I want to ride my bicycle
I want to ride my bike
I want to ride my bicycle
I want to ride it where I like.

Guest, May 20, 2009, 4:31 p.m., My Commute Sucks

For an ever so brief period, I lived in Los Feliz and commuted to Century City for work - at least an hour each way, every day.  After doing this for a summer, I decided: 1) there is absolutely no optimal way to get from one end of Santa Monica Blvd. to the other; and 2) this is ridiculous.  Those of us who are weary of our crappy commutes can go the Howard Beale route and scream frustrations out of their browswer windows on the Transportation for America’s My Commute Sucks website.  Launched on National Bike to Work Day last Friday, the site gives drivers, Los Angeles and otherwise, the chance to submit their war stories as part of a bid to convince The Powers That Be (i.e., Congress) to enact sensible and sustainable transportation options.   The site doesn’t have a search function, nor does it categorize vents by city so we can compare war stories, but from what I understand, these functionalities will be coming soon.

Photo courtesy ~db~ via the Metblogs Flickr pool.

Photo courtesy of Metro Library and Archive.

U.S. Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood announced today that the Metro Gold Line will receive $66.7 million in funds from the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009. The funds will be used for the Metro Gold Line Eastside Light Rail Extension.

“By getting these funds to the Los Angeles County Metropolitan Transportation Authority now, we’re providing a boost that will help this project keep moving forward while jump-starting the economy and putting people back to work,” Secretary LaHood said.

The East Side Extension is six miles of track that will connect the Gold Line at Union Station through Little Tokyo, Boyle Heights, and end in East Los Angeles at the intersection of Atlantic & Pomona Boulevards.

It is worth noting that today’s announcement doesn’t really mean any more money for the Gold Line. In 2004, the Feds agreed to provide $490.7 million of the $898.8 million total project cost. This was to be paid in annual increments through 2010.  The ARRA grant announced today doesn’t increase the federal commitment to the project; it just expedites funds already promised.

While Secretary LaHood was happy to announce the advance on our allowance, he did not mention a specific preference for what the Eastside Extension should be called.

When you get on that swanky new bullet train at Los Angeles Union Station for a weekend excursion to San Francisco, here is what your destination might look like.

Curbed SF has the new renderings for the Transbay Transit Center, which will feature “fountains spurting whenever a bus passes by underneath,” and San Francisco’s modern day version of our own Angels Flight (which may, or may not be re-opened by then). Look for it in the simulated animation at 1:32.
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By now, you’ve probably heard about Metro’s board giving the new Eastside Gold Line extension two different names. One in English: Edward R. Roybal Metro Gold Line Eastside Extension. The other in Spanish: La Linea de Oro, Edward R. Roybal. Both of which will prove to be a useless political move, as normal human beings will revert to the shorter, easier “Gold Line.”

The fact that Los Angeles County Supervisor Gloria Molina has forced this down our throats without any public input from the actual citizens who will have to pay for all of that new signage – twice – has already been hotly debated on sites like Curbed. And while the stupidity of some out-of-touch policitian making such a move will cost us millions in wasteful spending, there is a bigger issue here.

Instead of unifying the unique ethnic enclaves that make up this great city, Los Angeles is segregating them. Isolating them further into their own little pockets by the ever-growing language barrier. And for what purpose?

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Today was the official announcement from the White House of a new national high speed passenger rail network. A network of 10 regional corridors, including the California Corridor connecting Los Angeles to San Francisco, Sacramento and San Diego. A network that leaves some glaring gaps on the map.

Now may be a good time for California to start looking even further ahead. As the current plans stand, the California Corridor stands alone, isolated from the rest of the nation. The first logical step would be a connection with the Pacific Northwest Corridor, with its currently planned terminus in Eugene, OR.

But, here is the bigger question. Which route would really fire people up? Which project would generate a national sense of pride, not to mention unprecedented job creation and economic – dare I say it – stimulus?

High speed rail from Los Angeles to New York.

The idea of any major rail network is to connect major destinations. With construction of the planned Chicago Hub Network and the Northeast’s Keystone Corridor, we’re already halfway there. We need to start thinking about how we can connect the California Corridor to the Hub, which is currently terminating in Kansas City. Los Angeles - Las Vegas – Denver - Kansas City.

This marks an exciting day for anyone who travels. A true, national high speed rail network. A network that will probably be completed before the Metro Purple Line even reaches Westwood.

Photo by Me!

Today over at LAist, Zach tells of LASD teaming with DHS and ramping up random bag checks on L.A.’s metro rail lines. Apparently this practice started nine months ago, but due to an influx of federal funding, the program will be increasing in frequency.

I have nothing factual to add to this story, but I certainly have an opinion. That opinion is, “God. dammit!” Now a Metro system that was already of limited usefulness to me just became a little less palatable.

I am so f’ing tired of bag checks, taking off my shoes at the airport, cavity searches at the car wash…wait. Everyone else gets those too, right? Just me? Gotta stop asking for the “Deluxe Wash.”

Seriously, though, I don’t think I’m overreacting here. In case you hadn’t noticed, the terrorists have won. A terrorist’s objective is not to kill a few people; it is to cause terror among the masses. They have achieved their goal. They have caused us to abandon life as we knew it, and allow ourselves and our actions to be governed by fear. There are far too many people who are far too comfortable with the idea of opening up their bags anytime someone with a badge asks, in the name of “security.” That oft-used quote by Ben Franklin is true; those willing to give up liberty for security deserve neither.

What about it, Los Angeles? Are you as tired of this as I am? Or, am I way off base? Are you more than happy to submit to strip searches, as long as it means imagined back-pack bombs don’t get on the train with you? Here’s your chance to sound off.

(As an aside, I think it’s ironic that if you click on that DHS link above you’ll go to the Department of Homeland Security’s homepage, which features the tag line “Preserving Our Freedoms, Protecting America.” Italics mine.)

Yesterday while transferring between the Green and Blue line I encountered a group of officers enforcing fare payment armed with card readers for TAP.  I used a day pass on that occasion so I didn’t get to see them in action.  Plus, I was in a hurry.  So, this is a heads up to everyone out there using the TAP card.

As a side note, it seems logical to allow TAP card owners to buy a day pass and load it onto the card.  One of their selling points is the eco-friendly nature of the card.  Perhaps that is a feature to be added in the future.

I have been using the new Metro TAP card for a week now.  For the most part, I like it.  But, as with anything new and untested, I already have a list of areas that could use some improvement.

It isn’t always clear or convenient to TAP in when transferring from one line to the next.  At first, I figured it didn’t matter because I had paid for the entire week.  But I soon discovered by reading other people’s blogs about the whole system that the Metro can fine a rider for evasion of paying the fare if they fail to TAP in during a leg of their journey.  There’s a massive disconnect for me there.  How am I evading paying a fare when I’ve paid for the entire week?  It makes no sense.

The next bit of frustration I experienced was when I tried to register my TAP card so I could refill it via the internet.  I had already set up an account on a previous date.  But when I went to register my card, I couldn’t get it to work with that account.  Further, it seems that only monthly pass refills are available online.  As a fully jacked in participant of the digital world who relies upon the internet to function in many ways, being able to do such transactions would be ideal.  Yes, I understand that we can do it at any Metro station or the stores where the TAP cards are purchased but being able to fill my card on a Sunday night before a crazy week is far more convenient.

I think the TAP card has potential.  I still like it better than having tons of little pieces of paper filling my purse and pockets every week.

Overall, I’m starting to understand how illogical the entire Metro system is after listening to my New York City boyfriend talk about his experience in Gotham.  There is simply no way to cheat on fares without putting in some serious effort.  Everything is laid out in a practical, obvious fashion.  But many things in Los Angeles suffer from flash and style over substance.  It’s just how we do things here.  Unfortunately, in the case of public transportation, it doesn’t serve us well.

Rendering of Possible Alameda Gold Line Station, in Beautiful Downtown… Azusa???

Metro had another meeting today. They decided to move forward with Westward extensions of the Red & Purple Lines to somewhere, a Downtown Connector, further extension of the Gold Line from East L.A., and the Orange Line train bus to Chatsworth. Super. Start building the damned things already.

Just one question… Why is L.A. still ignoring one of the fastest-growing traffic nightmares in the city?

101-134-210. It’s not code. It’s three major freeways that bridge the gap between the two Valleys. Van Nuys. Sherman Oaks. Studio City. Universal City. Burbank. Glendale. Pasadena. Major job centers. Thousands of motorists playing a daily game of car jockey at 15mph.

Why isn’t the city addressing this region with any sort of urgency? Why aren’t there at least discussions on the table about a Metro Rail link between the San Fernando Valley and the San Gabriel?

I went back to Metro’s Long Range Transportation Plan to see if I missed something when it first came out.

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