on midnites ridazz dis is taken care of by specail humor releese valve

now dis also happrens on streetsbrog

iz new feeture!

FALLOPIA SAYS THIS

"If you can't see through your spokes at how . . ."

LULZ, my spokez r opaque, how i can has see through them?

The worst thing that you can do is create a sky-is-falling atttitude amongst our cyclists community and have people start believing in a BRU type tunnel vision approach, one that sues the MTA for building more trains that have higher capacity, faster travel times, the ability to be grade seperated and most importantly has proven that this mode and more than any other mode can spark economic development and urban renewal like no other in lieu of buying more (keep the poor poor)busses, how shortsighted and what a detriment the BRU has been to the very demographic it claims to be serving.
No, trains and bikes are not enemies nor are busses and bikes. If we refuse to be kicked off the train during rush then let's organize ourselves and become an emailing MTA machine. Let's pop up at every meeting the MTA decides to have. What about the numerous scoping meetings that the MTA has held in neighborhoods all over LA county for over a year? Were we there repeating that bikes are part of the solution? So it really comes down to not 'what the MTA is doing to us' but rather 'what are we doing in advocating our cause to the MTA thereby shaping our own destiny and future in LA county' and taking full responsibilty for that outcome?

The point in bringing up that bike/ped is not funded at all in the planned budget for the Gas tax was to show that Metro is making enemies where they don't need to be making them. Between the stories of cyclists being run off the road by buses, the LACBC reps not even getting called upon at board meetings where they turn in comment cards, and now a possible rush hour ban on bikes on trains during rush hour, it seems to me that Metro is taking a group that should be overwhelmingly supportive of their efforts and begging them to not support them. The comments in this section show exactly what I'm talking about.

We can agree or disagree whether or not building an HOV lane counts as highway expansion. Personally, as long as your adding capacity, I'll call it highway expansion. Especially in CA where we continue to insist that two people in a car constitute a "car pool" even if one of the people in the car is not old enough to drive. Sorry, but that's highway capacity expansion without a doubt.

If anyone has read the last LRTP put out by Metro the biggest expenditures going towards roads and highways ARE NOT the building of new freeways or widening city streets. Rather the bulk of that money is to finish up the car pool lane system in the county and a huge chunk that is going towards the long overdue (like since the 60's) 710 tunnel under S. Pasadena. Aside from road maintenance and upkeep which in itself can be pretty costly, this may be the last big batch of funds thrown towards our highways and roads where transit does not recieve the majority of funding. If you haven't noticed LA has built more rail in the past 20 years than any other place in the US and now has a 400+ mile commuter rail system that many of us bike+train+bus advocates use everyday.

Let's vote to pass this sales tax and continue to galvanize and advocate for our place in the sun. Let's continue pushing Garcetti to speak on our behalf and prodding the MTA to include us. Let's continue to integrate train+bikes+busses+pedestrians.

Please let's not become shortsighted like the BRU who refuse to understand the relationship between different modes of transit therefore blocking the one that needs the other to survive. We can defeat the car mentality in LA county (and we've made some incredible headway already) if we don't reduce this unique opportunity to bring about change to infighting and the 'if I don't gets mines then you won't gets yours' mentality. Please see the broader vision!

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The BRU is declining in influence, largely because of their anti-rail demagoguery. They were at their strongest in a period where more people feared rail and gasoline was cheap.

There is an unspoken, unholy "alliance" between the automobile-entitled, elitists who fear people of different races and classes in their neighborhoods, and bus-only transit extremists -- all who want to sabotage rail expansion for their own selfish reasons in the short-term, even if their long-term goals are very different.

The BRU had to do something right in the 1990s to get the consent agreement and get the media to give them so much attention while ignoring other advocacy groups.

Imagine if all that energy the BRU wastes were applied to something constructive. Even if they just advocated for better bus service without trying to tear down needed rail projects, they'd be useful. However, the BRU is turning itself into irrelevance by their own actions and so I am not worried about them in the long-term.

If we could only get the media and Metro to give the same credence to Southern California Transit Advocates, The Transit Coalition, and Rail Riders Union as they have given in the past to the BRU.

Right.

We should all know absolutely nothing about what we advocate for, carry on as shrill bullies, pander to our base's sense of victimhood and frame our mission as a Marxist-Leninist triumph of the angry proletariat.

The BRU, just like the communist theory that shapes its frame of mind, has proven to be a failure because its theories have been put into practice.

This isn't the '90s anymore. The BRU succeeded in its legal challenge and gained an unprecedented opportunity to improve bus service. Instead, it only became more truculent to the point where it marginalized itself.

The post-consent decree BRU is a sad, TMZ-ized self-parody, and what shred of legitimacy it has comes from a sympathy circle of leftists who support it just out of obligation.

Riding a bicycle in Los Angeles works for me because I complement my cycling with the Metro.

Supporting the Metro by encouraging them to perform more effectively and efficiently, it's the least we can do.

Supporting the Metro by working together to properly fund a complete Transit system, it's a great thing to do.

Supporting the Metro while cyclists are treated like second class citizens, it's a bad thing, I can't do it, I ain't gonna do it.

The funding commitments speak volumes to our collective vision of the future. Funding auto-centric improvements at the expense of projects for cyclists is simply unacceptable.

That is something that I will not up with put!

Sadly, on this point I must disagree.

If the "modal split" for bicycles is less than 1% - I think our nascent advocacy groups MUST oppose this measure.

Things that should change any advocacy group's mind:
(1) Evaluation of Local Return projects based on bike, ped, and transit freindly criteria
(2) $1 billion+ set aside (over the life-span of the tax) for bicycle and pedestrian improvements - to come out of highway funds and not to be used to improve Level of Service, ADT, VMT, etc.

I know we're not even a special interest yet, but those two conditions would satisfy me, and woudl help make this County a lot more equal access to other modal user groups. It would also allow local cities to fund business district improvements and revitalization efforts using transportation dollars - something they are restricted from doing now.

And the BRU?? Why even mention them. Aren't these the same people(funded by the car industry) who sided with the bus mechanics on strike that left millions of us stranded without a way of getting around? What a sham organization! Aren't these the same people who say that RAIL IS RACIST!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Well I know of two votes they lost because of their abandonment of non-motorized travel!

Can you imagine Channel 4 trying to do a news story on hands free cell phones in the middle of the freeway during morning rush hour traffic instead of the sidewalk?

Maybe one day.