BRT

At the April 2014 board meeting, Metro's ExpressLanes and the Metro Silver Line were the big success story.

Los Angeles is finally on its way toward realizing the dream of a regional rapid transit system. Five rail lines are simultaneously under construction, and there is renewed momentum to fund another round of transit expansion on the 2016 ballot. Move L.A. recently unveiled a Strawman Proposal for “Measure R2” to accelerate the completion of the remaining Measure R projects and offer a new vision for transit, highway, and complete streets improvements across Los Angeles County.

Tomorrow, Friday May 2nd, Southern California Transit Advocates (SoCATA) is touring of Omnitrans' sbX Bus Rapid Transit (BRT) express service. Omnitrans sbX started operating Monday. Our hope is by highlighting its key attribute, dedicated stations along an exclusive bus lane, that sbX will inspire aspirations in Los Angeles County as Metro studies corridors for a proposed BRT network for possible implementation in the next few years.

UCLA's Lewis Center revised some of the estimates in its recent report comparing the costs of reducing greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions using California high-speed rail to those of bike, pedestrian, and local transit projects. The report's authors found that high-speed rail is not as expensive as an emission reduction as they first thought.

Streetfilms featured Los Angeles' Orange Line BRT and bike path in 2009. A new UCLA report says infrastructure projects like the Orange Line are a better way to invest cap-and-trade funds than CA High-Speed Rail.

In January 2011, consultants for the South Figueroa Corridor Project unveiled three different visions for the soon-to-be Living Street.  The visions were labeled "Good," "Better," and "Best."  A recent presentation to Caltrans, made available on their website, shows current thinking on the legacy project from the project team and the new lead agency, LADOT.

The Dictionary of Terms compiled by Metro's Dorothy Peyton Gray Transportation Library defines BOARD BOX as "an interoffice memo to board members that does not require board action. The board box provides an avenue for staff to track status of projects or programs, and includes information of upcoming workshops and other special events." While not posted on the Metro website access has been provided in some cases to Board Box items via the Metro Board Archives.

This morning, Mayor Villaraigosa's last term as Chair of the Metro Board of Directors got off to an efficient and relatively controversy-free start as Supervisors passed motions on studying the impacts of Metro's bus cuts and Bus Rapid Transit expansion, a second study on the costs and benefits of a bike share program, the approval of a green construction program and even a preferred route for California High Speed Rail.  The only real debate among the Board Members came when Director Diane DuBois challenged Supervisor Mark Ridley-Thomas on the definition of "local" in the local jobs program and on whether or not to give free Metro passes to uniformed Girl Scouts during the group's 100th birthday party.