Buses

The long-term impacts to transportation funding as a result of the Federal Transit Administration's (FTA) civil rights compliance probe of the Metropolitan Transportation Commission (MTC) won't be clear for some time, but the action by the federal administration has transportation policy circles buzzing. Experts in civil rights and regional planning policy couldn't point to another instance of a metropolitan planning organization (MPO) like the MTC being required to submit to similar scrutiny from the FTA, while social justice advocates felt vindicated for their longstanding contention of discrimination in transportation funding.

Metro doesn't usually do major changes to its bus service for contractual reasons with the bus driver's union except for twice a year.  The next time major changes, including some line eliminations or service scale backs isn't due to be until the winter.  But that doesn't mean it's too early to start figuring out which lines are most likely to be cut back or eliminated.

I was recently cruising the web and came across a query posted on Curbed L.A. about the stub end of the Harbor Transitway north of Adams and whether there are any plans to extend it. Dredging up memories of events over the years relating to the topic I posted two monster sized paragraphs of comment.

About 15 years ago I remember the Riverside Press-Enterprise ran an article on how being a bus driver is one of the most hazardous occupations in Los Angeles. This came to mind when I heard that Omnitrans Coach Operator Lawrence Kester had died from stab wounds sustained while on duty on Friday, May 7.

The Obama administration plans to award $775 million in bus transit grants this summer, Federal Transit Administration (FTA) chief Peter Rogoff announced yesterday during a transit industry conference in Ohio.

(Author's note: this write-up was delayed when I was hit with a particular vicious bout of flu that made me bed ridden for 9 days. But since no one in the media (including Metro's own bloggers!) attended it is still timely and informative as the sole coverage of this event. - DG)

This weekend the Times profiled one of Los Angeles' many bus riders, focusing on a young woman who chooses the bus over the car to commute from the Westside to Beverly Hills.  The rider, Jacquelyn Carr, authors her own blog about her riding experiences at Snob on a Bus, and both the blog and the Times article tell a charming story of a woman who first takes the bus because she feels she has to and ends up integrating herself into the culture on the Westside part of the Metro 720.

By now you may have already read about the Bus Bench's effort to write a review of every transit stop in Los Angeles.  In addition to coverage at The Bus Bench, which has been publishing for four years, it has also earned praise from LA Loyalist, Curbed and The Source.