I hope the Metro Board of Directors are well-hydrated and have recently eaten. Their discussion of the long-range plan has begun — and it’s fair to say this will be a long-range conversation. Metro CEO Art Leahy just told the Board that he recommends that they adopt the plan. There [continue reading]
UPDATE, 3:45: The Board voted unanimously to accept Metro CEO Art Leahy’s recommendations on some changes to the contract. The focus of today’s Board meeting is the long-range plan. But the Board will also — once again, with feeling — revisit the issue of a contract with the rail car [continue reading]
A wrinkle in today’s Board meeting: Board member Jose Huizar is out of town, so Los Angeles Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa has appointed Los Angeles Councilman Tom LaBonge to be his temporary replacement, according to city officials. The mayor has three appointees on the board and the advantage of having all [continue reading]
With the Metro Board meeting now underway, I wanted to give people a heads up that eight state officials have also asked the Metro Board of Directors to expand their federal funding request for mass transit projects. Fourteen members of Congress did the same on Tuesday. The Metro Board last [continue reading]
The area’s bike community has long clamored for better parking facilities from the powers-that-be in city and county government. A recent post from L.A. StreetsBlog complained about the risks of parking bikes in Downtown L.A. — the problem being the bikes may be intentionally removed by property owners. Metro has [continue reading]
Today’s transportation headlines, compiled by Metro library chief Matthew Barrrett, feature a fair number of stories involving the politics of the Metro Board of Directors. That’s not too surprising, especially after the news on Tuesday when 14 members of Congress wrote that the Board should ask the federal government for [continue reading]
An audit of Metro’s TAP fare card program was submitted to the agency last month and it wasn’t pretty. The audit, in short, found that that the cost of the program increased from $75.5 million to $154 million over the last decade (some as a result of adding things like [continue reading]
We posted earlier today about the upcoming public meetings on potential locations for subway stations on the Westside Extension. I had the chance to sit in on a meeting of Metro staffers last week and here are a few interesting morsels about the stations: * Stops are being studied along [continue reading]
I’d like to join my partner in writing, Steve Hymon, in welcoming you to The Source, Metro’s new online news and features service meant to connect you – the taxpayer, the transit user, the livable streets advocate, the guy stuck in traffic on the 101 – to the agency. Metro [continue reading]
After the Measure R half-cent sales tax was approved last year by voters, Metro officials said they would aggressively move the county’s transportation agenda forward. The tax increase took effect in July and with revenues now trickling in, planning of several rail lines is chugging along. Three Measure R projects [continue reading]
