What? So, Metro is set to vote this week on a mixed-use residential/commercial development that will literally be feet from the Orange Line Sepulveda station in Van Nuys (you know, in that huge parking lot no one uses). "When they first came to me about it, it was supposed to be all residential," Councilman Tony Cardenas, who represents the area, is quoted saying in the Daily News. "Now they are talking about having commercial development."......

The next step in moving on from the honor system to the gated system in LA's subways and some light rails was announced today. $16.1 million in transit security funding was awarded to Metro by the state towards implementation of the gating system. 379 fare gates will be installed within the next 18 to 24 months. "The gates are expected to reduce the need for civilian fare inspectors and sworn law enforcement will also be......

An empty Metro station is a thing of the past | Photo by Simon Shek via Flickr Yesterday, all the buzz was about the Orange Line's record ridership last month. Today, Metro released the June 2008 numbers for all their rail lines, which had an increase in daily ridership, up 12.8 percent. Around 309,000 people rode the rails, most of them, 153,928, on the subway system. Steve Hymon at the LA Times broke down......

A little over a week ago, the Daily News reported that transit agencies were struggling with the increasing cost of fuel and that some were considering raising fares, cutting services and delaying upgrades as solutions to the strain on their operating budgets. Los Angeles Department of Transportation spokesperson Bruce Gillman reported that their fuel costs had gone from $4 million three years ago to $8.9 this fiscal year to fuel its fleet of 400......

A follow up on last week's proposal going to committee and City Council: "The Los Angeles City Council decided unanimously today [Friday] to spend $70,000 to offer DASH bus service to Dodger games beginning July 25 and going through the end of the season. The council meeting was pretty much a replay of Wednesday's transportation committee meeting -- with the Dodgers saying they wouldn't pay and Councilman Bill Rosendahl complaining that they should," Steve Hymon......

Passengers at the Union Station Metro Red/Purple Line Platform stood waiting at 10:00 p.m. Thursday night for an overdue train. A muffled and monotone voice made an announcement that was unintelligible with the exception of the word "Wilshire," which both train routes serve (there was also no update on the LCD screens). Asking other passengers about what it said, they had no idea. Upon asking a train operator about what the announcement said, he said......

Steve Hymon is reporting from the Metro Board meeting, the one that is pivotal for public transit's future in Los Angeles. It is also important for his "Subway to Sea" dream. "The big, big, big MTA meeting just entered its third hour, and Los Angeles Mayor and MTA board member Antonio Villaraigosa is still not here. Interesting." A call over to the Mayor's office and one representative told LAist "he sometimes goes late to that."......

Today is the regularly scheduled Metro Board meeting. But there's nothing regular about it. Two very important measures that could give long lasting positive changes to public transit are up for a vote: an increase of the county's sales tax to raise money for projects like the "Subway to the Sea" and the long range transportation plan which would give the region a vision to work towards. The sales tax increase, which has a lot......

Photo by Simon Shek via Flickr On Tuesday night at 5:23 p.m., a train heading towards the Valley got stuck between Hollywood and Universal City. For 80 minutes, one half of the tracks was out of service while Metro engineers tried to figure out what stopped the rush-hour train with around 400 passengers aboard. Metro officials called the situation "extremely rare," but reports from frequent riders say a 40-minute delay happened on Monday evening......

Metro put a press release this morning stating that a commissioned study shows 73% of LA County voters would pass the half-cent sales tax increase if the election were held today. To pass, it would need a two-thirds vote. But first, to get the increase on the ballot in November, it must be passed by Metro's Board this week as well as the State Senate.......

Taken Friday night at the Universal City Red Line Station | Photo by Zach Behrens/LAist Finally. After being delightfully teased for months on end by Metro with their new LCD screens hanging in subway stations with blank "next train arrival" info, the moment has finally come. Late last week, Metro began to "phase in" the arrival info starting in the Valley and Hollywood. Metro says expect to see this operating system wide within the......

Metrolink's ridership got a shot of adrenaline yesterday as ridership jumped to an all time high of 50,232 passengers -- a 15.6% increase since Tuesday for the regional commuter train service. Metro Rail has jumped 6% since last month (especially the gold line) and freeway traffic has dipped 1.5% since last year ("91.7 million miles traveled in March to 91.4 million in May"), reports the LA Times. For the last week, average gas prices in......

Funding is the hurdle for good public transportation projects in Los Angeles. A bill that is currently making its way through the state legislature would allow Metro to then vote on a proposal to increase LA County's sale tax. And all signs for Metro approving it seem to be a "go." Then, a third voting party would have to approve it: voters, who would see it on the November ballot. The business community is starting......

Riding Metro's light rail trains with a bike is not fun, especially when there's a crowd. Space is limited and bikes, unless foldable, are clunky. In Portland, where the train cars are a different model, bringing a bike is a little easier, especially since you can store them vertically on a hook. Cody Fogh's post on "Metroquette" yesterday led one commenter to say "I feel like I need some bicycle 'Metroquette' tips." To that, we......

LA County's sales tax is already one of the highest in the state, but in the name of fixing this traffic and transportation problem (in which money seems to be the cure, according to some), Los Angeles based state assemblyman Mike Feuer has gotten his legislation, AB 2321, passed. It allows the Metro Board to place a proposal on November's ballot asking voters to raise the sales tax by a half-cent. "That would take the......

Photo by manmadepants via the LAist Featured Photos pool on Flickr Los Angeles is not short of ideas for the how-to-do and where-to-do public transportation. The problem is always money. Ironically enough, the very thing that needs funding is one that causes the region to lose out on $12 billion a year, says one study. LA City Councilwoman Wendy Greuel writes in CityWatch: The average Angeleno spends 93 hours per year stuck in traffic.......

Mia Birk of Alta Planning, the company that is working on the LA Bicycle Master Plan | Screen Capture from Sundance As part of Sundance Channel's green programming, tonight's episode of Big Ideas For A Small Planet features cities tackling transit with green solutions. No, Los Angeles is not featured (save for a couple stock shots of an orange Metro bus), but the ideas presented in the episode are all something the region could......

Today, Metro announced that the Gold Line East Extension is 80% completed. But don't think that means you'll be riding into Little Tokyo and out to East LA by the end of this summer. Metro has always conceded that project will by done by the end of 2009, yet construction is now almost six months ahead of time. That means it could open in the summer of '09 if all goes well with the remaining......

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......