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......

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......

Gold Line Photo by Fred Camino/MetroRiderLA and Metro Subway photo by Kwasi B. Next week, the Metro board will vote on two very important issues. One will put a half-cent sales tax increase, that would raise funds for public transit, on November's ballot. The other is the Long Range Transportation Plan (LRTP), a document guiding public transit in Los Angeles County for years to come. Gold Line advocates, who wish to see the line......

Photo by Adan Garcia via Flickr As an assembly bill that would enable Metro to put a half-cent sales tax increase on November's ballot makes its way towards the state Senate this month, a report released from the Los Angeles County Economic Development Corporation (LAEDC) said that such an increase would only cost people $25 extra per year (if the sales tax rate goes up, it will go from 8.25% to 8.75%, "translating to......

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......

There are two more meetings left (one tonight, one on Monday) for the third round of public meetings with Metro regarding the Westside Extension, often noted as the "subway to the sea." At the last set of meetings, 17 alternatives were proposed which have been honed down to five alternatives being presented this week. What survived was underground heavy rail and one robust rapid bus system. What didn't was at grade trains and aerial transit.......

You can download the full 26-page plan here Metro’s Long Range Transportation Plan (LRTP), which was just released this morning, takes a look ahead about 20-25 years down the road to determine what the county’s residents will need in terms of transportation options to get around the county. It covers public transportation, some biking, highways and goods movement. The above map is the shows a basic highway and public transportation vision, funded and unfunded......

You might have to wait and be agonizingly teased for an additional three months until those LCD, screens telling you the arrival of the next train, start to work. Curbed LA reported it would be by May and now Streetsblog LA reports by the end of June the latest and tells us how they will work: Until the train is close to the station, the screens will update information based off the schedule. Once the......

Much to LA City Beat's dismay, the Metro board voted and passed a motion to "install barrier gates on the Metro Red Line, Metro Purple Line and selected light rail stations in efforts to prevent fare evasion, provide for seamless travel and improve transit station security," says a press release from the agency this afternoon. Expect to see the 379 fare gates within 18 to 24 months from now. The gates will integrate with those......

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......

After questioning 1200 Los Angeles County residents in a survey, Metro might be confident it could get the two-thirds stamp of approval from voters if such a measure went to the ballot. If passed, it could generate $4.5 billion within 6 1/2 years, according to an investigation by the Daily News. That amount is nearly enough to pay for the 'Subway to the Sea' Purple Line extension. But unless county residents as far as......

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......

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......

It's like Classical Music got up and left for the week (maybe to Chicago?). That's okay, though, today's picks are both exciting. We post today's picks earlier than the usual 2 p.m. slot in order to make sure you're forewarned, since they are today. The Wagner Ensemble presents an afternoon concert entitled "Illuminations from the Old World" featuring music from the Christmas tradition of Europe, British Isles and Slavic countries ranging from the early Renaissance......

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......

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......

Amount of space required to transport the same number of passengers by car, bus or bicycle. This poster, from the City of Munster in Germany, has been making its way around the internet this past week. Now, either an internet star or slut, it carries a simple message about congestion, urban planning and people: cars are great, but can really suck in certain situations and people will just deal with it anyway. We often......

The LA Times is reporting today that Metro may be seriously looking at an extremely different route for half of the proposed Purple Line subway extension that would take commuters from Downtown to Santa Monica. However, the idea discussed here would take underground riders from the Hollywood/Highland station to Wilshire Blvd. along Santa Monica Blvd., traveling through West Hollywood and Beverly Hills hitting near the Beverly Center mall and Cedars-Sinai:The new concept is still......

Yesterday, I was talking to a friend, who lives in the NoHo Arts District, about bars in proximity to the Red Line and she mentioned a dream that many share: "You know it was also be sweet if the subway was extended to 1 a.m. or later. We could bar hop into Hollywood and back!" Little known to many, the red line actually has one train that travels beyond 1 a.m. I explained this......

A water main break has closed the northbound and southbound lanes of Sepulveda at Century and is estimated to reopen at 5 a.m. tomorrow morning according to a press release just released by Caltrans:Los Angeles – The Department of Transportation (Caltrans) announces that a Department of Water and Power (DWP) 36-inch water main break has caused the closure of northbound and southbound Sepulveda Boulevard at Century Boulevard in Los Angeles. Estimated duration of the......

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......

As development wraps up on the first of two major redevelopments above subway stations on Wilshire, the reviews are begining to come in. The Wilshire/Vermont station is just about complete and tomorrow the LA Times will give the design of the complex a negative review, complaining, among other things that it just doesn't fit in with what else is going on with the legendary boulevard. During the many decades that architects enthusiastically celebrated the......

Maybe you want the 'Subway to the Sea' to go to WeHo instead of down Wilshire Blvd. through Beverly Hills. Perhaps you are evil and think nothing should be done at all letting traffic roll as it sort of doesn't do anyway. No matter what vision, now is the time to chime in like the backseat driver you are at some public meetings or via the written word. Wad at MetroRiderLA has the low-down:By......

The LA County Fair comes to end tonight, and if you can't make it or county fairs just aren't your thing, there's plenty of festival happenings today around Los Angeles:Swerve Festival @ Barnsdall Park National Geographic's All Roads Film Festival Feast of San Genaro Italian Festival Abbot Kinney Festival Grand Avenue Festival West Hollywood Book Fair Just Lives Festival Santa Clarita Street Arts Festival Polska Parafia Bazaar SGV Greek Festival Nigerian Independence Day Celebration......

Steve Hymon at the LA Times is asking if anyone out there has any ideas for funding the 'subway to the sea', which is estimated to cost around $5-billion. The scary thing about even just $1-billion is that it equals out to one thousand x one million. So to fund the Purple Line, you've got to dole out $1-million dollars five-thousand times over. Eek! So here is one crazy idea: Sure, simple math dictates......

Today's LA City Beat's LA Sniper column focuses aim on 30th District Congressman Henry Waxman who led the banning of subway construction under Wilshire Blvd. in the mid 1980s. Could you imagine what LA would be like today? A Los Angeles with a subway down the god friggin' most congested city street in America? Instead we have the one of the nation's busiest rapid bus lines, the 720, which the Sniper suggest should be......

Many are aware of Damien Goodmon's inspirational transit project, Get LA Moving. Now, with the advent of the Google 'My Maps' Feature, anybody can dream up their Los Angeles transit plan. And that's what Chris Gerstle has done by creating the Dodger Blue Line:My conceptual subway line: "The Traffic Dodger; Dodger Blue Line.". Features access to many popular attractions, notably: Dodger Stadium, Sunset Strip, West Hollywood, Hollywood, L.A. Live, Staples Center, Convention Center, Union......

Guest Day Editor Zuma Dogg will be joining LAist with a few posts throughout the day. Read his introductory interview here and check out his site as well as Mayor Sam where he contributes. He also wrote an article in the current edition of the LA Weekly The city and state are basing some of their major plans on the fact that you are going to vote to approve more bond money out of your......

On Today's LAist poll, the majority of readers say yes to separating the Purple Line from what some dub as the Pink Line, which would serve the transit-ready WeHo. Keep those votes coming in! After Sherman Torgan's unexpected death last week, the New Beverly reopens tonight. Come on. Give them some love. You know you wanna. If you want to be able to afford living in Downtown LA, maybe the could-be-passed-into-law 250 sq. ft.......

There's been some talk of making the Purple Line subway for Wilshire Blvd. actually veer off and go through West Hollywood or even making an additional line, say the Pink Line. As Wad explains on MetroRiderLA:The Purple Line is a 21-hour system committed to solving a 6-hour problem. The bulk of ridership would be coming from rush-hour work trips. But the offices generate very little activity during mid-days and virtually none on weekends... [snip]......