Ground Passenger Transportation

Ride-Sharing Apps Get Green Light From California

The state of California today gave the formal green light to ride-share apps that compete with taxi services. This after a key commissioner recommended the move. See also: Ride-Sharing Apps Fight Back. Does that mean companies like Uber, Lyft and Sidecar are in the clear in cities like Los Angeles ... More >>

Eric Garcetti Muzzles Taxi Czar Who Criticized Uber

When it comes to Uber, Tom Drischler does not mince words. The smartphone app that allows users to hail towncars moved into L.A. last year, disrupting the traditional model of taxi service.Drischler, the city's taxi administrator, believed Uber and its competitors Lyft and Sidecar were brazenly viol ... More >>

Cabbies Push Back Against Uber and Lyft

Stuck in a tightly regulated profession, taxi drivers are chafing at rideshare apps' success

Taxi Fights and Fame Whores: Readers Respond

Ride-Sharing Apps Fight Back

Cab companies are using their muscle at City Hall, but Uber, Lyft and Sidecar have the momentum

Car Service Uber Delivers Ice Cream This Friday

If you spend any time around teenagers, you may be familiar with Uber, the car service that you can order from your smartphone. With only a tap of your phone, you -- or your teenager -- can order a swank car and private driver, at a cost that's not as bad as you'd think, with the whole transaction a ... More >>

Ride App Services Could Become Legit As L.A. Moves to Regulate

See also: Drivers for Ride Apps Face Arrest in L.A. Even as the L.A. Department of Transportation warned the big three ride-app companies that their drivers face arrest if they keep operating locally, the City Council's Transportation Committee began looking at ways to make the services legal. The ... More >>

Drivers for Ride Apps Face Arrest in L.A.

See also: Ride App Services Told to Shut Down in L.A. It looks like two of three hipster ride apps that have been told to leave town will defy the L.A. Department of Transportation's order and possibly have their drivers face arrest. Both Lyft and Uber told the Weekly they will keep running in Los ... More >>

Keep Lyft, Uber, Sidecar Apps in L.A., Change.org Petition Says

See also: Ride App Services Told to Shut Down in L.A. The city of Los Angeles has ordered the hipster ride app companies Lyft, Uber and Sidecar to stop operating locally because they don't have specific permission from City Hall. The companies -- we talked to two of them -- claim they don't need p ... More >>

Ride App Services Told to Shut Down in L.A.

See also: *Keep Lyft, Uber, Sidecar Apps in L.A., Change.org Petition Says. *Drivers For Ride Apps Face Arrest in L.A. How can ride-app outfits like Lyft, Uber and Sidecar operate in a town with strict rules about how and where taxis can do business? It's a question we've been asking here at L.A. ... More >>

Lyft's Ridesharing Program Takes Off in Los Angeles. What Does It Mean for the Taxi Industry?

For anyone who has ever fretted about what driving long distances without passengers during rush hour is doing to the environment and to your wallet, there's Lyft. Launched in San Francisco in 2012, the mobile-app based ride-sharing program allows members to find drivers in their areas who will sh ... More >>

Bus Falls Onto 110 Freeway From Downtown Los Angeles Bridge; No One Hurt

A driver jumped out of an out-of-control bus with no brakes just before it careened through a bridge's guardrail and landed on the 110 freeway downtown! Crazy story. Unfortunately for us, it didn't end up going down quite like that. Here's what the LAPD told the Weekly really happened about 10:08 ... More >>

AIDS Walk Makes Big Deal of Big Blue Bus Ad Ban, Wrongly Cries 'Discrimination'

Organizers of AIDS Walk Los Angeles took aim today at the Santa Monica Big Blue Bus system, saying the organization is banning its ads as part of a "discriminatory policy." Craig Miller, founder of AIDS Walk and a Santa Monica resident, said in a statement: All these years later, to be dealing wit ... More >>

As LAPD Spends Big Money to Crack Down on State-Regulated Limos, Drivers Like Andy Chung Get Screwed

Jitney

Fake L.A. Subway Map: What Los Angeles Would Look Like With a Comprehensive Rail System

Numan Parada, an L.A.-area mapmaker, created a "fantasy public transit map" for Los Angeles in 2007 -- and it appears the map has gone viral again this spring. Were not surprised. No matter your position on Metro's budget priorities, it's hard not to drool at the prospect of instant rail transport ... More >>

Los Angeles Bus Cuts: MTA Axes 305,000 More Hours of Service, Stranding Low-Income Workers in L.A. Outskirts

Beverly PressThe 757, from Hollywood through Koreatown, will no longer run on weekends.​About every six months, we receive a deja-vous press release from the Bus Riders Union, furious at the Metropolitan Transit Authority for a new wave of massive cuts to the decrepit L.A. bus system. The cut ... More >>

How Lobbyist John Ek Gets His Way at City Hall

Small Victory for L.A. Bus Riders: Metropolitan Transit Authority to Be Probed by Feds

One pothole closer to a better bus system​The Bus Riders Union hasn't been able to file a civil-rights lawsuit against the Los Angeles MTA since 2001 -- when the Supreme Court decided private orgs shouldn't be able to sue public agencies using the Civil Rights Act of 1964. The group actually ... More >>

L.A. Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa Blames City's Crap Street Conditions on Ailing Bus System

When in doubt, blame it on the bus​We knew City Hall and the Metropolitan Transit System favored rail over wheel when it came to public transportation, but Los Angeles Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa's unabashed bus diss on KNX news radio this morning almost made us choke on our flamin' hot Cheetos ... More >>

MTA Staff Wants to Cut 10 More L.A. Bus Lines by June, Shrink 16 Others

So much fuglier than a subway​The cuts just keep coming for the lurchy, unglamorous Los Angeles bus system. In fact, if Metropolitan Transit Authority officials keep goin' like they're goin', we're unlikely to have any bus system at all a few years out. Then again, maybe that's the point. Of ... More >>

RIGHT NOW: Go Protest Racist, Politically Motivated Cuts To Crucial L.A. Bus Lines At The MTA Headquarters

If nothing else, do it for Parks!​As the Weekly reported yesterday in a long-winded rant, the Metropolitan Transit Authority is slowly eliminating the only form of public transportation that people in Los Angeles are dependent upon for their livelihood: the bus system. Your support is crucial ... More >>

10,000 Turkeys -- Including Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa -- Up For Grabs In South Los Angeles

Clemson UniversityHave a heart: Give a featherless orphan a nice home this Thanksgiving​If you hightail it down to the the 3600 block of West Slauson Avenue right now, you might be able to nab one of the 10,000 turkeys that Jackson Limousine Service has secured for its annual Thanks-giveaway, ... More >>

Developers Get A Pass Under Proposal That Would Ban City Hall Contractors From Giving Cash To Los Angeles Candidates

​It looks like you'll soon be able to vote on a law that will make life hard for city contractors who give money to city politicians in L.A. Only thing is, the law would give a huge exemption to the biggest pay-for-play contributors in town: Developers. That's according to our reading of Davi ... More >>

Los Angeles Politicians Who Never Use Buses Wipe Out Eight Metro Bus Lines: "On Backs Of Poor" Say Furious Riders

By Leilani Albano Bus Riders UnionHigh-paid politicians didn't hear them​Just when Los Angeles bus riders thought Metro couldn't be any worse, the MTA board -- politicians who've been outed for rarely taking a bus -- declared they'll wipe out five Rapid bus lines, three local lines and slash ... More >>

Today In WTF: Beverly Hills Taxi Driver Angry Over Fare Dispute With Honeymooners Allegedly Crashes Cab Into House

Beverly Hills Cab Company​A taxi driver in an argument over a fare crashed his cab into a home in the Cahuenga Pass Wednesday night, authorities said. A honeymooning couple from Italy took the taxi -- it appeared in news footage to be a Beverly Hills Cab Company car -- from Beverly Hills to ... More >>

L.A. Light Rail? Or Keep Your Car?

Villaraigosa's rush aside, the sales-tax increase won't pay off for decades

Holiday Weekend Cliffs Notes: How to Hail a Cab From a Bar Stool

After a long weekend with a beefed-up police presence that resulted in large number of alcohol-related arrests in Los Angeles and Orange County, it's clear that driving drunk (or even buzzed for that matter) is a bad idea. When you consider the price tag of a first offense DUI--most offenders pay be ... More >>

Cabbies in City Hall Protest

Today about 150 taxi drivers drove their cabs around City Hall, honking as they did. The source of the cabbies' ire is what they view as the awarding of a sweetheart contract to a consulting firm with indirect ties to Yellow Cab. The $250,000 deal went to Nelson-Nygaard Consulting Associates without ... More >>

Brother -- Can You Help an Old Jew?

Mass Transit in L.A.