I spent the past week in Northern California, where I got a steady diet of local news up there. And lo and behold, the news wasn’t good on the transit front after the Sacramento Regional Transit District’s board voted to eliminate 28 weekday bus routes and bus service after 9 [continue reading]
Just a reminder that the Metro Board of Directors have their regular monthly meeting on Thursday morning at Metro headquarters adjacent to Union Station at 9:30 a.m. Meetings are, of course, open to the public and in case you were wondering, the Metro Board room features free wi-fi. Here’s a [continue reading]
Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger last week threatened to veto a complicated budget proposal involving the gas tax. The veto threat jeopardized mass transit funding in the state. After negotations with the Legislature over proposals he sought, Schwarzenegger ended up signing the gas tax swap on Monday night. The gist of it: [continue reading]
After months of negotiations, it appears a dispute over a crossing on Phase 1 of the Expo Line light rail project is on the verge of being resolved. If so, a new station would be added at Farmdale Avenue and Exposition Boulevard, adjacent to Dorsey High School. A state administrative [continue reading]
A 58-page color booklet of the long-range plan adopted by the Metro Board of Directors last October is now online. You can download or view a copy by clicking here. There’s nothing new in the document — but it’s a much more visual display of the plan for both the [continue reading]
A little news out of the Metro Board of Director’s planning committee meeting on Wednesday: A funding transfer agreement with the Gold Line Foothill Extension Construction Authority was moved to the full Metro Board for their consideration at next Thursday’s meeting. I know. That sounds like a bunch of bureaucratic [continue reading]
This year’s California state budget saga took another turn on Tuesday, when Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger said he would veto the latest Democratic proposal. Part of that proposal was to preserve some state funding for mass transit. If that funding does not ultimately survive the budget process, it could cost Metro [continue reading]
County Supervisor and Metro Board member Mike Antonovich made the announcement today that he secured a $300,000 anti-air pollution grant to restore bus service between Union Station and Dodger Stadium for the 2010 season. The best part: the bus ride is free to anyone holding a game ticket. The full [continue reading]
Metro CEO Art Leahy has been on the job for almost a year and yesterday he announced to agency staff his most significant initiative: he wants to “streamline” the agency, which involves eliminating some open jobs and through voluntary and involuntary layoffs. This is how it has been explained to [continue reading]
When voters approved Measure R in 2008, they were voting for a plan that proposed to raise sales taxes in Los Angeles County by a half-cent for 30 years. In return, voters would get about $40 billion in transit, road and other transportation improvements. But not $40 billion of fixes [continue reading]
