Results tagged “themta”

It's a new record for Los Angeles -- $3.49 a gallon, as of this morning reports KFWB 980 AM. The price of the barrel, also at an all time high, is $105.10.

The MTA says it's time to cut the lines--20 bus lines, that is.

A lawsuit filed yesterday by the Metropolitan Transit Authority (MTA) against multiple contractors, including Kiewit, Washington Infrastructure Services, Inc., Parsons Corp., and more, who worked on the design and building of the Gold Line alleges that the work done was substandard and did not meet the obligations stipulated in their contracts.

The MTA will be testing a new 65-foot-long prototype bus - which can hold up to 131 sitting and standing passengers - on the Orange Line busway for one year starting this week. Nicely done: L.A. City Councilman Richard Alarcon drafted a measure 2 months ago that would've drastically reduced traffic congestion on one block of one street in Panorama City - namely the one where his house is located. Who's down with Gov....

The MTA announced last week that in order to cover a $100 million budget deficit, officials are considering raising bus and train fares. According to a Los Angeles Times article: [MTA Chief Executive Roger] Snoble proposed increasing the standard $1.25 cash fare to $2, beginning Jan. 1, 2009. Day passes, which now cost $3, would increase to $5 in July and to $8 by 2009. Monthly passes, now $52, would cost $75 in July...

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...

Unless you spent the $225 for the series that includes Al Franken and Ann Coulter tonight at The Gibson, you’re out of luck. Rather, we recommend you check out local celebrity politico Eric Garcetti at the Improv Olympic on The Blank Blank Show in Hollywood.

The MTA has bumped into a gravesite of Chinese immigrants in construction of the Gold Line in Boyle Heights. It dates back to the late 1800s, when the Chinese in California had no rights — they were even charged to be buried in their own Potter's Field, while poor whites were buried for free.

The LA Times reported yesterday on the launch of the MTA's new plan to keep passengers apprised and amused while on board their buses via something called Transit TV. This week video monitors made their debut on some bus lines, broadcasting stimulating material such as trivia, news and sports headlines, and snippets of classic tv shows. The content, which seems to only be in English right now, but will eventually be shown in Spanish and other neighborhood-relevant languages, is refreshed every three hours, and, of course, includes banner ads and 15 minutes per hour of commercial time. Right now there are only two monitors; this will increase to 2,500 in the next year. While this seems like a good idea (and it's a gem of one for the MTA, since Transit TV is footing the bill and the MTA will share in a precentage of the advertising revenue) it also seems to be yet another sign that LA has yet again found a way to sell things and ideas under the guise of entertainment to captive audiences, like the same kind of screens and programming at Ralphs that started popping up in the past year or two.

The MTA board voted last week to take a very tentative step towards possibly considering that they may want to build a Red Line extension sometime in the not very near future.

Last week's tragic loss of life on the Metrolink system has, perhaps inevitably, led to a discussion of whether the cost/benefit ratio of LA's commuter train service justifies the huge taxpayer subsidies needed to keep the trains rolling.

Angelenos who do not suffer from an eating disorder (or who lack access to a skilled liposuctionist) and are subsequently trying to shed the subcutaneous remnants of a month's worth of rich holiday foods now have a new ally in the battle of the bulge: the MTA.

Neighborhood activists have succeeded in forcing the MTA to tone down the warning bells at crossings along the Gold Line route through South Pasadena. Their win in administrative court means the MTA must cut decibel levels on the electronic bell simulators (that's right, fake bells) from their current level of between 85 and 90 (about as loud as a garbage disposal) to somewhere around 75 dbs (an older window A/C unit).

The MTA has done a lot of bonehead things, and in this space we have enumerated many of them (but not all, not by a longshot), perhaps to the point of losing sight of those things the MTA gets right.

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?