Transportation

Metro Subway's Virtual Free Rides End As Turnstyles To Lock Up

If you believe the New York Times, the arrival of "latched" gates at our subway stations this summer is a "milestone," a sign that L.A. is entering municipal adulthood and becoming more like our vastly superior East Coast counterparts. Or, it's just something to make most of us shrug:

Will the Casden Development Be L.A.'s Bermuda Triangle of Traffic?

Billionaire Alan Casden plans "transit concierge" for his project at 405 and Pico

Railway to Heaven

Measure J Transit Tax Hike: Bus Riders Oppose it, Saying Metro Funneled 2008 Measure R to Fancy Rail, Starving Working-Class Bus Lines

By Hillel Aron The Bus Riders Union put on one of their famous street-theater gigs the other day at Vermont Ave. and Wilshire Blvd. to protest Measure J, a proposed sales tax extension on the Los Angeles ballot that would tax all L.A. County consumers until the year 2069. The performance featured ... More >>

Measure J Transit Tax -- Too Soon?

'Temporary' hike would last to 2068, after most current voters are dead

D.C. Declares Laughable 'Transit Revolution' in Los Angeles While Metro Hacks Bus System

'Tis the season for local and national politicians to co-opt the media into singing their praises. November 6 is right around the corner -- and one positive article by a respected journalist is the (free!) equivalent of 100,000 campaign mailers. But because L.A. Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa, the pres ... More >>

Streetcar for Downtown L.A.? Council Creates Special Voting District So Residents Can Decide

What a romantic day for downtown: Dreams of a streetcar loop from Broadway to 11th to Figeroa to Hill (see map below) have a chance of becoming reality, now that the L.A. City Council has created a special voting district in the area it would service. Residents will be given the option to pay a sma ... More >>

Millage Peaks, Son of Former LAFD Chief, Pleads Guilty in TSA Pot Smuggling Scheme at LAX

Millage Peaks, the son of former L.A. Fire Department chief of the same name, today pleaded guilty to a charge that he paid a TSA agent to smuggle marijuana through security checkpoints at LAX. Peaks "initiated the bribery scheme" that has brought guilty pleas to federal charges from five defendant ... More >>

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 >>

Crenshaw/LAX Light Rail Misses Airport by a Mile

Metro line is monument to stupidity

$100 Billion Bullet Train

Democrats fray as cost skyrockets, feds bail, and Amtrak starts to look good

Civil Rights Groups Indict Metro for Discriminatory Practices

thestrategycenter.orgMaybe metro just wants poor people to walk more and stay healthy...​Only 10 percent of Los Angeles County Metro's ridership is white, according to a report authored by L.A. civil rights, labor, environmental, and public health organizations. To complete the very simple ari ... More >>

Blade Runner Stadium

Farmers Field or Blade Runner Stadium?

The downtown NFL arena deal allows a sea of billboards, congestion and millions in public costs

Beverly Hills Versus the Westside Subway

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 >>

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 >>

California's $43 Billion Bullet Train Will Go To ... Bakersfield?

A bullet train, German-style.​The Weekly's Jill Stewart noted this week that California's planned high-speed rail line's "route to nowhere" now has a route to ... somewhere -- but not here, or San Francisco, or San Diego, or pretty much anywhere a vast majority of California's population resid ... 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 >>

MTA To Cut Nine L.A. Bus Lines By Dec. 12

Metro board chair Don Knabe says: Buses < Subways < My Car​Updated after the jump: The Bus Riders Union says the latest bus cuts are straight-up racist. Originally posted at 11:19 a.m. As Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa pumps all time and city resources into three more stops (12 more minutes) onto ... 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 >>

Should Musicians Be Allowed to Carry Their Instruments on Planes?

Dave Carroll sings "United Breaks Guitars"​Every day, somebody's got to fly somewhere and entertain the people of the world. When it comes to getting instruments on an airplane, musicians get nervous and sweaty, expecting the worst. "It sucks for the most part," says L.A. rapper Busdriver. Ge ... More >>

Mexicana Airlines Cancels Nearly One-Third Of LAX Flights As It Files For Bankruptcy

​Mexicana airlines has canceled nearly one-third of its flights out of LAX as it filed for bankruptcy amid labor troubles this week. The Daily Breeze reported that four of its 15 daily flights out of LAX, including two to Guadalajara, one to Mexico City and one to Puerto Vallarta have been ni ... More >>

L.A. Metro Bus, Rail Fares To Go Up In July

​One-way rides for Metro bus and light-rail riders will go up in price July 1 from $1.25 to $1.50, according to a scheduled fare increase that has been on the books for nearly two years. A daily pass will increase to $6 from $5, and monthly passes will bump up from $62 to $75. A Metro spokesm ... More >>

MTA Looks At $1.50 Fares, Laying Off One Of Every Five Non-Contract Workers

MTA​The Metropolitan Transportation Authority is pondering deep cuts, including laying off 20 percent of its non-contact workforce, as it faces a $250 million budget deficit, according to La Opinion. Higher fares and fewer bus routes are also on the table. The paper reports that the heads of ... More >>

Are Scheduled Flight Times In And Out Of LAX Getting Longer? (Yes)

​The Wall Street Journal on Thursday takes a look at ever-expanding flight times on airlines' schedules and notes that one Delta Air Lines trip from New York to L.A. that used to be advertised at six hours is now slated for seven. What's happening, are airline schedules consuming too many carb ... More >>

Supervisor Calls For Audit Of MTA After $30 Million Settlement

MTA​County Supervisor Mark Ridley-Thomas has proposed that his fellow board members help authorize an auditor-controller's office look into the Metropolitan Transportation Authority's "cost management process" after it recently settled a lawsuit for $30 million. Ridley-Thomas notes that the a ... More >>

Light Rail Coming To The 'Wood And Beyond

Los Angeles County Metropolitan Transportation Authority on Thursday approved a light-rail line that would run down the "Crenshaw corridor" from Exposition Boulevard to LAX. The line, which could open in 2018, would run through parts of Inglewood, Hawthorne and El Segundo as a much-needed north-sou ... More >>

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

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

Running Joke: I Don’t Have a Car in L.A.

LA People 2009: No More Mr. Nice Guy — Damien Goodmon

Two Trains Running -- Or Maybe Not

MTA Headquarters: Have the deciders decided?Photo: Dave Parker/WikipediaDamien Goodmon, South L.A.'s indefatigable public transportation activist, is sounding an alarm about the possible shelving of rail projects in his heavily African American community. Goodmon's group, the Citizens' Campaign to F ... More >>

Rider on the Storm: The Best and Worst of L.A. Buses, Subways and Light Rail

Scenic journeys to hell, on wheels

Proposition R: The Most Expensive

Suburbanites hold the cards in approving a countywide sales-tax increase for mass transit

War Over MTA's "Eternity" Tax

The "temporary" sales tax would last 30 years. It's already set Eastside against Westside

Do You Trust MTA With $40 billion?

Vast sums spent on West Coast mass transit haven't paid off. Now they want a tax

Did Subway Cheaters Put Egg On L.A.'s Face?

MTA is dismantling the honor system, jacking up construction costs and lying about why

MTA's Plan to Gate L.A.

Miraculously, our subways use an honor system. The pencil pushers just hate that

Take This Car and Shove It

An Orwellian “100 percent parking reduction” rule quietly wends through City Hall

What's Smart About Smart Growth?

City Hall's plan for the future expects you to give up the yard, the car - and learn to love density

Go, Henry, Go

Light at the end of the Red Line tunnel

Letters

The Subway Mayor

How a bus-only politician — and a car-obsessed city — are learning to love the underground

Highs and Lows of L.A. Rail

Red Line to Somewhere

Henry Waxman is onboard — sort of

Killing Time on the Ghetto Blue

The nation's busiest- and deadliest - light rail line

Mass Transit in L.A.

Let Them Pick Up Garbage

A plan for avoiding transit strikes in Los Angeles