Metro

"Are you riding the train...?" came the voice over my shoulder.

At its June 25 monthly meeting, the Metro Board will be voting on the contract for the initial phase of what is now optimistically called "Metro Countywide Bikeshare."

Last Friday, Metro and Zipcar announced a new partnership that places car-share vehicles at ten Metro station parking lots. The new program was announced via a press conference at the North Hollywood Red Line Station. Speakers included Los Angeles Mayor and Metro Board Chair Eric Garcetti, Metro Boardmember Jacquelyn Dupont-Walker, Metro's new CEO Phil Washington, and Zipcar Regional Vice President Dan Grossman. The cars are available and ready now.

On October 23, 2014, the Metro Board of Directors voted to adopt the Rail to River Intermediate Active Transportation Corridor (ATC) Feasibility Study and directed staff to identify funding for full implementation of the project. The Board also authorized $2,850,000 be put towards facilitating the environmental, design, alternative route analysis, and outreach work required for the project to move forward and requested the staff report back in May of 2015.

At yesterday's Metro Board of Directors Ad Hoc Sustainability Committee meeting, Metro staff shared the agency's first Metro Countywide Sustainability Annual Report [PDF]. The report establishes a baseline to "track sustainability progress going forward for Metro’s own actions and broader measures of sustainability throughout the county. The Countywide Performance Metrics measure sustainability outcomes countywide such as how people travel throughout the county, the environmental impacts of this travel and how transportation and land use shift over time."

"I can honestly say my faith in humanity has been restored today," Joey said Wednesday as we popped his back tire back on his bike and I packed up my patch kit. "If I ever see you in the street again, I promise I'll pay you back somehow."

Metro's new CEO Phil Washington just started work this past Monday May 11. Below is a recent Phil Washington interview conducted by Gloria Ohland, who serves as Policy and Communications Director for Move L.A.

I get pretty cynical, critical, and dismissive about bike week. OK, some folks, probably rightly, know I get too cynical and bitter about a lot of things, and bike week is one of those.

There is a new chart out that shows some of what a possible new Metro sales tax, "Measure R2" might look like. As outlined in this earlier article, the sales tax would be put to the voters in the presidential election in late 2016, but the political process shaping the proposal is happening right now. If all goes according to schedule, the Metro Board will finalize an expenditure plan in July 2015.