The Bus Bench

Former LA transit guy says: The Barbie Dream House of Public Transit is not real.

Rhetoric always seems to trump reality in the headline department. This has been evident as a fawning press and commentators have made the most of the decline in driving from high gas prices and the related increase in transit ridership. As gas prices rose to their above $4.00 peak, driving in the nation’s urban areas had declined 2.0 percent over a year. At the same time, transit ridership rose 3.3 percent, leading to the impression that transit ridership increases had accounted for most, if not more than the loss in driving.

Now, as gas prices dip below $2.00 nationally, $1.50 in some places and to their lowest point since well before Hurricane Katrina in 2005, there are indications that the new riders are returning to their cars. Here in the St. Louis area, where I live, prices are now $1.39, the lowest in the nation.

Wendell Cox,"From Rhetoric to Reality on Transit" New Geography

So according to Mr. Cox the reason that people were taking transit were not for green reasons or mother earth or for the reasons of global warming. Apparently public transit rise was directly connected to gas prices being high.

Oh my god!!!

Friday Night Rides: Cocktail Mass.

This Friday, 21 Nov, Metro experiments with late night Red Line service—and the Bus bench plans to be on board!

Join Browne, BusTard and other daring, soon-to-be merry straphangers as they go bar-hopping on the Red Line. We'll be going around downtown but are starting at Traxx bar at Union Station at 10:30 p.m. We'll be heading out from there around 11:30 p.m.

They'll be disguises and cocktails.

 

There will be time enough to stumble back home, as the Red Line will be running until 3 a.m.

Angels Flight Finally Reopens, Um, Like—Soon?

After nearly a decade of promised openings, Angels Flight is finally ready to take flight for a third time.

Sitting in The Middle of 5th Street

Good thing I had my camera to document the foolish position that best describes sitting in the middle of a one-way street facing away from traffic!

-BusTard

Pershing Square: What Was, What IS and what will never be. . .

Being a fan of cartography, typography, illustration and print, I was excited to take some time from my itinerary of fighting, drinking and satire to drink in the Central Library's latest exhibit, L.A. Unfolded: Maps from The Los Angeles Public Library. It is a decent exhibit (the garish lighting against the Plexiglass and protective glass coverings is rather annoying, to state the least) yet one that I highly recommend. The late 19th Century maps on display are small in number but certainly worth the trip; here are a few, after the jump. . .

Is Metro Hiring? They Should Be.

We have all heard that adage about good help being hard to find. Apparently, Metro Customer Relations Manager Tom Horne has abandoned any desire to overcome this bulwark of human nature and just let L.A. transit be plain LAzy.

Stay Hotel. Fishbowl living in microlofts.

 

I was walking home from the 51 bus and I saw people in the display rooms at Stay. I had been looking out for them since it was brought up at Angelenic that Stay would be having fishbowl rooms.

I wonder how cheap the rent is?

Browne

Don't let Metro get it's Golden Ticket. Yes on R

I’m voting for Measure R

I don’t believe anything is going to happen in regards to service if Measure R passes. You know what I think Measure R is.? Metro’s Golden Ticket.

It’s Metro’s Golden Ticket to get out of things they promised they were going to do and they know they can’t do it (or rather won‘t do.) You know things like the Gold Line. As I have stated since last year the Gold Line will never happen, not in the way Metro said it was going to happen.

They were just people and this was MY stuff!!!

Just People.

I’m on the bus and this a**hole is on her cell phone, taking up two seats, ignoring dirty looks, just being a total ass. The bus was standing room only. Mothers with babies, elderly and disabled people were packing on. A guy with a cane stood next to her, but she didn’t care. Her stuff was more valuable than everyone on the bus. When she got off the bus, she was completely oblivious to her surroundings. She ran over an old lady's foot and she didn’t even say excuse me, because she was texting someone about a bar.

“The Cole thing is next month, darn,” selfish public transitist.

Maybe I'm too much of a girl, but this is gross.

I’m conflicted about this. I know times are hard, but people on the bus with the big trash bags full of recyclables sitting in the front of the bus, well that needs to stop. This is exactly the kind of thing that makes people not want to take the bus in Los Angeles.

It’s disgusting, it smells, I am sure it has some kind of disease spreading ability and I find it gross.