The LaMetroMole with LACMTA Comments

The photo above is that of the sculpture on the north side of the Green Line El Segundo/Nash Station. I wanted to give the LACMTA a hand but perhaps they deserve only a finger, well technically, four fingers.

Just a reminder that all photographs and original written materials are copyrighted 2007 by LametroMole. Clicking a photo will often present you with an enlargement.

LA Times(1) “Defense” budget The only reason that I reference this article is to contrast the reporting, or rather lack of reporting, concerning the LACMTA's budgets. I did some research into the 2007 LACMTA budget and found this link – N.B. The Los Angeles Times seems unable to unearth this data.

The total annual resources of the LACMTA is $3,012,000,000, yes that is three billion twelve million dollars! The source of this annual “income” is as follows

Source Amount Percentage [as computed by your Mole]
Fare Revenue 279,000,000 9.2

Prop A Tax 675,000,000 22.4

Prop C Tax 760,000,000 25.2

Federal Grants 404,000,000 13.4

State Grants 183,000,000 6.0

Interest Income/Bonds 196,000,000 6.5

Other Local Revenue 515,000,000 17.0(a)

(a) Lots of money, ranked third among all sources, but no detail, Providing detail could tell us: was the Metro On-line Store making money :-)? and was TransitTV making a significant or any contribution to revenue? and etc, etc.

In reviewing expenses, I found that $830 million, 27.6% of all expenses, was in “Funds Programmed to Others”, i.e., amounts which CPAs might consider to be “Accounts Payable”. Again there was no detail, leaving one unable to evaluate whether say, “Security Expenses” were greater this year than last?, exactly how much was paid to the Sheriff's Department?, what, in my opinion unnecessary expenses, were the result of printing promotions and “America's Best[2006-2007]“ related?, how much does Roger Snoble's PR firm cost? and etc, etc.

If a private corporation who had $3 plus billion revenue and stock which was listed on the NYSE (New York Stock Exchange) and provided such a poor excuse for financial reporting, Federal warrants would fly!

My challenge to the Los Angeles Times, the Daily News et al., is to put a multi-skilled reporting team on the LACMTA's 2007 budget and see what they can find -- you know, like they did with the Drew-King expose.

LA Times(2) presented “America's Best[2006-2007]“ solution to the fact that Red Line trains have two destinations the last station in common being Wilshire-Vermont. The solution? Calling the segment that ends at Wilshire-Western the “Purple Line” and updating all maps and printed materials. This is somewhat akin to proposing towing your car to the paint shop for repainting when it won't start. Too, the LACMTA's colour coding “scheme” is somewhat like painting the deck chairs on the Titanic. It is something to do, it won't cause much harm but, it is not the solution to the underlying problem. The underlying problem is not one of identifying things on a map – it is a problem of communicating train destinations in a simple straightforward manner to potential passengers.

Colour coding vehicles used in public transportation has its' downside. The fleet utilization might decline due to an excess or shortage of vehicles of a given colour. The public could be confused by seeing the ”wrong”vehicle at their stop. In Japan one can occasionally see a green striped car coupled into the middle of a “blue” train and vice-versa.

On a weekend several weeks ago, as I rode very crowded Line 40 I wondered why “America's Best[2006-2007]“ did not use a larger 720 Rapid bus on the route. After all, the 720s do not run on weekends and the confusion factor would be minimal, with the bus making more stops rather than fewer, especially if the buses had a Line 40 head sign.

What needs to be done right NOW is to improve the signage used externally on the current Red Line trains.

The problem definition with the dual termini Red Line problem is: “How can we simplify the communication of the destination of a Red Line train to its' potential passengers? One answer, which I believe to be the most cost effective, is to enlarge the external destination signs which already exist on the outside and front of the train and MAKE THEM BRIGHTER. They are currently small in size and dark! Contrast the size of these tiny signs with those much larger head signs found on the Rapid Line buses.

Changing the maps colour keys for one segment of the line (the Wilshire-Western segment) is not the solution to the problem as stated. Standing on the platform with a beautiful map will not help.

In Japan, where they use a technique which I believe is unknown to the LACMTA, called “planning”. Planned a long, time ago was the central Tokyo transportation. It consists of the two concentric circles of track of the Yamanote Line. The outer circle travels clockwise around the “loop” and the inner circle counter clockwise. Other rail lines spoke out from some of the loop stations. In addition the east side of the loop has a tangential line which touches many of the eastern Yamanote Line stations. That, tangential line, is called the Keihin Tohoku Line. At one time, all Yamanote Line train cars were painted green. In the same time frame all Keihin Tohoku train cars were painted all blue. Currently newer model carriages use simple horizontal color accent strips. This color scheme makes sense, mostly at stations which come in contact with the tangential line, Keihin Tohoku Line, to prevent one from boarding the wrong train. Now, at any Yamannote line station, given that the stations are in the middle of the two concentric tracks confusion, for the Japanese at least, is minimized by excellent signage. In Japan signage in general, is FAR SUPERIOR to our signage and extremely superior with respect transportation systems. Either of the Yamanote line trains will get you to your destination station. Although choosing the wrong train will send you around the loop for a longer trip. Here are some links to pictures of the Yamanote Line color scheme and the Keihin Tohoku color scheme.

In the years which I lived and worked in Tokyo I have been a passenger on many of the Japanese train lines and learned to plan short fast routes using several transportation modes. Tokyoites would laugh at this relatively simple problem of the dual termini on the Red Line which the LACMTA is in the process of botching.Why would they laugh? The answer is in this link this link to part of the Tokyo transportation system here.

Locate the green circle of the Yamanote Line in the center of your screen. On the right side of the map you can then see the that the Keihin Tohoku (Blue) touches the Yamanote line (Green) between Tabata (top right) and Shinagawa (bottom right).

Japan offers easy to understand signage as well. When one is dealing with a 17 million population, it is unacceptable to have them wandering around trying to figure out how to use public transportation. An example of the signage found at all rail and subway stations – with several signs visible from various points along the often long platforms.

Basically, there are three parts to these signs. Think in terms of the letter “T”. Along the top of the “T” is written the name of THIS station. On the left side of the “T” the name of the station adjacent to this station in the direction of the arriving train. On the right side of the “T” the name of the station adjacent to this station in the direction of the departing train.

The signs are usually standardized for a given train/subway line but this sign configuration will appear in various sizes. There is a picture of one of here.

In the picture, you are standing on a platform at Minatomirai station. The train which you board will be headed next for Shin-Takashima Station and it came from the station immediately proir to Minatomirai which is Bashamichi.

If the current system implemented best practices, such as those implemented in Tokyo, we would be able to say to a friend who wanted to ride to the 7th and Metro Station downtown: “Take a Green Line train from Mariposa Station in the direction of Aviation Station, ride to Rosa Parks Station then transfer to the Blue line in the direction of 103rd Street Station and ride to the end of the line". In the case of the LACMTA, they tend to confuse things by giving the stations several names, some of which are NOT printed on the signs. Although it is nice to honour people by naming stations after them, it make for a difficult ride since the naming is not standardized. What can one expect when the system is "guided" by politicians.

I have been attempting to communicate the signage ideas described above to the LACMTA for years. It was/is an invitation for them to join the rest of us in the 21st Century and upgrade signage including the scrolling electronic signs which exist in every light rail and subway station. I advocate doing what the Bart (Bay Area Rapid Transit) has been doing for years – scrolling the destination of the arriving train, in addition to larger external signs on the train itself, on the signs. Presently, LACMTA signs uselessly scroll time and date or sometimes accident notification, station elevator out of service information, or at best the “Train Arriving” notification which appears about the same time as the train comes into view. Wouldn't expenditures to improve system signage be so much better than monies spent on changing the logos as they did several years ago or plastering everything with “America's Best[2006-2007]“ which is their current project.

BART signs post arrival – the inter-arrival information give the destination of the next few trains along with their ETA (Expected Time of Arrival) at the station where you are viewing the sign.

In San Francisco, these electronic signs in each station are bigger and scroll not only the destination but also the expected arrival time at the station in which one is waiting. The information could be force fitted into the current LACMTA electronic signage, e.g., No. Hollywood (10:23); Wilshire-Western (10:37). Only the computer systems need to be updated and perhaps not even that needs to be done. It is likely that the current computer system has the capacity to function as I suggest if reprogrammed. The station signs currently posted by my beloved LACMTA were not placed by design, rather they seem to be established at various heights and are often invisible to seated passengers. This means that in addition to not understanding the Red Line PA announcements you will also not be able to easily see the station signs. Or see that you are at a station immediately before your destination so that you can start preparing to exit.

But, why hasn't the LACMTA done this already? The answer is not because they are “Americas Best [2006-2007]” but ..Well, please, you fill in the blank.

The LACMTA has not updated the current on-train external destination Red Line signage to make them bigger and brighter and changed the in-station scrolling signs to include the destination and ETA (expected time of arrival of the next train for that platform or taken other actions to improve the system signage is because the LACMTA __________________________________________________________________. Use as many words as you require, however, no naughty words, please. Example: ... because the LACMTA only thinks that they are “Americas Best [2006-2007]”, in reality they are not. You can send your statement to the LACMTA via this link.

Note the link failed when I tested it today! You are not surprised? I reported it as "broken" and today, 2007-02-24, it is back in operation.

# posted by LAMETROmole @ 13:00