an item about a speech that Federal Transit Administration chief Peter Rogoff gave at a transit conference this week. Rogoff made some pointed remarks, challenging transit officials to think about whether it was best to improve maintenance of their systems before expanding them. He [continue reading]
We posted yesterday that the state was on the verge of approving $46 million in funding for positive train control, a computer-based system designed to keep trains providing. It’s a system that Metrolink has sought since the tragic crash in Chatsworth in Sept. 2008 that killed 25. More funding is [continue reading]
Well, that didn’t take long. The Board of Directors had a budget workshop today and went ahead and approved the budget for the 2011-12 fiscal year that begins July 1. It should be noted that just a few months ago it appeared that Metro would be facing the agency’s largest-ever [continue reading]
Just wanted to provide a quick heads-up for those very interested in public policy: Metro is a co-sponsor of the Public Infrastructure Finance Forum being held May 25 at the California Science Center. The event is free but it appears from the event website that there is already a waitlist.
There’s been some murmurings about town recently about building monorails-along-freeways as a mass transit fix for the region. As long-time transit observers know, the monorail idea has, in fact, been kicked around before. The above plan, floated in 1960, never got airborne because of community opposition, in particular, to an [continue reading]
If you’re interested in the Westside Subway Extension project, this letter from Rep. Henry Waxman is well worth reading. It’s short but addresses a CRITICAL topic — how the Federal Transit Administration evaluates the project to determine if it’s eligible for federal funding. In Waxman’s view, the entire Subway Extension [continue reading]
The California Transportation Commission is scheduled to vote this week on $91 million in state funding for the Colton Crossing project — a vote that also has implications for the anti-collision rail safety project known as positive train control (PTC). The Commission meets Wednesday and Thursday in Sacramento; here’s the [continue reading]
This falls into the category of not quite as dramatic as it sounds, but this summer Metro will modify its policy concerning bikes on Metro Rail during rush hour. At present, it’s up to the agency to decide whether trains are too crowded for cyclists to bring bikes aboard trains [continue reading]
I’m hoping a few more votes are cast this week on a poll we recently posted asking Source readers what kind of fare structure they prefer for Metro. Here’s the earlier post along with some more context. There are no proposals on the table, but The Source has an audience [continue reading]
Attentive Source readers will recall that the Board of Directors of Metro last month were set to consider a motion by Directors John Fasana and Gloria Molina to launch a new round of studies to consider how to improve traffic in the area around the gap of the 710 freeway [continue reading]
