Month: November 2012

Marking the fifth year of bike counts at fourteen locations throughout Long Beach, data shows that ridership has increased by an astounding 70% on city streets and 45% overall.

For the past two years, Amtrak has been under constant attack from House Transportation Committee Chair John Mica (R-FL), who has used his gavel to bully the rail company. He likes to call it a “Soviet-style” monopoly and he goads it for losing money on everything from long-distance routes to food service. His vitriolic diatribes against Amtrak have become white noise, and they’re about to fade into the background as Mica surrenders his post to Rep. Bill Shuster next year.

Bike-sharing has been one of the most rapidly spreading transportation innovations in American cities over the past few years; scarcely a month goes by without a new city announcing its intentions to develop a system. And with good reason: Bike-share doesn't cost much to install and operate, and it's healthy -- for cities and people.

Strike Crippling the Ports (LAT) Faulty Junction Still Tripping Expo, Blue Lines (LAT) Do LAPD Scofflaw Parkers Endanger the 1st Street Buffered Bike Lane (Biking In L.A.) Caltrans Agrees to Greater Public Oversight of Megaprojects (SacBee, CoCoTimes) Someone Finally Creates Unified Timetable for SoCal Commuter Trains (The Source) City Proposing Upgrades for Los Feliz Bridge (Ledger via … Continued

It was a rainy day on October 20, 2010, much like today. Days before her most recent re-election, Senator Barbara Boxer was in town, with USDOT officials in tow, to announce a $543 million no interest loan to expediate construction of the Crenshaw Line. At this point, it was all but official that the Crenshaw Line would be a light rail line. A parade of public officials that included Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa, Supervisor Mark Ridley-Thomas, Congress Woman Jane Harman and Boxer herself all took to the podium to praise each other and the Crenshaw Line.

Bus rapid transit isn't much good if it isn't, well, rapid.

The current transportation law dealt a few hard knocks to bicycling and walking programs. One big one was the restructuring of the Transportation Enhancements program into something called Transportation Alternatives, which has to fund more types of projects with less money.

Battle Over At-Grade Crenshaw, Leimert Park Station, Goes National (NYT) Apparently, Not Everyone Has Gotten the Word on Those Toll Lane Transponders (Zev Web) Mega Bus from Union Station to SF, LV Starts 12/12. Tix on Sale Now (LAT, The Source) Brace Yourself Media, Your Funders Are Here…the Car Show Is Here (Daily News) .3 … Continued

Last month, the Mayor's Office released a report ranking itself on how it achieved, or didn't achieve, its stated transportation goals over the last seven and a half years. Rather than traditional grades, the report gave the offices green (for "completed"), yellow (for "in the works") or red (for "didn't/won't happen) on a variety of transportation issues.