Late Night Metro, SoCal Airport Rail, Measure R+, Toll Lane Transponders, High-Speed Rail, BRU & More

Bid For New Vote On Bullet Train Goes Off The Rails
Los Angeles Daily News

The BRU Roars: Mr. President, Enforce, Restore, Expand Our Civil Rights
StreetsBlog LA

Bus Rapid Transit: Projects Improve Transit Service And Can Contribute To Economic Development (54p. PDF : Includes extensive information about Los Angeles. "The BRT projects we reviewed generally increased ridership and improved service over the previous transit service. Specifically, 13 of the 15 projects sponsors that provided ridership data reported increases in ridership after 1 year of service and reduced average travel times of 10 to 35 percent over previous bus services.")
Government Accountability Office

California Incline In Santa Monica To Close Next Fall For Reconstruction
Santa Monica Mirror

Device Unveiled To Allow Motorists To Use Freeway Toll Lanes
Los Angeles Times

"Do You Validate?": The Exasperation Of Parking ("Talk to employers and buildings about instead covering the (much lower) cost of your bus/train/light rail ticket or your vanpool and save them the trouble of paying for employee parking while simplifying your commute. Some Century City employers already have a parking cash out ordinance in place, which will allow you to benefit from turning down a monthly parking spot in return for cash or a bonus towards public transportation.")
Westwood-Century City Patch

Estimating The Effects Of Pavement Condition On Vehicle Operating Costs (92p. PDF)
National Cooperative Highway Research Program

Expedited Planning And Environmental Review Of Highway Projects (132p. PDF)
Strategic Highway Research Program

Explainer: What Happens Now With California's Bullet Train
Transportation Nation

Future Of California High-Speed Rail Looks Green
UC Berkeley News Center
High-Speed Rail With Emerging Automobiles And Aircraft Can Reduce Environmental Impacts In California's Future (12p. PDF)
Environmental Research Letters

GLCA Officials Challenge Measure R Extension ("The Gold Line Construction Authority say funding under a proposed amendment to redirect Measure R funds to the Gold Line Foothill project is not guaranteed.")
Glendora Patch

Grandiose Opening For DTLA's Grand Park; Built Without Any Taxpayer Money
Blog Downtown

Highway Builders To Party Leaders: The Future Is "More Than Just Roadways"
StreetsBlog DC

Last Call Will Sync With Last Train Under New Metro Timetable
Los Angeles Daily News

Measuring Communication? Five Tips To Help Start A Performance Measurement Program
Talking Transportation

Metro Announces ExpressLanes Customer Walk-In Center In Gardena
Los Angeles Sentinel

Metro Chair Wants All Kinds Of Rail Connection To SoCal Airports
Curbed LA

Metro Unveils FasTrak Devices For Freeway Toll Lanes
USC Annenberg Neon Tommy

Metro's Expanded Train Service To Encompass Last Call
Long Beach Press-Telegram

Omnitrans Gets $5.3 Million For San Bernardino Transit Center
San Bernardino Sun

Parking Meters On The Chopping Block In San Pedro
Los Angeles Times

Shore Patrol: Free Bus Program Is A Hit With Shore Employees
Long Beach Press-Telegram

State Decision Making In The Context Of Federal Transportation Funding ("An examination of STIP plans shows wide variation in planned use of federal transportation dollars across states, with limited ability to maneuver independently.")
The Transport Politic

Study: Access To Light Rail Can Reduce Obesity Risk -- If You Use It
StreetsBlog DC

Train To Plane: Metrorail Line To Run To Miami International Airport Starting Saturday ("Finally, after a 28 year wait...the new Orange Line from Dadeland South Station in Kendall to the new airport station at the giant Miami Intermodal Center just east of the airport.")
Miami Herald

[D.C.] Union Station Master Plan Executive Summary (28p. PDF)
Amtrak

Weather Extremes Leave Parts Of U.S. Grid Buckling
New York Times

Why We Should Pay People To Bike To Work
Boston Magazine

Will Duel Over Dollars Slow Growth Of LA's Downtown?
CityWatch


What are transportation community leaders around the nation tweeting about today? Check out the Metro Library Twitter Daily, our online digest in newspaper format updated every day.

We invite you to visit Metro's The Source, your window to what's happening with agency news, funding and policy issues, and how to get the most out of transit and Los Angeles.

Gold Line Foothill, ExpressLanes, Metrolink, Amtrak, Early Days Of LAX, LA's 1932 Olympics, BRU & More

July 26: This Date In Los Angeles Transportation History (The Metro Gold Line opens between Los Angeles and Pasadena)
Metro Transportation Library Primary Resources Blog

80 Years Ago This Week: Los Angeles Welcomes (And Transports) The World To The 1932 Summer Olympics (Historic images highlight the transportation challenge during the Games)
Metro Transportation Library Primary Resources Blog

Amtrak Plans For Upgrades In Bid To Push Faster System
New York Times

Bicycle Studies Pick Up Steam In Academia ("The world has changed -- Britain's queen has just congratulated Tour de France winner Bradley Wiggins, Los Angeles has wrapped up its third CicLAvia, New York City is launching its massive bike-share system this summer, and Portland is aiming at having 25 percent of trips by bicycle in 2030 -- and universities and think tanks have finally caught up with it...More than 100 academic studies related to cycling have been published this year alone.")
Pacific Standard

Bus Riders Union Calls On Obama To Restore Service Hours In L.A. ("In a protest outside Los Angeles City Hall, the group alleges that about a million hours in bus service cuts amount to civil rights violations by Metro.")
Los Angeles Times

Business, Labor Alliance To Support Separating Northern LAX Runways
Daily Breeze

From Mines Field To LAX: The Early History Of L.A. International Airport (includes numerous historic photos)
LA as Subject via KCET

Get In The ExpressLane ("Today Metro opened an ExpressLanes Customer Walk-in Center in Gardena where drivers can open FasTrak accounts and pick up transponders that will let them drive in (and be charged for driving in) the forthcoming toll lanes on the 10 and 110 Freeways.")
Curbed LA

Hundreds Gather For Civil Rights Protest At City Hall Led By Bus Riders Union
Blog Downtown

Long Wait For The Arrival Of Transit Upgrades ("The $4.7 billion approved by the California legislature for construction of the state's high-speed rail system included more than $900 million for Bay Area transit investments. But it will likely be years before the region's commuters and economy get much of a lift.")
Wall Street Journal

Los Angeles River Communities Engage Metrolink To Address Pollution Concerns
KCET

MAP-21 Puts The Squeeze On Bridge Repair And Bikes
StreetsBlog DC

New Metro Plan Could Put Gold Line To Claremont Back In Play
Curbed LA

Public Bikesharing In North America: Early Operator And User Understanding (156p. PDF)
Mineta Transportation Institute

Ride Along With Metro CEO Art Leahy (Interviewer Patt Morrison inquires about Measure R, Carmageddon II, late night rail service, Expo ridership, transit service to USC football games, ExpressLanes and more)
KPCC Southern California Public Radio

A Subway Train Ceiling Straight Out Of "Harry Potter" (A group of London designers have created a concept called "Canopy" which shows riders real-time reflections of what is passing by overhead above ground -- the skyline, trees, even weather conditions)
The Atlantic: Cities

Transportation Summit 2012: Project For Transportation Reform (September 9-10 : Long Beach)
Congress For New Urbanism

The Villaraigosa Interview II: The Subway Mayor Triumphant
StreetsBlog LA

Value Pricing And Traffic Reduction Incentives (29p. PDF)
New Jersey Institute Of Technology

Visualizing The New York Subway System's "Data Exhaust"
The Atlantic: Cities

When Livability Projects Meet Eisenhower-Era Design Standards
StreetsBlog DC


What are transportation community leaders around the nation tweeting about today? Check out the Metro Library Twitter Daily, our online digest in newspaper format updated every day.

We invite you to visit Metro's The Source, your window to what's happening with agency news, funding and policy issues, and how to get the most out of transit and Los Angeles.

Metro Late Night, Measure R+, Grand Park, Climate Change, 6th Street Bridge, HSR & More

July 25: This Date In Los Angeles Transportation History (A work stoppage leads to an unprecedented move -- office employees are placed in service as bus operators)
Metro Transportation Library Primary Resources Blog

405 Freeway Closure Begins Tuesday In The Sepulveda Pass
CBS Los Angeles

The ABCs Of Climate Change And Transportation 
Transportation Issues Daily
Pie Chart: Transportation and Greenhouse Gas Emissions
Transportation Issues Daily

Balancing Past And Present On The 6th Street Bridge
StreetsBlog LA

City Added To Union Pacific Anniversary Rolls ("And [Colton] is seeing a rebirth, of sorts, with its rail ties, in the form of the Colton Crossing, a $202 million project to separate the UP’s tracks from the north-south line of the BNSF Railway.")
Riverside Press-Enterprise

A City Faces Its "Berlin Wall": An Interstate Highway ("Like many road projects built in the middle of the last century, I-81 is bumping up against the end of its life span...If the viaduct is torn down, Syracuse would join San Francisco and Milwaukee, where the removal of urban highways over the past two decades has spurred development.")
NPR

Congressman Blumenauer And Supervisor Yaroslavsky Assess Recently Signed Federal Transportation Bill MAP-21
The Planning Report

DTLA's Grand Park To Open With Two-Day Celebration
Blog Downtown

Dynamic Ridesharing
Access: The Magazine Of University Of California Transportation Center

Here's The Late Night Weekend Metro Schedule, Starting Friday
Curbed LA

How High Speed Rail Can Bring Cities Back To Life
California High Speed Rail Blog

How State DOTs Got Congress To Grant Their Wish List
StreetsBlog DC

LaHood Touts $787 Million In Public Transit Grants
The Hill

Metro Releases Late-Night Train Service Schedules
KCET

New Park In Downtown Los Angeles Inspires Grand Hopes ("Officials envision the renovated space stretching from the Music Center to City Hall as a draw for both nearby residents and the region. Experts says it's an open question whether Grand Park will be widely embraced.")
Los Angeles Times

Rail Yard Reopens As City's Freight Trains Rumble Into Wider Use
New York Times

San Gabriel Valley Officials Vote To Support Measure R Extension
Whittier Daily News

SANDAG Leads Southern CA In Active Transportation Implementation
Safe Routes To School California

Southern California Is Getting Millions For New Buses And Public Transportation Facilities
KPCC Southern California Public Radio

Thinking Outside The Bus ("Why are increasing transit subsidies “buying” so few new riders? This simple question has a complicated answer. One important part of the answer has been the focus on investing in new high-capacity, trunk-line services in relatively few corridors, which often feature elaborate stops and stations intended to serve as magnets for development. Sleek new rail and rapid bus lines with attractive stops and stations are typically faster than local buses, and are thought to have a far better shot at luring drivers out of their cars.")
Access: The Magazine Of University Of California Transportation Center

Transportation Planner Creates Offline Bike Lane Map For iPhone
Chicagoist

The Villaraigosa Interview I: Building A New Transportation System (Mayor Villaraigosa discusses the Westside Subway, bike lanes, CicLAvia, CEQA, HOT lanes, congestion pricing and more. "Tomorrow, Streetsblog will post “The Subway Mayor Triumphant,” part two of the mayor’s interview, with topics including transit, transit expansion, Measure R and Measure R+.")
StreetsBlog LA


What are transportation community leaders around the nation tweeting about today? Check out the Metro Library Twitter Daily, our online digest in newspaper format updated every day.

We invite you to visit Metro's The Source, your window to what's happening with agency news, funding and policy issues, and how to get the most out of transit and Los Angeles.

Expo Line Santa Monica, Bike Nation, "Carmageddon II," Road Fees, CicLAvia & More

July 24: This Date In Los Angeles Transportation History(Los Angeles finally gets its first publicly-governed transportation agency in 1951)
Metro Transportation Library Primary Resources Blog

Best Practices In Bus Dispatch: Final Report (144p. PDF)
University Of South Florida National Center For Transit Research

Bike Nation Opens Shop In Anaheim
StreetsBlog LA

Congress Has Unfinished Business On The Transportation Front
The Hill

Culver City Anxious To Realize Big City Dreams
Curbed LA

Expo Line Meeting Discusses Upcoming Santa Monica Construction Details
Santa Monica Mirror

From Coast To Coast, America Is Becoming A High-Speed Rail Nation
U.S. DOT Fast Lane Blog

FY2012 State Of Good Repair, Bus Livability And Transit Asset Management Project Selections ("The Los Angeles County Metropolitan Transportation Authority (LACMTA) will replace buses in its fleet that have met or exceeded their useful life with Clean Natural Gas (CNG) vehicles...$10,000,000)"
Federal Transit Administration

The Great Cities vs. Suburbs Rivalry, And Why It Matters
Grist

Gridlock In L.A. Oh Wait. This Time They Mean It
Central Valley Business Times

Highway Projects: Some Federal And State Practices To Expedite Completion Show Promise (52p. PDF)
U.S. Government Accountability Office

L.A. County Supervisor Michael Antonovich Wants To Overturn Current Term Limits
Pasadena Star-News

LAX's Tom Bradley International Getting Sexier Curbside Look
Curbed LA

Long Beach Airport's Renovation Aims For Resort-Like Feel
Long Beach Press-Telegram

The Long Haul To A Road User Fee (Discussion of Oregon's pilot project. "Is there potential for action on a road user fee? What is to stop Congress from simply putting its head in the sand until the "cliff" is almost here? Is the technology there? Can the privacy concerns be overcome?")
National Journal Transportation Experts Blog

"MetroFocus: Transforming Transportation" Preview (Television program "explores the diverse ways New Yorkers get around the metropolitan area and the large-scale projects that will improve our overburdened transit systems.")
WNET New York Public Media

Metro's New Late Night Rail Hours Begin This Weekend
Blog Downtown

Pros And Cons Of Center vs. Curb-Running Bus Rapid Transit
Portland Transport
Center Bus Lanes vs. Curbside Bus Lanes
City Of Boston

Road Builders Want Transportation Plank In Party Platforms
The Hill

Smart Growth America: States May Pave Over Their Own Good Intentions
StreetsBlog DC

Spreading The Gospel Of CicLAvia In South L.A.
StreetsBlog LA

States, Cities Revive Mileage Taxes As Transportation Revenue Dwindles
CivSource

Study Confirms Fewer Young People Getting Driver's Licenses
Transportation Nation




What are transportation community leaders around the nation tweeting about today? Check out the Metro Library Twitter Daily, our online digest in newspaper format updated every day.

We invite you to visit Metro's The Source, your window to what's happening with agency news, funding and policy issues, and how to get the most out of transit and Los Angeles.

Culver City, Metrolink, "Carmageddon II," HSR Stations, Gold Line Foothill, MAP-21 & More

Ara Najarian Removed From Metrolink Board Of Directors, Files Appeal
PanArmenian Net

Carmageddon II: Full 405 Closure Coming In September
Arcadia Patch

"Carmageddon" Set For September Sequel
Orange County Business Journal

Coming Soon: Carmageddon II
StreetsBlog LA

Connecting The Dots: Innovation In Transportation And Beyond
Huffington Post

Culver City Evolves From Sleepy Community To Urban Center ("The return of light-rail service is speeding Culver City's evolution. But some big real estate developments in the pipeline are threatened by the loss of redevelopment funds.")
Los Angeles Times

Culver City Opens Its First Bike Corral!
Culver City Bicycle Coalition

Doran Street Crossing Headed For Upgrade
Glendale News-Press

Fresno-Bakersfield Station Plans ("As part of the EIR process, station area plans have been published by the CA High-Speed Rail Authority...These designs are very underwhelming. They are so retrograde, it is as if Parsons Brinckerhoff had thawed out 1960′s BART engineers from cryogenic hibernation. The bike/ped access is especially bad.")
Systemic Failure

Fuentes Bill Would Keep Sidewalk Repair Responsibility With Cities
Los Angeles Daily News

Glendale Councilman Appeals His Removal From Metrolink Board
Los Angeles Times

Hearings Scheduled To Discuss Torrance Transit Route Changes
Daily Breeze

HOT Lanes Are Coming To L.A. To Burn Up Congestion
Los Angeles Daily News

The Inherent Shallowness Of The Rail vs. Bus Debate
StreetsBlog Network

LA City Hall Rally To Launch National Campaign -- Mr. President: Enforce, Restore, Expand Our Civil Rights! ("Mass rally backed by region-wide coalition July 25...The Bus Riders Union is launching a national campaign calling on President Obama to stand for the civil rights of Black and Latino transit riders in Los Angeles by restoring one million hours of bus service in LA, restoring the public's right to sue for civil rights.")
Bus Riders Union

L.A. Mayor: Transit Projects, City Hall Park (video : "Los Angeles Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa answers viewer questions on Eyewitness Newsmakers.") 
KABC Los Angeles

Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa Awkwardly Defends Push For Westside Subway In New York Times
LA Weekly

Metro Gold Line Lauds Congressional Delegation For Provisions In Transportation Bill To Expedite Project Delivery, Reduce Costs, And Create Jobs
Metro Gold Line Foothill Extension Construction Authority

Motorists To Urban Planners: Stay In Your Lane ("Environmental concerns, growing traffic congestion and an urban design philosophy that favors foot traffic are driving many cities to try to reduce the number of cars on the road. In cities such as Seattle, Chicago, Toronto and Boston, some people go so far as to claim there is a "war on cars.")
NPR

[New York] MTA Unveils Digital Art At Bleecker Street Station
NY1

Officials Call New City Hall Park A "Bargain"
Blog Downtown

Opinion: Getting L.A. Growing Again ("Durazo, for instance, wants to see government agencies such as the MTA use their purchasing power to favor suppliers who make products here, reestablishing a manufacturing base that has been badly battered in recent years.")
Los Angeles Times

Opinion: Najarian Removed In Retaliation?
Glendale News-Press

Overview Of MAP-21 With Congressional Staff (Webinar : July 27 : "This webinar will provide an opportunity to hear from the key congressional committee staff from the U.S. Senate and House of Representatives who wrote the transit provisions of the recently enacted surface transportation authorization bill, Moving Ahead for Progress in the 21st Century (MAP-21). These experts, along with APTA's Government Affairs staff, will explain the details of the new law and answer questions you may have. We look forward to helping you better understand this important legislation.")
APTA

Recycling Cars Is Actually Kind Of Bad-Ass (includes video)
The Atlantic: Cities

Redevelopment Cleanup Bill Sparks Relief, Outrage Among Cities
California Planning & Development Report

Run For Your Lives! Carmageddon II In Two Months
Riverside Press-Enterprise

Santa Monica Pushes Timeline Forward For Its Own Bike Share Plans
StreetsBlog LA

Seeing The Train As A "Mobile Office" ("Transport modes should be evaluated on their "productive time," not just travel time.")  
The Atlantic: Cities

Sunset And Crenshaw Boulevards, Compared And Contrasted
KCET

A Technophile Wants My Brain, And Yours ("It is absurd, too, to continue claiming that the Los Angeles rail program is "elite." Go ride the Red Line to North Hollywood or the Blue Line through Watts and tell me if those services seem packed with "elites" to you. When I ride them, I see the same wonderful diversity that I see on the more useful bus services.")
Human Transit

Transportation Investments And America's Quality Of Life Gap
StreetsBlog DC


What are transportation community leaders around the nation tweeting about today? Check out the Metro Library Twitter Daily, our online digest in newspaper format updated every day.

We invite you to visit Metro's The Source, your window to what's happening with agency news, funding and policy issues, and how to get the most out of transit and Los Angeles.