Buses

At the American Public Transit Association's annual meeting in downtown Los Angeles, electric bus maker Proterra unveiled its new Catalyst E2 transit bus. The Catalyst E2 electric bus is "named for its unprecedented Efficient Energy (E2) storage capacity." According to Proterra:

This Sunday, June 26, Metro will be making their twice yearly "service changes" to bus and rail service. This typically means minor cuts, often justifiable, but still incrementally making riders' lives a little worse and incrementally contributing to declines in ridership.

Earlier this week, SBLA attended UCLA's The Future of Public Transit conference. The one-day event was hosted by UCLA's Lewis Center and Institute of Transportation Studies. Numerous speakers spoke on the evolving landscape for public transit and broader mobility - from Houston to New York to Los Angeles. This article recaps two of the more informative and more academic presentations on trends impacting transit ridership. There are no major surprises gleaned for folks who read Streetsblog and who ride transit in Los Angeles, but it is interesting to see data quantified to back up trends observed.

Time is running out to register for next week's The Future of Public Transit, UCLA's 9th Annual Downtown Los Angeles Forum on Transportation, Land Use and the Environment. The conference takes place next week on Wednesday, April 27 from 8 a.m. to 3 p.m. at the California Endowment at 1000 North Alameda Street in downtown Los Angeles, one block north of Union Station.

This week's big Metro announcement, expected Friday, will be the fall ballot measure expenditure plan. Some early Measure R2.1 outlines are already foreshadowed here and at the Los Angeles Times.

In my circles, there has been a lot of discussion swirling around Wednesday's Los Angeles Times article, Billions spent, but fewer people are using public transportation in Southern California, by Laura Nelson and Dan Weikel.

Twice a year, Metro makes changes to its bus routes and schedules. Last week, the agency announced changes coming into effect this winter, including detours to avoid construction and minor schedule adjustments.

What was I writing about, a woman wanted to know.

The Metro Board of Directors held its monthly committee meetings this week, in advance of next Thursday's board meeting. Below are a handful of news bits gleaned from this week's committee meetings. Final decisions still need to be approved by the full board next week.