Photo by alistairmcmillan via Flickr In response to a comment in yesterday's piece, Train to LAX Getting Closer, Metro Doesn't Want It, Kymberliegh Richards writes a good history of what happened and why. Richards runs a website called the San Fernando Valley Transit Insider as well as a Metro San Fernando Valley Governance Council member and a board of directors member at the Southern California Transit Advocates. I always love seeing people who say......

Photo by alistairmcmillan via Flickr To connect the Metro Green Line light rail to LAX, simply put, it would take about two miles of track and some money. This week, the Senate Transportation Committee passed SB 1722 by Sen. Jenny Oropeza, a bill that would allow a separate construction authority the single-focused job of connecting rail to the airport. The bill will now make its way to the Senate floor. Metro opposes the idea,......

Photo by tobo via Flickr Which side of the Gold Line tracks do you live on? Southsiders (below the 10) better be representing because Northsiders are fighting hard for their piece of the cake too. Metro's Gold Line currently goes from Union Station in downtown to Sierra Madre, east of Pasadena. Metro is currently extending the Gold Line from Union Station southeast through Little Tokyo into East LA and is slated to open in......

One politician won't give up on his mission to get the Green Line moving directly to LAX. And Metro won't give up on saying "no" to that idea. It's not that Metro is trying to destroy any hopes of public transportation in Los Angeles, it's just the conservative and realistic tones they put out there when it comes future projects and funding. They say they want a connection to LAX and that possibility comes via......

Photo by Tom Andrews via the LAist Featured Photos pool on Flickr 45-year-old murder suspect Hovik "John" Mankyan, who engaged police in a lengthy standoff on Good Friday in Palmdale, is reportedly "clinging to life" in the hospital. Mankyan, who is wanted for a 2004 North Hollywood homicide "ingested poison and severed arteries" prior to surrendering. Honors on Ice: The Anaheim Ducks will honor SWAT officer Randal Simmons, who died in the line of duty,......

And then there was a train... There could be a day when you go from Wilshire Blvd. down Crenshaw Ave, crossing the path of the Expo Line (under construction right now), through Leimart Park, into Downtown Inglewood and eventually hit LAX before route ends, connecting to the Green Line. That's one option, at least, for Metro's North/South Crenshaw-Prairie Transit Corridor Study. Tonight is the first of four public meetings to get a status report of......

As reported earlier this week, on New Year's Eve, there will be all night Metro rail service. As one commenter pointed out, the news was actually broken in a press release where it was buried with not much detail given:“The Tournament of Roses parade and game is the biggest venue for Metro Gold Line service all year, with upwards of 60,000 train boardings on a single day,” said Pam O’Connor, Santa Monica City Council member......

Earlier this month, Metro announced the usual free rides on Christmas and New Year's Eve special that they do every year. Tonight, we received a short and brief, but extremely exciting e-mail: "On New Year's Eve Monday, December 31 (into Tuesday, January 1), all Metro Rail lines will run all night, every 20 minutes." Yes, that's all it said. No further details were mentioned (we're sure they are forthcoming, we are curious what "all night"......

The Holiday season is in full swing in NYC, with holiday lights in Brooklyn, a giant snow globe in Bryan Park and Chanukah specials for ham. One citizen decided to go vigilante on annoying car alarms, a murder suspect used a fake Asian accent on the stand and a video of a man being beaten up by teenage girls on a subway shocked the city. And we interviewed soon-to-be-leaving-Gawker editor Choire Sicha, who said,......

Imagine a day when the Purple Line "subway to the sea" and Expo Line to Culver City (and eventually to Santa Monica) are a reality. Two rail lines running parallel from Downtown to the ocean -- are we mad men or what? But what about traveling north-south? Enter the Crenshaw/Prairie Transit Corridor:The Crenshaw/Prairie Transit Corridor extends approximately 10 miles north from Wilshire Boulevard, south to El Segundo Boulevard, east to Arlington Avenue and west to......

In an unexpected change of heart and funding at Metro, this past week has shown us public transportation can get an edge in LA. After announcing the LAX Green Line extension and the promised completion of the Subway to the Sea by 2011, Metro will announce next Friday night the Red Line Owl Service. With only 15-minute headways throughout the night, drunkards can stumble to their car in North Hollywood rather than at the Hollywood/Highland......

December 17th seems to be a big day for the MTA (maybe everyone gets to go on vacation on the 18th?), but whatevs, LAist is never one to pooh-pooh progress, particularly regarding public transportation in this fair city. The MTA announced today that the Valley will get a new Rapid line on Reseda Blvd. between Northridge and Tarzana - welcome Line 741! The 364 won't be a Rapid per-se but will be a "limited......

"I don't care if Mark Foley had been asking boys to describe their penises because I have some sad news for you: Your kid is so larded out on Cheetos and Yoo-hoo, he can't even see his penis." - Bill Maher, today on Salon.com "You're wankers, but really important wankers. Even you, Robert Joseph at Earthlink, who has sent me consistent hatemail for two years straight. You, sir, have been impressive." - Jessica Coen......

"The Coalition works to develop a safe, integrated, cost effective and environmentally sound public transportation system for the greater Los Angeles Region." The Transit Coalition's Weekly Transit eNewsletter is like putting a vegetarian in a tofu festival (err, a kid in a candy store). The eNewsletter, written like a blog with links throughout, feels interminable, yet exciting if you actually are a transit nerd. Highlights from yesterday's e-mail include Councilman Bernard Parks' fight to......

arsenic and old ladies - A 73-year old and a 75-year old have been arrested in a life insurance scam that has allegedly netted them more than $2 million. Olga Rutterschmidt and Helen Golay took out life insurance policies on homeless men, carefully crafting ficitonal relationships that would qualify them as beneficiaries. Authorities say they took out at least 19 policies on two men who both died after being run down in alleys. want......

Traffic in LA is bad. The State of California is unable to provide money to help alleviate said traffic. What's a cash-strapped transit authority like the MTA to do? Borrow the money, natch. The MTA is looking to float up to $1.1 billion in bonds to finance transit improvements across LA county. The hope is that by accelerating plans already on the drawing board, the region can hold the line on congestion, and perhaps......