Dana Gabbard

At this week's Metro Board Executive Management Committee meeting staff will present a report "on accelerated completion of gate locking."

To my mind, at least for symbolism, in the near term the Wilshire bus lane project (Wilshire Bus Rapid Transit [BRT] Corridor) is the most significant transit-related project in our region (along with the parallel effort in San Bernardino County known as sbX.) Upgrading bus service along Wilshire is an idea that has been floating around for decades as I outlined in a previous post.

Sunday Metro will be implementing bus service changes including a number whose purpose are to provide better connections to the recently opened Expo Line.

Friday I was riding on the DASH Fairfax route when I noticed it had a message printed on a paper bag sitting on the dashboard announcing that the Transit Access Pass (TAP) is coming to L.A. Dept. of Transportation (LADOT) bus services (DASH and Commuter Express) in June.  The LADOT website also has a frequently asked questions page with information about the transition.

(Dana Gabbard is a Board Member of the Southern California Transit Advocates and an occasional contributor to Streetsblog. When he opines, he does so on behalf of himself as a long-standing transit watcher. Gabbard has written about the fare gate issue several times since Metro first proposed putting up gates in 2008.)

The Source reports at Thursday's Board meeting the Metro Board adopted the proposed fiscal year 2013 budget. This goes into effect July 1st.

(Dana Gabbard is a Board Member of the Southern California Transit Advocates and an occasional contributor to Streetsblog.  When he opines, he does so on behalf of himself as a long-standing transit watcher.  Gabbard has written about the fare gate issue several times since Metro first proposed putting up gates in 2008 after years of being one of the larger "honor system" rail systems in the world.  Advocates howled that the gates are a waste of time and money, but Metro sticks to its guns.  After several field tests, the agency is now moving to finally lock the gates.  Many, including Gabbard, are still skeptical.)

I think we all are curious about what Metro's plans are for Los Angeles Union Station. In November Metro announced six architectural firms had been selected as finalists to compete to be chosen to prepare the Master Plan for the site.

Oct. 24, 1990.

One of the things I do each year is read the California Transportation Commission Annual Report. I find it a useful snapshot of policy and operation issues for transportation in California. Intriguingly the 2011 Report's introduction mentions a statewide transportation needs assessment the Commission released late last year. Over 10 years ago the Commission undertook a similar assessment in response to legislation (Senate Resolution 8 [1999]). That document has withstood the test of time and years after it was issued I would see it still being cited in media coverage of transportation funding needs for California.