SPECIAL REPORT: Higher gas prices create boon for Gold Line ridership (I Will Ride.org.)

SPECIAL REPORT: Higher gas prices create boon for Gold Line ridership

Link: http://www.iwillride.org/?p=1017
Posted by Rodrigo

People make use of the Metro Gold Line at Lake Station in Pasadena Tuesday morning, April 26, 2011. Metro officials say 3,000 more people per day rode the Gold Line this March as compared to March 2010, a 10 percent increase as gas prices topped $4 a gallon in Los Angeles County. (SGVN/Staff Photo by Sarah Reingewirtz)

By Hector Gonzalez, Staff Writer

05/01/2011 06:05:31 PM PDT, Whittier Daily News

Gold Line riders at a glance

Average daily ridership (weekdays) on the Gold Line has steadily increased during the past five years, reaching a new high of more than 35,000 riders last month, according to Metro ridership figures:

• 2006: 16,778
• 2007: 18,776
• 2008: 20,514
• 2009: 23,681*
• 2010: 31,829

*The Eastside Extension opened in November 2009. Metro officials believe the opening helped spike ridership.

PASADENA – As the price of regular gas broke above $4 a gallon in Los Angeles County in March, ridership on Metro’s Gold Line reached a new high, climbing 10 percent compared to March 2010, transit officials said.

Not surprisingly, that’s been the trend almost since the $859 million, 13.7-mile rail line from Pasadena to Union Station opened in July 2003: Each spike in gasoline prices since then has corresponded with jumps in the Gold Line’s average daily ridership.

This year ridership increased from 31,544 in March 2010 to 35,544 in March 2011 – 3,000 more riders per day on average than in 2010, and 10,000 more than in March 2009, Los Angeles County Metropolitan Transportation Authority numbers show.

For the first time, the Gold Line has consistently surpassed its original daily ridership projections of 26,000 to 32,000.

And it follows the gas/ridership correlation. In March, the average gallon price for self-serve regular passed $4 in Los Angeles County for the first time since June 2008, when it hit an all-time record of $4.63 a gallon.

In June 2008, Gold Line ridership spiked – from around 18,000-20,000, where it had hovered throughout 2006 and 2007, to about 26,300.

It’s riders such as George Cabado, who was taking the Gold Line home recently from his job in Pasadena to Boyle Heights, who have helped boost ridership by opting to ditch their cars for the train, transit officials said.

“No comparison,” Cabado said, displaying the $1.50 fare he paid to board the line at the Lake Avenue Station. “In my van I was spending $20 a day.”

At the same time, Cabado said, work in his construction field has dwindled, leaving him with mass transit as his cheapest commuting option.

MTA officials believe Gold Line ridership numbers would be much higher if not for the county’s pervasive 12percent unemployment rates, spokesman Jose Ubaldo said. Ridership on Metro’s still-forming rail system tends to reflect the number of people out of work, he said.

A look at ridership on Metro’s other rail lines shows it fell last month compared to March 2010, and that includes the Red Line, one the most heavily used. It saw a drop from 155,463 in March 2010 to 144,093 last month. Green Line and Blue Line ridership also decreased last month, MTA figures showed.

Those lines traverse areas of high unemployment, at or above the county average of 12 percent, including downtown and South Los Angeles. Pasadena’s unemployment rate, meanwhile, stood at about 9 percent.

“It’s a different story now than in 2008,” when sticker shock at the pump sent drivers in droves to mass transit, Ubaldo said. “Now, people are more used to the higher gas prices, but with the recession, a lot of people are not working. There are fewer people now who need to take the bus or train to work.”

But the Gold Line differs from Metro’s other rail lines in ways that have helped shield it from the impacts of the recession. The median yearly income of Gold Line users, for example, is about $42,500, compared to $11,250 for Red and Blue line transit users, according to a 2004 study by researchers at UCLA.

Regional Connector Testing Continues (LA Downtown News)

Regional Connector Testing Continues

Geotechnical Study Means Lane Closures, Noise

http://www.ladowntownnews.com/articles/2011/05/10/news/doc4dc9837b40439398713388.txt

Published: Tuesday, May 10, 2011 11:28 AM PDT

DOWNTOWN LOS ANGELES – Various lane closures and other traffic controls will be in place this week as the Los Angeles County Metropolitan Transportation Authority continues its geotechnical testing along the two-mile Regional Connector route this week.

The agency is locating utilities and performing soil borings, and noise and vibration tests as part of an ongoing environmental analysis for the project.

The test samples and data collected will provide information on subsurface conditions, allowing engineers to determine optimal excavation and construction methodologies of the planned underground tunnel and three stations.

Part of the testing will include “Sonic Core Drilling,” which measures noise and vibration in relation to geotechnical conditions and existing infrastructure.

The planned locations of the testing activities are:

May 10, 2011: Second Street at Main Street, Olive and Spring streets; and Gen. Kosciuszko Way between Hope and Flower streets.

May 11, 2011: Second at Los Angeles, Spring, and Olive streets; Alameda between First and Temple streets; Gen. Kosciuszko Way between Hope and Flower streets.

May 12, 2011: Second at San Pedro, Spring and Olive streets, and Gen. Kosciuszko Way, between Hope and Flower streets.

May 13, 2011: Second at San Pedro Street and Central Avenue; Flower at Third, Fifth and Sixth Streets; and at Second and Olive streets.

The project’s final environmental impact report is expected to be adopted by the end of 2011, with the possible initiation of construction in 2013. The project will provide three new stations, serving approximately 90,000 transit passengers daily. For more information about the Regional Connector, the public can leave a message at (213) 922-7277 or visit metro.net/regionalconnector. For day-to-day testing location updates, visit twitter.com/metroconnector.

©Los Angeles Downtown News. 

Expo design process gets going (Santa Monica Daily Press)

Expo design process gets going
http://www.smdp.com/Articles-c-2011-05-10-71791.113116-Expo-design-process-gets-going.html

By Ashley Archibald

May 11, 2011

CIVIC CENTER — Exposition Construction Authority and design-builder Skanska/Rados representatives played to a packed crowd at the Civic Center Monday night to describe the project and elicit community input for the second phase of the Expo Light Rail line, which will terminate in Santa Monica.

It wasn't clear if they achieved their goal.

"I was going there expecting to hear more about what was being proposed, and not really getting that," said Planning Commissioner Gwynne Pugh, who attended the meeting as a civilian.

Expo CA advertising billed the meeting as a kick off to meet the contractor, Skanska/Rados, and learn about the design process and timeline.

The meeting began with a presentation that sketched a vague outline of the process moving forward, beginning with a design phase that's expected to take 18 months.

Construction will begin before the design is complete, said Mike Aparicio, project manager for Skanska Civil USA.

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Skanska is part of a joint venture with Steve P. Rados, Inc., which will build the project.

"We will be getting the design done as we work," Aparicio said.

The builder committed to regular meetings with the community to get feedback, as well as to forming two groups — the Urban Design Committee and Bikeway Advisory Committee — with representatives from the public to make sure residents' voices get heard throughout the process.

Elements of the project that community members can have meaningful impact on are few and far between, however.

The alignments of the project, physical aspects of the structures and station locations have all been mostly determined, Aparicio said.

"In the summer, there will be meetings for landscaping, the color palettes and finishes," Aparicio said. "As other issues demand attention, we'll be making sure the community and builders have a partnership."

City Hall, Expo CA and Skanska/Rados are still in negotiations about several elements of the route, said Kate Vernez, assistant to the city manager.

While city staff were able to secure a second entrance to the Fourth Street terminus, things like side platforms at Bergamot Station — which would allow passengers to cross through the station rather than walk around it past 26th Street — are still in discussion.

"We started meeting with them in late February, and they got the contract in March," Vernez said, referring to Skanska/Rados. "We've been meeting every Monday since that. Along the way, the city requests certain aspects of the design be looked at."

Then, the design team negotiates with City staff about the cost of the requested changes, and whether or not the alterations can be included in the base cost of the light rail line, or if City Hall needs to pony up the extra.

How much City Hall is willing to spend to secure its preferred designs hasn't been determined yet, Vernez said.

"First, we have to understand what the costs are," she said.

City Councilman Kevin McKeown attended the meeting, and expressed concern that some aspects of the design and process may not please Santa Monicans who are used to getting more involved in large projects.

"Santa Monicans are used to responsive local control over local issues, but with the construction of the Expo line, we're working with a regional entity whose mandate is budget and schedule," McKeown wrote in an e-mail Tuesday. "The stations and right-of-way that Expo proposes might not live up to local expectations, and I hope we schedule a full public hearing at the City Council soon to discuss improvements to the baseline plan, and how to fund them."

Also of concern were questions about the bike path that will run alongside the light rail line from 17th Street to Downtown Los Angeles.

Bicyclist Eric Weinstein noted that the supposed bikeway next to the Bergamot Station stop was now being billed as a "multi-use pathway," which accommodates both pedestrians and bicyclists.

"The multi-use pathway ceases to be an effective solution when you're going 20 to 25 miles an hour," Weinstein said. "We'd like the design to bring the bike path separate from pedestrians."

The light rail train is still expected to arrive in 2015. Utility work will begin in the fall, with major construction beginning somewhere around Feb. 1.

ashley@smdp.com

In Crenshaw, Overwhelming Enthusiasm for Leimert Park Station

In Crenshaw, Overwhelming Enthusiasm for Leimert Park Station

For Residents of the Crenshaw Corridor the issue has nothing to do with
Measure R Funds, they just want a station at Leimert Park. Photo: Waltarr/Flickr

by Damien Newton on May 5, 2011

A recent motion by Supervisor Mark Ridley-Thomas calling for grade
separation for nearly the entire Crenshaw Corridor and a second station
at Leimert Park, has become one of the most controversial Metro
proposals in recent memories.  Transit advocates across the region worry
about the impact on other Measure R projects, especially because the
motion wants to look at moving funds for expansion of the Green Line or
Expo Line to fund the additional projects.  You can read more details
about the proposal, here.

But in news papers up and down the Crenshaw Corridor, there is
unanimous support for the ideas of both grade separating the line and
especially for the Leimert Park Station.

An editorial in the L.A. Sentinel
asks the question, “why isn’t there a station planned for Leimert
Park?”  The park and businesses surrounding it is viewed by many as the
cultural center of South Los Angeles, and seems to be a natural fit for a
rail station, above or below ground.  The editorial is full of
supportive quotes from politicians and advocates, but this comment by
the Michael Jones of the Crenshaw Chamber of Commerce captures the
argument for both Leimert Station and a grade-separated Crenshaw Line:

There are two things involved here. One is Metro is
saying they don’t want to do it because it cost too much money; so
that’s a concern that they have.

However, when you look at Leimert coming up … the Vision Theater,
the renovated shops and the businesses that will follow, for that train
NOT to stop at Vernon and Crenshaw, will be a travesty to the
community. The other part is that the train must run underground
between 48th Street and 59th Street. Why? Because the time it will take
to build two train tracks in the middle of Crenshaw, the businesses
will be affected in a very, very bad way.

Our Weekly has published Opinion pieces in each of its last two editions by a pair of Ph.D.’s promoting the Station and grade-separation.  Last week, Dr. Anthony Asadullah Samad makes the same point slightly more succinctly.

Urban centers are designed around two things: schools and
mass transit. Business comes where the transit stops, and homeowners
come where the schools are. The money then follows both.

Until our community understands that mis-designing mass transit is a

detriment to the economic development prospects of our community, we
will never see the change we desire.

When we get it, they get it.

This week,
David Horne calls for the Corridor’s black community to come out and
support the Ridley-Thomas motion at this month’s meeting of the Metro
Board of Directors.  He notes that the early morning schedule for the
meeting makes attendence difficult, but this may be the community’s only
chance to get the station, and separation, they want.

But the board will have to be convinced to do so. In
order for that proposal to be successful, we all need some real booties
in the balcony. Black folk need to be seen in the aisles, halls and in
the seats to demonstrate our sustained interest in the supervisor’s
proposal. No people, no pressure, and no positive vote. That’s how it
works. So get there.

Last, but never least, Damien Goodmon writes in The Wave that building the Leimert Station isn’t just good for the Crenshaw community, but the entire city:

The plight of the Crenshaw business community should
concern us all. If Los Angeles is a salad bowl filled with a mixture of
cultures from throughout the world, Crenshaw must be the dressing. Our
region should no more welcome the destruction of the Crenshaw business
community than it should Little Tokyo or Chinatown. Crenshaw is as
much a part of our unique identity as a multicultural city, as any
other ethnic center. We must both preserve it and enhance it with the
Crenshaw-LAX Light Rail Line.

One thing that doesn’t appear in any of these opinion pieces is a
broader discussion of Metro finances or an analysis of whether the
Crenshaw Line is more or less important than the Expo Line or Green
Line.  The issue isn’t about the larger Measure R picture, its just
about an effort to get the rail line that they feel makes the most sense
for the community.

A Royal Event for the Expo Line

Joel Epstein

Communications and public affairs professional, urbanist

Though my invitation to the royal wedding appears to have gotten lost
in the mail, I was pleased to have received an invitation to the recent
tour of the Expo Line station at Western and Exposition. And at the cost of a Metro Day Pass,
the amount I spent on travel to the event sure beat the airfare to
London and the price of all the special clothes I would have had to have
bought for the wedding.

True, the intersection of Western and Exposition is hardly
Westminster Abbey or LA's most inviting corner for that matter. A gas
station, a donut shop, a couple of bodegas or whatever they're
called in LA, and now, a gleaming new Metro light rail line. That is
what greeted me last Monday when I got off the bus at around nine in the
morning to join the festivities. I was there for a press event with
the local politicians who on the whole have supported the project. And
in spite of the gray sky and cool weather, it was a great occasion.
Here is what I saw: a train waiting on the east side of the intersection
to roll into the westbound station, newly planted trees along
Exposition Blvd and a for-now graffiti-free train platform that every
day is looking more and more like the working station it will soon be.

Expo, for those who may not know, is LA Metro's latest addition to a
growing network of subways, light rail lines and Rapid buses designed to
make getting around this congested city easier. Aided by Metro's
recently rolled out real-time NextBus
app, which tells you when the bus will actually arrive at your stop,
getting to the event (three buses), was no biggie. Since my travel
around LA generally involves a transfer or two, NextBus has dramatically
improved my transit experience. Anyhow, for the chance to see Expo on
track, this was one occasion I would have endured delays and even twice
the number of potholes we rumbled over.

Standing together on the platform with a ratio of 1.5 reporters to
every politician, the event was a sweet taste of what will hopefully
start running for real in November. Aptly named Thanksgiving is when
Expo Phase 1 from downtown LA to just shy of downtown Culver City starts
operating. That will be a great day, but already Exposition Blvd with
its new rails and stations is looking better than it has in years.

While most of the politicians used their few minutes at the mic to
offer a sound bite about how exciting it is to see this much-fought-over
line almost operational, I spent the morning thinking about what Expo's
arrival says about how far LA has come it its thinking about public
transit. The Gold Line extension to East LA, Expo to Santa Monica, a
Crenshaw light rail line, the subway extension to west of the 405 and a
bus rapid transit (BRT) line on Wilshire Blvd, all speak to Angelenos'
recognition that there has to be an alternative to sitting in traffic on
the freeway and on LA's clogged surface streets. With the wind at our
back, America Fast Forward, the patriotically renamed 30/10 Initiative,
is where LA is going, and for more and more of us, Metro is taking us
there. Now, to speed that ride, if we can just pair the aggressive
transit-building initiative with bus boarding improvements like a TAP
reader on the left-hand side of the boarding area we'll be all set. A
repositioned or added TAP reader will speed boarding especially on busy
routes like the Wilshire 720 Rapid. Hey, San Francisco already does this. Maybe we should too.

Yours in transit,

Joel

Metro's Constellation Blvd Station, Donald Trump and the Truth

Joel Epstein

Communications and public affairs professional, urbanist

With Kate and William finally off somewhere alone and Osama Bin Laden gone from the scene it is time to bring the conversation back to the circus at home. And what better freak show to start with than the P.T. Barnum of our time, The Donald.

Watching Donald Trump as he plays and replays the non-story of President Obama' birthplace and pretends that he is anything other than an apprentice preening for the presidency, I can't help but think of another effort to obfuscate the community's judgment. And as opposed to whether or not the president needs to show us his birth certificate, this issue actually matters.

Unlike the birther fiction, spun by the Obama haters into a deadly twister, it is important to this transit rider and to all Angelenos that Metro choose the best location for the Wilshire subway station in Century City. And just when we thought we might actually get one, along comes a campaign of lies and half-truths custom-made to hold up the train.

With the local Beverly Hills press little more than a mouthpiece for the handful of Beverly Hillbillies hellbent on stopping the line short of Constellation Blvd, it is critical that residents of Beverly Hills as well as the rest of LA County know the truth about the best station location.

Though Constellation would attract the most riders, opponents of the station are shameless in their ongoing voodoo engineering campaign about the danger of tunneling under part of the high school property and a few homes in the southern part of 90210. The Beverly Hills School Board, which is leading the charge against the best station location, is spending scarce education dollars that should be going to the three Rs to line the pockets of the three Ls -- the Board's shameless lawyers, lobbyists, and PR lackeys. So far, the Board has somehow funneled north of $400,000 into their wrongheaded drive to show Metro who is boss.

How and why the good citizens of Beverly Hills have let the Board get away with this is beyond reason. If it were my tax dollars at work, I'd have long ago used Google, Facebook and Twitter to assemble a crowd in front of City Hall calling for the School Board's exile to Sharm el-Sheikh or somewhere uninviting out in the Mojave.

To the Beverly Hills taxpayers and to others following this ugly fight, I say don't believe what you read in the Beverly Hills Courier and on the website the School Board has created to deceive the public about Constellation Blvd. The Board and their PR flacks seem to live by the credo, who needs the pesky truth when you can blind them with falsehoods and heated personal attacks on Metro staff? And who doesn't love the Board's favorite canard that Metro is doing the bidding of the Century City developers in proposing a station at Constellation? Like the TV ads for gas-sipping muscle cars and hybrid SUVs, why focus on facts when you can spin a web of deception that makes for an effective clog in the wheels of the train?

As for the Hillbillies' preferred alternative, Santa Monica Blvd. and Avenue of the Stars, there's no there there. Plain and simple, it is a less desirable station location.

For the sake of all Angelenos and the overdue subway to the Westside, it is time to mute the misguided School Board. Only then, when the Board has lost its city-issued credit card, will we see how far their broken megaphone carries. Constellation Blvd is the best choice for the Wilshire Subway Station in Century City.

Yours in transit,

Joel