Photo by Fred Camino of MetroRiderLA via Flickr Today's edition of Steve Hymon's weekly Road Sage column explores one Altadena man's story of de-caring for five years, but unwillingly giving back into car culture after Metro changed some lines, ultimately forcing his four hour daily roundtrip to be a little longer and more unpredictable. Cliff Moore, who is not fond of driving, lives in Altadena, works in Sun Valley and likes it that way.......

The Westside Extension effort, commonly dubbed as the "Subway to the Sea," went social networking/Web 2.0 style a few weeks ago with a group on Facebook. This is the first time a specific project has done outreach like this and word on the transit street is that more project managers may be doing more of this in the future. Metro's Librarian, Matthew Barrett, has definitely been a leader in exploring blogging and other online tools......

A man who tried to get away from Transit Sheriff's Deputies on a Metrolink Train yesterday was shot at, but not hit. Police were checking fares in Norwalk when one man split after the train doors opened. A foot chase ensued where at one point, according to police, the suspect turned toward the officers. "Fearing the suspect was armed, one deputy fired his weapon, missing the suspect," Deputy Luis Castro of the Sheriff's Headquarters Bureau......

Now the predictions are really getting people's attention: "Surging crude prices, which could surpass $200 a barrel in four years on tight supplies, could push gasoline prices to as high as $7 a gallon, CIBC World Markets analysts said Thursday," MarketWatch said early this afternoon. Currently, U.S. oil is $116 a barrel, down $3.90 from Tuesday's "historic high." The national average is $3.56 and in Los Angeles, the upward trend pushes the local average to......

Keith Millhouse, vice-chairman of the board of Metrolink speaks during a roll-out ceremony of Metrolink's cleanest locomotive, background, in LA. The locomotives, which cost nearly $2 million each, use computer technology and electronic fuel injection to reduce emissions and a shut-down feature to reduce idling. (AP Photo/Nick Ut) Just in time for Earth Day, Metrolink officials announced the arrival of a new kind of train yesterday -- one that's cleaner for the environment and......

Whoa now. If a Metro Blue Line vs. pedestrian incident early this morning downtown at Grand Avenue and Washington Boulevard leaving a 19-year-old man in critical condition was not enough, then hear this. A few hours later at 1:00 p.m., a Blue Line train was involved in a crash with a vehicle at Third Street and Long Beach Boulevard in the harbor city. "Investigators said the woman, who was driving a Ford Focus, turned 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......

The Hollywood Coalition of Neighborhood Councils is hosting a Town Hall on Thursday night to address "Parking, Planning and Transportation." In an effort to entice attendees, the Coalition promises "plenty of free parking," thereby demonstrating a commitment to an old, tired paradigm of transportation that will continue to result in the gridlock, congestion and frustration the Coalition purports to address in the Town Hall. The Coalition is missing a big opportunity to encourage the community......

Photo by Lush.i.ous via the LAist Featured Photos pool on Flickr Speaking of that 14-car pile-up this morning on the 101 freeway, how about this fact via the Daily Breeze? There's a near $11-billion price "cost to society" due to car crashes according to a study called "Crashes: What's the Cost to Society?" According to the study -- conducted on behalf of the American Automobile Association by the transportation policy firm Cambridge Systematics --......

"...And the ancient empty street's too dead for dreaming" by kpe II via LAist Featured Photos Pool on Flickr Newly elected state speaker, a Democrat named Karen Bass who was raised in Los Angeles, has made friends on both sides of the aisle, the LA Times said. She is the first African-American to assume the top spot and has some pretty lofty goals, including providing healthcare and improving education. Wait, those are things EVERY......

Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa has once again set off for another city that is not his own to help a candidate that has no stake in running Los Angeles. And you could be paying for it. This time, Mayor Tony set off on a five-city, five-day tour to help Hillary Clinton win the Texas Primary so critical to her presidential aspirations. (As of now, polling indicates a dead heat, with some polls indicating Obama has an......

The list of reasons for using public transportation just keeps growing: saving energy, protecting our environment, having fewer traffic jams. Now Bay Area commuters have an even bigger incentive to ride public transportation. The Contra Costa County Library has begun a partnership with Bay Area Rapid Transit (BART) to provide an automated book “vending machine” for its patrons. The new “Library A Go Go” machines will appear first in county BART stations in April, then......

Today's holiday is a Federal one, so that means government offices, from city to county to state and beyond, are closed. Same goes for banks and public schools. No mail being delivered either. However, trash and public transportation in Los Angeles will be running as usual says the Daily News in their Presidents Day schedule. If you're one of the blessed and have the day off, there are many fun things to do. Here are......

"Welcome to NoHo," by ~db~ via LAist Featured Photos Pool on Flickr Happy 5th Birthday Gothamist!! A "possible" security breach at the Department of Water and Power Monday may result in more than 8,300 employees wondering, why are there two me's? The lifted information included stats on active DWP employee's names, Social Security numbers and dates of birth and could result in a massive case of stolen identity. The gig is up for all......

As we reported earlier, the two-month Writers Guild of America strike is nearly over. WGA-East members voted heard about the proposal earlier and West members weighed in at 7 p.m. Some are already questioning the deal, but most expressed relief that the work stoppage is about to come to an end. Stay tuned to LAist for excellent coverage. A man was shot this morning in North Hollywood by an alleged gang member who approached......

In yesterday's LAist interview with Hillary Clinton, we had to ask about public transportation. Clinton said she would increase federal funding for public transit by $1.5 billion per year, link funding to local land use policies that encourage mixed-use and transit-oriented development (discouraging sprawl) and invest $1 billion into intercity passenger rail (think high speed rail from Los Angeles to San Francisco, or more locally, the MagLev concept from Orange County to Las Vegas). Speaking......

17 potential route alternatives consolidated on this map will be presented starting tomorrow at Westside Transit Corridor meetings with the public | View larger image In an ideal world, one of the routes in solid black, pictured above, could be a reality in nine and a half years -- that would be the year 2017. Generally speaking, a project the size of a major public transportation extension to the Westside, towards the sea, could......

DineLA's Restaurant Week officially starts today! LAist was there for the kickoff event hosted by Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa and Neal Fraser at Grace. LAist's Callie Miller let us in on her dirty little secret this week: she loves Pinkberry. GIANT KILLER CUPCAKE!!!! Okay, so it's not exactly 50 feet tall, but jumbo cupcakes from French pâtisserie La Provence in Beverly Hills still look massively good to us. Fresh & Easy has finally opened in......

Know how to raise billions of dollars for public transportation? Metro wants to chat with you today at noon in their third live internet chat. "Tell Metro Board Chair and Santa Monica City Council Member Pam O'Connor where you think the money should come from to pay for future transit projects and keep the system running," a press release states. "Should it be a half cent sales tax? Public/private partnerships? Parking fees? Toll roads? Or......

Photo courtesy of Focus Features Even on the best days, the Sundance Film Festival is an extremely hectic place to be. Screenings and events often overlap and are spread all over town, and even though the public transportation is good (and free!), it can still be a nightmare to get someplace quickly. Cabs can be hard to come by and parking (when available) is expensive. Furthermore, there are always going to be lines waiting......

City Councilman Jack Weiss and O'Melveny and Myers law firm partner, Carolyn Kubota, teamed up yesterday in a Daily News op-ed piece urging the need to explore funding public transportation in Los Angeles by private sources. Chicago did it with the Skyway and Denver with their transit plan. So why not us? They say everyone can agree on three things. One, a subway between downtown and the Westside is absolutely need; two, the subway......

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......

You're a good commuter: you use public transportation to get to work, paid your $62 for a Metropass. But come Tuesday, you're losing a couple of perks: no more free rides on the DASH (25 cents) or Commuter Express (90 cents). The Daily News reports that Metro officials picked up the tab for these services to the tune of $750,000 last year; earlier this month, they decided that you could pay it yourself. If......

Last week Monday, Metro released a series of service enhancements and additions including the new Gold Line schedule. In the additions bucket came two new Metro Rapid lines, both starting in Downtown. The 728 runs between Downtown and Century City, mostly along Olympic Blvd. A ride review by Wad at MetroRiderLA finds that the busy thoroughfare "has a cross-cultural crosstown aspect" as it runs through Central American community of Pico-Union, Koreatown, Little Ethiopia, South Carthay......

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"......

Today, in his weekly city hall column, Steve Hymon takes on funding that darn 'Subway to the Sea.' It's projected to cost a dazzling $5-billion and we can't seem to find a tree that grow this amount of money. Here are the funding ideas Hymon uncovers: The feds tend to contribute half, but some say they won't if the next bullet item is not repealed. In 1998, voters declined the government to use local......

Yesterday, the U.S. House of Representatives approved the Fiscal Year 2008 Omnibus Appropriations bill, which included a provision authored by Congressman Henry Waxman to lift the prohibition against federal involvement in the construction of the “Subway to the Sea” (less we not forget that it was Waxman himself that authored the original ban in the 1980s). We've reported on this before and it was likely to pass, but it's nice to know that day is......

I was born and raised in LA. My first experience with public transportation was at age 6 when my mom said we could ride the bus to the mall. We waited at the bus stop for 30 minutes but the bus never came. So we walked home. That pretty much sums up how I feel about the bus right now. For 5 years (during and after college) I lived on the East Coast; I......

Starting Sunday, Metro is changing up the Gold Line schedule a little. No, unfortunately, there will not be trains running later at night. No, no earlier trains in the morning either. This change affects those who travel during peak hours giving those commuters 7-8 minute headways instead of 10 minute ones. But there is a trade for this few minute increase in waiting time between trains and that comes in form of the discontinuation......

The white smoke flowed from the chimney, doves were released, and virgins scattered to deliver the Good News that the newest Editor of LAist is Zach Behrens. Valley boy Zach has been a contributer to this fine blog since 2005, he's an outdoorsman, he sits on the Sherman Oaks Neighborhood Council, he's a vegetarian, he volunteers selflessly, and yes ladies, he's single. Softspoken, strong-willed, and determined to get you to ride public transportation, Zach......