Today's Headlines - more at Metro

3/08/2013

Downtown Streetcar, Port Railyard, Gold Line Foothill, Expo II, CAHSR, 91 Express Lanes, SoCal Commuting, 2024 Olympics & More

March 8: This Date In Los Angeles Transportation History (Bids are open for a new Arroyo Seco Bridge on the Colorado Freeway in Pasadena in 1951.  Check out some rarely seen renderings for proposals to replace the original 1913 structure)
Metro Transportation Library Primary Resources Blog

$333 Million In New Funding Awarded To Upgrade Transportation And Expand State's Economy ("Notable local projects that received funding allocations are: $28.3 million for Phase II of the Exposition Light Rail, Culver City to Santa Monica.")
Caltrans Press Release

Bay Area Tops New "Mega-Commuter" Census List Defining The Worst Trips To Work
Mass Transit

California Bullet Train Faces New Challenges
Sacramento Bee

CicLAvia To The Sea On Sunday, April 21 ("Los Angeles celebrates 15 miles of car-free streets from Downtown to Venice Beach.")
PR Newswire

Congress Comes To The Bike Summit
StreetsBlog DC

Congressional Republicans Still Trying To Kill California HSR
California High Speed Rail Blog

Construction Authority Approves Locally Preferred Alternative For Gold Line Foothill Extension From Azusa To Montclair And Certifies Final Environmental Impact Report (PDF)
Metro Gold Line Foothill Construction Authority

Council OKs Streetcar Operating Plan
Los Angeles Downtown News

Downtown Party Trolley, Yes...Leimert Park Expo Stop, No
City Watch

Fewer Commuters Head To O.C.: More Are Driving To San Bernardino County For Jobs, According To Survey
San Diego Union Tribune

Freeway Expansion Still On Track ("Plans for the expansion of the 101/23 freeway interchange in Thousand Oaks, a regional transportation project meant to relieve traffic congestion, have entered the fast lane.")
Thousand Oaks Acorn

Ghost Riders On Orange County 91 Express Lanes ("Express Lanes spokespeeps give big numbers that dwarf The Wrongly Ticketed: 12 million trips a year, 350K citations, just 900 errors. Why the errors? The computer can’t always accurately read the tags. Humans do not always catch the error before the ticket goes out.")
Riverside Press-Enterprise

GlobeSherpa Raises $1.3 Million To Sell Transit Tickets On Smartphones ("A Portland startup that sells transit tickets over smartphones, has raised $1.3 million in additional investment to help finance a national rollout...TriMet is now testing the technology.")
Oregonian

Gold Line Authorities Approve Azusa-Montclair Extension
Pasadena Star-News

Harbor Board Unanimously Approves SCIG Freight Rail Yard Project; Community Groups Outraged
StreetsBlog LA

In Violation Of MAP-21 Promises, House Votes To Cut Transportation Spending
StreetsBlog DC

L.A. Harbor Commissioners OK Rail Yard Near Port
Los Angeles Times

LaBonge: Looser Parking Restrictions Would Make Car Share More Attractive
StreetsBlog LA

Long-Distance Commuting Hits A Wall
StreetsBlog DC

Los Angeles Enters Running To Host 2024 Summer Olympics
NBC Southern California

Los Angeles Throws Its Hat In The Ring For 2024 Olympics
Los Angeles Daily News

New Video Details Agreements To Build And Buy Passenger Rail Cars In U.S.: FRA Administrator Szabo Interviewed At NGEC Annual Meeting
AASHTO News

Peninsula Agency Approves "Blended Approach" Plan For High-Speed Rail
Silicon Valley Mercury News

Port Of Los Angeles OKs EIR To Move Railyard Project Ahead
Long Beach Press-Telegram

Private Contractor Struggles To Deliver Public Bus Service, Records Show ("Cash-strapped cities embracing private contractors as saviors of their public transportation systems may find a cautionary tale in Fairfield. The suburban city halfway between Sacramento and San Francisco was the headquarters of MV Transportation, a rising star in public transit outsourcing. But the company failed to deliver the bus service it promised its hometown, emails, documents and interviews show.")
California Watch
What's Driving Privatization Of Public Transit?
Bay Citizen

A Tax On Bikes? Hit The Road, Some Cyclists Say
Los Angeles Times

Villaraigosa: Los Angeles Wants To Host The 2024 Olympics
Los Angeles Times

Villaraigosa Says Improving Economy May Cut L.A.'s Budget Gap ("Two days after L.A. voters defeated a sales tax hike that some had called vital to ending the budget crisis, the mayor says city's projected $216-million deficit could be cut by more than half.")
Los Angeles Times

Why New York City's Open Data Law Is Worth Caring About
The Atlantic: Cities


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

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

3/07/2013

Downtown Streetcar, LB Buses, Bike Lanes, LA Streets, Subway Signage, SCIG & More

123 Miles Of Bike Lanes Installed Since The Adoption Of The 2010 Bike Plan
LADOT Bike Blog

AAA Still Up To Its Old Tricks Fighting Progressive Transport Policy
StreetsBlog DC
AAA Warns Of "Dangerous" Free Market In Parking Spaces
Slate

Amtrak President Asks For More Federal Funds
Philadelphia Inquirer

Bike Summit: With A Seat At The Table, Cyclists Need To Master The Etiquette
StreetsBlog DC

Celebrate 50 Years Of Bus Travel In Long Beach ("Long Beach Transit will hold a free customer appreciation event to celebrate their 50th anniversary.")
Everything Long Beach

City Council Commits To 30 Years Of Funding DTLA Streetcar
Blog Downtown

Code Enforcement Goes High Tech
The Atlantic: Cities

Council OKs Up To $352 Million For Downtown Streetcar
Los Angeles Times

Critics Warn Of Increased Pollution If Rail Yard Built Near Port Of LA
CBS Los Angeles

Critiquing The "Urban Mobility Report" ("The Urban Mobility Report is biased in various ways that exaggerate congestion costs and roadway expansion benefits. It ignores basic research principles: it provides no literature review, it fails to explain key assumptions, it inadequately cites sources, and incorporates no external peer review. It ignores recent research concerning factors that affect traffic congestion. Yet, few practitioners, decision-makers or journalists who use UMR results seem aware of these problems.")
Planetizen

The Downtown Streetcar Loop Is Officially A Go ("The Downtown streetcar is getting its finances all lined up: the City Council approved an operational plan today that commits up to $352 million of Measure R transportation tax money over 30 years to cover the operation and maintenance of the system.")
Curbed LA

Federal Transit Administration, Federal Emergency Management Agency Sign Agreement Outlining Roles For Addressing Public Transit Needs Following Hurricane Sandy, Future Major Disaster
U.S. DOT Press Release

Fifth Time A Charm At 2013 National Bike Summit
U.S. DOT Fast Lane Blog

LA Doing Better Than Average On Carpooling, Public Transit
Curbed LA
Census Bureau Reports 471,000 Workers Commute Into Los Angeles County, Calif., Each Day
PR Newswire

L.A., California Streets Crumbling, Will Need Billions To Fix, Report Says
LA Weekly
California Statewide Local Streets And Roads Needs Assessment (96p. PDF)
Save California Streets

LaHood: The Next Secretary Won't Stand On The Table At Bike Confab
Transportation Nation

Long Beach: One (Giant) Step Closer To Connecting The Broadway Corridor
StreetsBlog LA

New State Law Easing The Way For Miles Of New LA Bike Lanes
Curbed LA

News Summary: CEQA Reform, Bit By Bit
California Planning & Development Report

Photos: New Gates At The Tom Bradley International Terminal ("Officials unveil three aircraft gates at the new Bradley Terminal at LAX. The gates are the first of 18 to be built at the site, some of which can handle larger aircraft such as the Airbus A-380.")
Los Angeles Times

Planned Merger Of Two Ventura County Agencies All But Dead (Ventura County Transportation Commission and Ventura Council Of Governments)
Ventura County Star

Port Of Los Angeles To Vote On Whether To Approve The SCIG Rail Yard Project
Natural Resources Defense Council Switchboard Blog

Proposal Boosts Valley-LA Rail Link ("The recent draft of the 2013 California State Rail Plan includes a Coachella Valley Route that would connect Los Angeles to Indio, expanding passenger rail service for the Palm Springs region.The proposal calls for eight stops, with three -- Palm Springs, Rancho Mirage and Indio -- in the Coachella Valley.")
Desert Sun

Sequestration Means Less $$$ To Harden Northeast Transit Against Future Storms
Transportation Nation

The Reverse-Joads Of California ("Low- and middle-income residents are fleeing the state. Sacramento's liberal policies may bear much of the blame.")
Wall Street Journal

Top Eight Reasons People Give Up On Public Transit
Forbes
Passengers' Perception Of And Behavioral Adaptation To Unreliability In Public Transportation (embedded document)
University Of California Berkeley

U.S. Railroads To Invest $24.5 Billion In 2013
Journal Of Commerce

Uncovering The First, Fascinating Rulebook For Subway Sign Design ("The existence of the book is well-known; its contents legendary. But apart from a few off-kilter snapshots posted to Flickr in 2006, images of the document itself were scarce. So when Niko Skourtis, Jesse Reed and Hamish Smyth found the 1970 manual in a locker beneath a pile of dirty clothes in the Pentagram basement, they did the world a favor and posted its pages, PDF by PDF, on a new website.")
The Atlantic: Cities

U.S. Transportation Secretary LaHood Allocates $390 Million To Reimburse Transit Agencies In New York, New Jersey And Pennsylvania Recovering From Hurricane Sandy
U.S. DOT Press Release


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

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

3/06/2013

Mobility 21, UCLA Complete Streets, OCTA, Mega-Commuting Maps, LA Votes, Santa Monica Development, Free Transit & More

3 Ways Mobile Will Change The Way We Travel By 2015
CNN

AAR: "It's Simply Impossible" For Roads To Safely, Fully Install PTC By The Mandated Deadline (Positive train control)
Progressive Railroading

Anaheim Transit Center Project Center Humming With Construction Activity
Orange County Breeze

Angelenos Who Didn't Cast A Vote Still Hope For Changes In Transportation, Education
USC Annenberg Neon Tommy

Average Commute Times (Must-see map using data from the U.S. census : Zoom in on Southern California and roll over zip codes here)
WNYC

Average Commutes For L.A. County Residents 29.4 Minutes In 2011
Los Angeles Daily News

California Is Least Improved In Highway Conditions
Transportation Nation

Caltrans Awards $1.2 Mil. To City For Eastern Entry
Santa Clarita Valley News

Census: LA County Has Highest Number Of Cross-Country Commuters
CBS Los Angeles

Consultant Refuses To Remove "NIMBY" Comment (" A transportation and planning consultant who brought on the ire of residents by calling them NIMBYs in an online biography backed off of his two-year-old comments last week, saying that they accurately described a moment in Santa Monica’s history regarding development that is now past.")
Santa Monica Daily Press

D.C. Area's First Bus-Only Lanes Under Construction In Northern Virginia
Washington Post

Expo Culver Stop Gets Paved
Curbed LA

Glendora Council Approves AvalonBay Mixed-Use Development ("Glendora took a big step toward anticipating the city's future needs on Tuesday when the city council approved a mixed-use development near the future site of the Metro Gold Line.")
San Gabriel Valley Tribune

Goosing The Gas Tax
Natural Resources Defense Council Switchboard Blog

How Free Transit Works In The United States ("Since going fare-free back in 2002, Chapel Hill Transit has seen ridership increase from around 3 million passengers a year to just about 7 million. The system is now the second-largest in North Carolina and helped Chapel Hill win a City Livability Award back in 2009.")
The Atlantic: Cities

Long Isolated Behind A Freeway, Santa Monica's Civic Center Rejoins Its City
New York Times

Mega-Commuting In The U.S.: Time And Distance In Defining Long Commutes Using The 2006-2010 American Community Survey (PDF : Extensive infographics)
U.S. Census

Metro Officials Looking At I-5 Toll-Road Carpool Lane Partnership
KHTS

Northrop Plant Closure Ends Aviation Era In Dominguez Hills ("In 1910, it was the site of the nation's first air show, what the LAT called "one of the greatest public events in the history of the West." Over 10 days, more than 226,000 people turned out (many had never seen an airplane before), and while no one could have realized it at the time, it signaled the beginning of L.A.'s aerospace industry. By the way, Southern Pacific steam trains were a popular way of getting to the air meet. Aviation Field was about 13 miles from what had been the center of Los Angeles. Trains left Fifth and Central six times a day (35 cents round trip). Folks also came by Pacific Electric trolley, automobile, and horse.")
LA Observed

Pomona Approves Posting Proposed Appointments To Regional Board
Inland Valley Daily Bulletin

Rancho Man Is New OCTA CEO
Orange County Register

RFP For Santa Monica: What Promise For Bike Lanes?
Better Bike

Social Media Solution Sought For Pacific Surfliner Ridership
KCOY

Southern California's Mobility 21 Urgest Congress To Invest In America's Trade Gateway
Business Wire

UCLA Advancing The Complete Streets Dialogue
StreetsBlog LA

Video: L.A. Traffic Lights Finally Synced For Better Flow
Gas2

Where Americans Go To Work (map depicts percentages of workers commuting in and out of each U.S. county, to/from where)
Washington Post


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

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

3/05/2013

Westside Subway, Gold Line Foothill, CAHSR, CEQA, OCTA, ONT, Amtrak & More

AASHTO Questions Proposed Continuing Resolution's Transportation Funding Levels
AASHTO News

After An Initial Misstep, Darrell Johnson Begins As OCTA Chief
Orange County Breeze

Americans' Commutes Aren't Getting Longer
USA Today

Amtrak Loses A Ton Of Money Each Year. It Doesn't Have To
Washington Post

KCET

Beverly Hills' Juicy NIMBY Battle Goes To The Polls Today ("There's an election in Los Angeles County today, which puts the political spotlight on America's juiciest NIMBY controversy: the path of a new $6.3 billion subway line beneath Beverly Hills High School.")
The Atlantic: Cities

California High-Speed Rail Authority Appoints Fong As CFO ("Fong most recently was acting CFO and acting deputy executive officer of operations for the California Public Employees' Retirement System (CalPERS).")
Progressive Railroading

CEQA: Reforming California's Landmark Environmental Law
Public CEO

Coldwater Canyon To Be Closed For Water Line Repairs  ("A critical commuter connection between the San Fernando Valley and West Los Angeles, will be closed for more than a month as workers replace a 99-year-old water pipe.")
NBC Southern California

Curbed LA

Editorial: Put The Brakes On High-Speed Rail Plan
Riverside Press-Enterprise

Fixing Amtrak ("Long-haul routes are Amtrak's biggest financial burden, and it should scrap them. Fixing the problem, unfortunately, won't be that easy.")
The Economist

Foothill Extension Update: Pasadena To Azusa Connection Right On Schedule For 2015
San Marino Tribune

High-Speed Rail Project Targets "Disadvantaged" Workers In Central Valley
Sacramento Bee

How NASA Scientists Are Turning LA Into One Big Climate Change Lab
CityWatch

StreetsBlog DC

Inspiring Words From Congresswoman, Veteran, Amputee, And Bike Rider Tammy Duckworth
Bike Portland

L.A.'s Mayor: Lawless And Clueless On Mass Transit
CityWatch

L.A. Metro Extends CEO Leahy's Contract
Metro Magazine

L.A. Metro Launches Bike Safety Campaign
Metro Magazine

LaHood Announces Safety Summits To Help Shape New Bikeway Standards
StreetsBlog DC

The London Tube's Cultural Moment ("As the 150th anniversary of the sprawling, antique and often criticized London Underground rolls on, Penguin is publishing a set of 12 new books, each one explicitly connected to a different line of the system.")
The Atlantic: Cities

Los Angeles Harbor Commission To Vote On Embattled BNSF Railyard Project
Daily Breeze

Metro Launches Campaign To Increase Bicycle Traffic Safety
Los Angeles Sentinel

New OCTA CEO Assumes Post
Metro Magazine


Telecommuting Increasing Nationwide And Is Driving Higher Production, Study Says
Los Angeles Daily News

The Value Of Visuals ("Last November the citizens of El Paso successfully passed a neighborhood-focussed Quality-of-Life bond with an amazing 70% voter approval because it was linked to a visually compelling Vision Plan led by Dover, Kohl & Partners. Meanwhile, San Diego’s brilliant City of Villages policy plan sits in stasis for lack of any visual maps, graphics or illustrations to build long-term political will.")
Place Makers

Time Travel: Road Racing On Wilshire Boulevard ("From 1909 until 1919, a big winter road race was held in Santa Monica that attracted top drivers and thousands of spectators. The starting and finish line was on Ocean Avenue at Montana — today a pretty upscale stretch of coast on the top of the bluffs.")
LA Observed

Visualizing A Walkable City ("To further improve walkability, Pontevedra's city council produced a map that visualizes the distances and travel times between key places on foot at an average speed of five kilometers per hour. Known as Metrominuto, the map has color-coded lines that resemble those of a subway guide. ")
Polis
A Subway Map For Pedestrians
The Atlantic: Cities

Whittier Bike Plan Looks To Make Streets Safer For Cyclists
Whittier Daily News


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

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

3/04/2013

405 Lanes, Gold Line Foothill, Metro Gates, Metrolink, OCTA, Anaheim Streetcar, Fig/7th, Quiet Cars, Freeway Murals & More

March 4: This Date In Los Angeles Transportation History (Metro announces extension of the HOV lanes for the El Monte Busway. And this week, we mark the 75th anniversary of one of Los Angeles' greatest natural disasters -- the loss of 115 lives and heavy damage to the city's transportation infrastructure led to the channelization of the Los Angeles River)
Metro Transportation Library Primary Resources Blog

3 Charts That Explain Why You Spend So Much On Transportation
The Atlantic: Cities
Transportation Affordability: Evaluation And Improvement Strategies (36p. PDF)
Victoria Transport Policy Institute

405 Freeway Construction: All Lanes Back Open
KABC Los Angeles

405 Freeway Fully Open After Sepulveda Pass Paving Finishes Early
Los Angeles Times

Are Free Fares Realistic? It Depends On The Alternatives
Human Transit

Bringing Back A Piece Of L.A.'s Olympics Glory ("Most of the 10 murals created along freeways to celebrate the 1984 Summer Games were painted over for protection. A restoration project is underway.")
Los Angeles Times

Californians May Pay Nation's Highest Gas Taxes ("The state Board of Equalization voted Thursday to increase the excise tax from 36 cents to 39.5 cents per gallon on non-diesel fuel beginning with the new fiscal year July 1, partly to offset tax losses because Californians are using less gas.")
Chicago Sun-Times

Closed Lanes On 405 Reopen Sooner Than Planned
NBC Southern California

Departing OCTA Chief Drove Rocky Road (Interview with departing CEO Will Kempton)
Orange County Register

Disney Expansion Plans Are Reason For Streetcar Proposal ("During questioning by Orange County Transportation Authority directors Thursday morning, Anaheim City Councilwoman Kris Murray acknowledged what insiders have been saying for months about the city's planned streetcar project: A major reason for the transit line is to allow expansion of the Disneyland Resort.")
Voice Of OC

The Evolution Of A Corner: Downtown L.A. At Figueroa & Seventh (Numerous archival images dating back to 1920 illustrate the long history of the major intersection in Los Angeles' financial district)
LA as Subject via KCET

Examing Six High Line Park Copycats Around The Globe
Curbed National

Fading Glory Of America's Railways ("The country will decide on whether to build up its rail infrastructure into the envy of the world -- as it is well capable of doing -- or let it painfully get degraded until it ultimately becomes an entirely unviable mode of transportation.")
The Hindu (India)

First Phase Of Gold Line Project On Track To Completion ("A $48.7 million design build was awarded in the Gold Line construction from Pasadena to the Azusa/Glendora border.")
Glendora Patch

For Walkable Cities, It's Not About The Density, It's About Finding The Right Kind Of Density
Natural Resources Defense Council Switchboard Blog

Here's Downtown's Wilshire Grand Slowly Coming Apart
Curbed LA

Is Helping Strangers To A Subway Ride A Good Way To Protest Rising Transit Fares?
The Atlantic: Cities

LACMTA CEO Gets Two-Year Contract Extension; GM Of Santa Clara VTA To Retire
RT&S

Los Angeles Harbor Commission To Vote On Embattled BNSF Railyard Project
Daily Breeze

Los Angeles' Major Public Spaces Remain Broken Works In Progress ("For the next mayor, advice [from architecture critic Christopher Hawthorne] on how to fix the worst examples of L.A.'s faulty civic vision: LAX, the L.A. River, Pershing Square, the subway to the sea and Grand Avenue.")
Los Angeles Times

Metrolink Construction To Affect Train Schedules For Next 3 Sundays
Los Angeles Daily News

Metrolink Representative Wins ATPA Call Center Challenge Finals ("Annually, APTA conducts an exhaustive search for the best call center representative in public transportation from across the United States and Canada. More than 50 agents took part in the competition this year.")
Metrolink

New Bike Lanes On Vermont: One Small Step Forward Where Three Or Four Big Steps Are Needed
StreetsBlog LA

A New Tack On Development Reform
Los Angeles Downtown News

Passenger Trains Will Be Diverted Over Tehachapi Loop
Tehachapi News

Political Piñata Amtrak Is The Fastest Growing Transportation Mode
StreetsBlog DC

RIP: Buffered Bike Lane In Front Of LAPD Headquarters
StreetsBlog LA

SaMo Looking For Big Names For Mixed-Use Development
Curbed LA

Shhh! "Quiet Cars" Turn Commuters Into Librarians ("Passenger-on-passenger policing is just what can happen as the quiet-car concept continues to expand to more railroad lines. Best-known on Amtrak, the shhh-cars are an option on local train lines in places including New York, Pennsylvania, Virginia, Illinois and California. While some of the quiet cars have clear signs with the rules, others roll up with none..")
Wall Street Journal

Shuster Shows His Thoughtful Side, Boxer Heaps Praise At AASHTO Conference
StreetsBlog DC

State To Spend $9M On Amtrak PR
San Diego Union-Tribune

Thousand Oaks Transportation Center Parking Expansion Appears On Track
Ventura County Star

Transit Bus Applications Of Lithium Ion Batteries: Progress And Prospects (42p. PDF)
Federal Transit Administration

Transportation Funding Crisis -- And A New Tax?
Clean Technica

Washington State Lawmaker: Cyclists Cause Pollution By Exhaling
StreetsBlog Network

What Is The Senate's 2013-14 Agenda For Transit Issues?
Transportation Issues Daily

When Metro Locks Subway Gates, Riders Actually Pay To Ride
Curbed LA

Will They Or Won't They? The Romance Between Obama & High-Speed Rail
Next American City


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

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