2010-05-28
Vae Viator3
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Memorial Day, May 31, 2010 is a sad day for many families. It is a day on which they and we, remember those who gave their lives in service to our country. Let us never forget that our freedom is not free and the price was paid by many who did not live to enjoy that freedom.
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Culver City buses identify their drivers by scrolling the driver’s I.D. number on the inside display panel. This Mole believes, and he has simulated the idea in the photo above, that the LACMTA should do the same thing along with bus number and echo the driver’s ID on the outside headsign as well; alternated with the bus number, route information and etc.
Memorial Day, May 31, 2010 is a sad day for many families. It is a day on which they and we, remember those who gave their lives in service to our country. Let us never forget that our freedom is not free and the price was paid by many who did not live to enjoy that freedom.
_________________________________________________________________
Culver City buses identify their drivers by scrolling the driver’s I.D. number on the inside display panel. This Mole believes, and he has simulated the idea in the photo above, that the LACMTA should do the same thing along with bus number and echo the driver’s ID on the outside headsign as well; alternated with the bus number, route information and etc.
To understand why the particular operator whose I.D. number is identified on the scroll was selected for special recognition, read the explanation (vide infra) under The Mole Rides …”. I also use this technique to illustrate to the LACMTA how to implement what Culver City has already done. Basically there is no driver supervision on Metro buses and it is often difficult to identify a given driver. The method shown above would use the drivers “login ID” and would be clearly visible for all riders. The passenger feedback about driver behaviour should prove to be a valuable management tool for the LACMTA. Click on the photo and you may see an enlargement.
Then too, although this is not driver #75460’s bus, it was suitable for the “scroll” modification and it also shows a “whois” bumper sticker, new examples of which can still found throughout the system. Apparently, due to its’ lack of success in the courts the LACMTA declines to prosecute the simple to find and easy to identify perpetrator of these defacements.
I have very un-positive feelings about the future of mass transit here in Los Angeles and even less confidence that rapid transit will every have much of a future here. There are two primary reasons why su Topo is so down on the LACMTA and the transportation possibilities which it can offer to us in the future.
First, politics here serves as a strong retarding force on any ideas, especially good ones, that could possibly be considered by the LACMTA. The population as a whole is virtually never considered, when even a small subset of transportation alternatives are under discussion. The makeup of the LACMTA makes everything take on a district read officer-holder, slant.
Secondly, is our unfortunate failure as a species to evolve. A case in point: the automobile. Cars are unnecessarily expensive, use scarce resources, contribute to pollution AND global warming and on and on. Yet, as a nation or as individuals we are attempting to restart our economy by further investment in automobile manufacturing. We could think about what is in our self interest, devote financial resources to improved health or better housing on an almost endless list of human needs; but no, we want our Lexus, Corvette, BMW or Maserati.
Thirdly, and closely related to the second point above, is our failure to act politically in our self-interest. Rather, and this is well and sufficiently illustrated by our last presidential election. Many of the electorate preferred to react emotionally to catch phrases like “Change” and issues that played a role disproportionate to their importance to one’s daily life e.g., abortion, homosexual “marriage” and etc.
The result is that truly progressive agendas are derailed; the population is fragmented into voting blocks which are easily controllable and serve to hinder progress rather than giving impetus to it.
To understand one scenario which might result from the political forces at work and at rest see (6) immediately below.
If you want to know more about political influence then I suggest The Thin Red Line(6). Here, from the abstract, is just a sample: “This article extends this critique from cost and patronage forecasting to other aspects of transit planning, particularly routing and tunneling safety evaluations, through a case study of the planning for the Wilshire "Red Line" subway in Los Angeles—a long-debated and still active project. Specifically, we examine the decision-making process behind the decades of planning of the Wilshire Red Line subway, which has seen conventional routing and alignment studies alternately manipulated, ignored, and blocked in response to the shifting views of key public officials.”
Chaos is a name for any order that produces confusion in our minds.
George Santayana,(Jorge Augustín Nicolás Ruiz de Santillana)
(1863-1952), Philosopher
The Mole read the papers and other things, so you don’t have
to.
to.
AmNY reports(1) that although the jobs of 478 station agents, who provide, in addition to other tasks, a measure of security, were saved; yet 1,000 other employees of the NYC MTA have their jobs on the line. “—and that could mean dirtier trains.” Of course that is not an option here because our trains are about as dirty as they can get.
A Los Angeles Times article(2) discusses the appointment of the new California High-Speed Rail Authority head. The piece points out that the potential head, yet unapproved by Schwarzenegger, has been deeply involved with train manufacturing. His perhaps, soon-to-be old firm, has an interest in the high-speed rail project. This, from the article: “Routing and financing controversies continue to boil. But the agency is committed to breaking ground on the Bay Area-to-Anaheim line in two years so it can collect $2.25 billion in Obama administration stimulus money.” N.B., it is neither, to provide much needed transportation on the San Francisco to Anaheim route nor giving Southern Californians a transportation link deemed so necessary by all but rather, “so it can collect $2.25 billion in Obama administration stimulus money. [emphasis added]” These guys could work for the LACMTA as they share a focus on getting any and all the dollars that they can.
Why am I not surprised? The more things change the more they remain the same!
Atlantic Magazine’s Christine Russell covers Mexico City’s BRT (Bus Rapid Transit)(3). Please read this short well-written article, but first just a sample: “In 2005, a mere three years after planning began, clean, energy-efficient, high-capacity buses began carrying passengers down dedicated bus lanes on Avenida de los Insurgentes, the city's main north-to-south traffic artery and one of the world's longest urban avenues. Since then, expansion of the Insurgentes line and the addition of a second line has resulted in about 450,000 passengers each day riding buses running on clean-burning ultra low sulfur diesel fuel along routes currently totaling 51 kilometers (about 32 miles).”
Now we have a, so-called “Rapid” system. But in reality it is not technically rapid transit because it competes with other modes of transportation for the roadway (Please see the entry in La Taupe's Abréviations, below).
Further, time wise, it is NOT deterministic. A week ago or so I noted that three of our 720 Line “Rapid” buses were running back-to-back all of them carrying much less than capacity which has resulted in this Mole’s describing them more completely as “moving fewer slightly faster and more expensively.” La Taupe would like to expand this description with the phrase “while bypassing many potential passengers” suffixed.
The Daily News, last month(4), addressed the July 1, 2010 fare increase. The LACMTA’s approach is to “… set a public meeting on the rate hikes for May 8 at 10 a.m. in the board room at Metro headquarters, One Gateway Plaza, in downtown Los Angeles.” This a the typical LACMTA, umm, “ploy” – set a meeting at a time and place which many will find difficult to make and then offer them the chance to express themselves, an action designed to silence many others. Why not have the meeting on a Wednesday noon at the Los Angeles Athletic Club, open to only those who have achieved toastmaster’s rank of Advanced Leader – Silver. Or might that be too transparent.
People are out of work guys! They can hardly be expected to come up with the old base fare of $1.25 much less an increase of 20% to $1.50. The LACMTA is expecting people to show up and what? Cheer about the increase?? Or will they say: “We interpret the lack of attendance at the meeting to mean a hearty endorsement of the fare increase.” This Mole says “Cancel projects and keep the faring structured as it is currently, which is actually too high for the service offered; no bus service except at peak hours in many areas; no linkage to the rail lines (think 439 line) between about 10:00 and 15:00; and silly routes that make unnecessary loops (think northbound 232 Line and Mariposa Station). Then try to tell this Mole how efficient you are and how praiseworthy your drivers are. Your Mole responds with the “H” word, ¡huelga!
In a http://rawstory.com piece from AFP (Agence France-Presseentitled “Earth may be too hot for humans by 2300: study”(5) we find that some scientists are predicting a hostile world for us, read our descendants, in just 300 years. The piece cites the burning of fossil fuels as the cause. La Taupe would like to have his say regarding the contributing factors. Which this Mole believes to be: our selfish focus on personal automobiles; extreme reluctance to recycle; rampant consumerism; distain for mass transit; and a lack of understanding about exactly how much punishment mother earth will take from us.
By the way, AFP is the organization which provides my favourite source for French and European news, www.France24.com/fr/ or www.France24.com .
Your Mole considers himself to be a realist and as such has become concerned by the future which is predicted for our beautiful home planet by the effects of global warming.
Now he has been given cause for our financial future. On the morning of May 26th he was up early and tuned his radio to KPFK 90.7FM so that he could hear Democracy Now at 6 A.M. He heard the end of the “What’s Happening” program (Until late August 2010, you can listen too, at http://archive.kpfk.org/parchive/m3u.php?mp3fil=27214 ).
The captivating speaker at that time, I later learned, was Gerald Celente who recommended seeing documentary film, “Meltup”, on youtube.
Mr. Celente, who has a great sense of humour, described WalMart in the “Meltup” film as having the ambiance of a large self storage space [Mole’s paraphrase], also has a web site at: http://www.trendsresearch.com/index.htm . You might consider watching the 5 plus minute introductory video on his site. He sells subscriptions to “The Trends Journal” at the site.
Later in the day I found the video at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eb1n1X0Oqdw. At that time, this under 55 minute, highly professional film had over 400,000 views.
I encourage to see it in it’s entirety – there were a few terms which need further explanation: U6 = is developed from: [U1 - Percentage of labor force unemployed 15 weeks or longer; U2 - Percentage of labor force who lost jobs or completed temporary work; U3 - Official unemployment rate per ILO [International Labor Organization of theUN, Mole] definition; U4 - U3 + "discouraged workers", or those who have stopped looking for work because current economic conditions make them believe that no work is available for them; U5 - U4 + other "marginally attached workers", or "loosely attached workers", or those who "would like" and are able to work, but have not looked for work recently; U6 - U5 + Part time workers who want to work full time, but cannot due to economic reasons. All found at http://portalseven.com/employment/unemployment_rate_u6.jsp . Hedonics = the branch of psychology that deals with pleasurable and unpleasurable states of consciousness [thanks to: http://dictionary.reference.com ]. Short/long, short = selling borrowed securities on the belief that they can be purchased at a lower and delivered to a counterparty, naked short = the same as short except, the seller doesn’t have any access to the securities the he is selling, long = holding securities as a longer term investment or simply having the stock without expressing an intention as in: “I am long on IBM”. Bullish/bearish – bullish = optimistic viewpoint, expecting stock prices to rise, bearish = pessimistic viewpoint, expecting stock prices to fall.
I encourage to see it in it’s entirety – there were a few terms which need further explanation: U6 = is developed from: [U1 - Percentage of labor force unemployed 15 weeks or longer; U2 - Percentage of labor force who lost jobs or completed temporary work; U3 - Official unemployment rate per ILO [International Labor Organization of theUN, Mole] definition; U4 - U3 + "discouraged workers", or those who have stopped looking for work because current economic conditions make them believe that no work is available for them; U5 - U4 + other "marginally attached workers", or "loosely attached workers", or those who "would like" and are able to work, but have not looked for work recently; U6 - U5 + Part time workers who want to work full time, but cannot due to economic reasons. All found at http://portalseven.com/employment/unemployment_rate_u6.jsp . Hedonics = the branch of psychology that deals with pleasurable and unpleasurable states of consciousness [thanks to: http://dictionary.reference.com ]. Short/long, short = selling borrowed securities on the belief that they can be purchased at a lower and delivered to a counterparty, naked short = the same as short except, the seller doesn’t have any access to the securities the he is selling, long = holding securities as a longer term investment or simply having the stock without expressing an intention as in: “I am long on IBM”. Bullish/bearish – bullish = optimistic viewpoint, expecting stock prices to rise, bearish = pessimistic viewpoint, expecting stock prices to fall.
After viewing “Meltdown”, I visited http://www.inflation.us/ which had a link on the first page of the “Meltup” film.
The sum total of this experience was that your Mole now has more to worry about, in short, hyperinflation causing: food riots, revolution, a dramatic increase in crime, the U.S. supply, if it still exists, is only about enough to fund on month’s governmental expenditures, no social security payment therefore, no future retirement to a comfortable burrow for this Mole and etc.
I hope that this scenario will not come to pass, but, the film has convincing evidence that a bright economic future does not lie before us. Please draw your own conclusions after seeing the film.
Ear to the Rail
Wishes do come true. At last this Mole can bring you an MP3 from NYC which features my favourite transportation writer, Heather Haddon of amNY (www.amNY.com) . In this podcast, hosted by nyctracks, she talks about [NYC]MTA project cuts.
They found $40 million in savings due to cuts and delays. Go to
Then click on play above “Podcast #2: NYCTracks w/ Heather Haddon of amNY and Ben Kabak of SecondAveSagas.com -- April 9”. There is also a Podcast #3 and perhaps by the time you read this there will be others. La Taupe is always on the lookout for methods by which complexity can be reduced. The derivative market can be very complex but, here is derivatives made simple by Marketplace Senior Editor Paddy Hirsch. http://marketplace.publicradio.org/display/web/2009/10/15/whiteboard-derivatives/
This Mole believes that Mr. Hirsch has achieved an irreducible minimum in simplicity when he uses the purchase of Thanksgiving turkeys to help us understand the derivatives market. Of course, it will take further study in order to understand exactly why our country experienced a meltdown in consumer mortgages. Mr. Hirsch uses the term LIBOR (lie-bore) in discussing derivatives, this is financial speak for the London Interbank Offered [interest] Rate.
Mr. Hirsch uses a whiteboard in his presentations, visit http://marketplace.publicradio.org/collections/coll_display.php?coll_id=20216 to see the list of available presentations.
Cosmology
Here is a link, http://www.physorg.com/news192811164.html which describes how a super-massive black hole has been ejected from the center of its galaxy. Interestingly, an undergraduate student from the Netherlands worked on the project.
I wonder where this black hole will end up. Apparently caused by the union of the central black holes in two merged galaxies, will it carom around picking up matter as it goes or gravitate toward the center of yet another galaxy as part of a chain reaction?
The Mole Rides Again, so you don't have to listen to the intimate, often extremely boring, details of your driver’s life AND that of the passengers who engage her in lengthy conversations
2010-05-01: A passenger tests his cell phone ring over and over again trying to see if he really likes it. Driver #16262 doesn’t wear his seat belt. He seems a nice guy but he is endangering passenger’s lives.
2010-05-01: It is about 8:30 and I am on a 40 Line bus, number 6427. The driver, #28976 must be distracted because she is in a lengthy conversation with the passenger who occupies the longitudinal front right seat. If su Topo ran things he would reserve that seat for handicapped passengers only. Passenger: “There is one in El Segundo”. Driver: “Don’t you have to be on active duty to use it?. Second opinion? This driver is rough, lots of jerks and she is often poorly positioned to pull up to bus stops.
2010-05-05: Driver 28317 wears no seat belts.
2010-05-05: Driver 27858 wears no seat belts.
Either of the two ladies mentioned above likely requires a seat belt extender, perhaps the company didn’t have ones in their sizes available.
2010-05-05, before 10A.M.: I am aboard a northbound 40 Line bus. The driver is eating sunflower seeds –holding the bag in the her right hand, selecting nuts with her left and using the same hand to remove the shells from her mouth then tossing them out the window. Your mole wonders how, with both hands engaged in feeding herself, she can drive. Your Mole is seated in such a way on this crowded bus and has to exit before he can accurately report the bus/driver numbers. What he can do is easily overhear the driver’s conversation with the longitudinal front right seat passenger.
It is loud and clear: Passenger: “In Indiana everyone talks to everyone”. Driver: mouth occupied with eating, “Mmmm, ah”. Passenger: “… That school was no good –I was one of two to pass the test”. “… armed security …”. “Now we have Internet through the school portal and textbooks online …”. This driver would qualify for being distracted on several levels. It should not be too difficult for a supervisory ride-along to find her.
2010-05-06 around 7:30AM: The Metro service truck shown above, in cell phone camera “detail”, i.e., poorly, blocks the busy Culver City 6 Line bus bay. The driver of the truck and his co-worker seem oblivious to the function of the LAXCBC and to the idea of parking appropriately. This, I find to be typical behavior of too many LACMTA employees. Is it ignorance, thoughtlessness, insensitivity to their environment or that perfect blend of all three?
Although the picture is too poor to read the license number of the truck, 1237155 or the truck I.D. number, 22-1354, which is not pictured anyway, since it is painted on the front of the truck in tiny digits.
2010-05-11: Around 9AM I ride a 117 Line bus, driven by an extra large driver. Like so many others he doesn’t wear his seat belt. His uniform shirt is pressed in such a way that I can’t see his I.D number; without being overly obvious, that is. When, oh when will they start scrolling the driver’s I.D.?
2010-05-12 @ Noon: On board a 704 bus headed to Santa Monica. Which bus like many on Santa Monica BL and Wilshire too, don't announce their stops. What's up with that, Mr. Leahy? I am forced to listen to yet another interminable cell phone conversation. “ ... I can't pay rent for a month and a half –you know; until Nick ... so, if you can find someone before then, by all means ..., Two weeks max to find a place ... with all the networking I do maybe less, ... until I know what Nick's plans are ... he can't get a job until he moves here ...”.
2010-05-12 @ 14:15: On board a 108 Line bus, #5204, driven by # 75460. This driver was some lady! I have had to develop a new code for her activities. She was on her cell phone for most of this trip from the Marina. The first clue was that she had an ear bud in her right ear. She spoke quietly and almost never when the bus was stopped at a bus stop, a light or for some other reason.
That way the sound of the bus in motion masked a great deal of the conversation. But the ear bud served as a clue to su Topo and about half a dozen stops before his, he manoeuvered to the front left side of the bus behind the operator. From this point he could hear e ongoing conversation. “ ... what time do you get off? ... that's crazy ...”. What was especially worrisome was that this driver had to be concerned with her conversation and the masking-effect of bus noise which left even fewer (or no) faculties for driving. This driver had those glue-on fingernails, they were long and multi-coloured. You know, the ones whose length is inversely proportional to the, ummmmmmmm, status of wearer. Her inattention to driving the bus, what I assume she is paid for, has earned her number a spot in the lede photo above.
To reinforce the idea that we humans have a difficult time multi-tasking please listen to this NPR (National Public Radio) report http://public.npr.org/anon.npr-mp3/npr/me/2008/10/20081016_me_05.mp3?dl=1 You can download the MP3 file and copy it to your player for later use OR select open with WMP (Windows Media Player). Mr. Leahy, you might want to pay particular attention to this broadcast so you understand the risks your drivers present to their passengers.
2010-05-17: I ride bus number 9289: The fifth vertical bar on the left side has pulled out or been vibrated out of its’ ceiling attachment. Rough ride? Or rough riders??
2010-05-18 @ 8:15 LAXCBC: Vor, as usual, is being the extremely inefficient worker. He is transferring garbage from the heavy stationary trash receptacles to his mobile “trash barrel” one piece at a time, using his “grabber” which looks approximatel like <this> http://www.gemplers.com/img/trash-gator-pickup-159892-thm.jpg
Su Topo believes this is his way of processing the trash for recyclables. Any reasonable worker that wanted to preserve the plastic liner bags in place would remove the liner bags and dump them into another bag or in the case of the can liner bag being fuller that the one he carries around; he could dump his bag into the liner bag and replace the liner bag with his bag. But, since he has NO SUPERVISION and only limited problem solving skills he does “the best he can”. People will always find a way to fill their time at work.
2010-05-18 I wait at the corner of Fairfax and Wilshire for a bus. The have changed the indicator sign that used to [sometimes] report th arrival of the next bus to “Metro Rapid Bus”, either that or it is failing I in a different way. Of course, we recognize that the buses are not really rapid transit because they compete for the roadway, but only “we” know that.
I ride a 720 Line bus from the stop intending to go to Santa Monica. After a rough, jerky ride down Wilshire we end up a Westwood BL. Since these buses either have no ASAS or it is failing in some way no announcements are made. This is just plain, ahh, stupid, because it leaves passengers, many of them tourists, wondering where they are. Some confusion results although eventually everyone exits –and waits for the next 720 Line bus, which unfortunately delivers another rough jerky ride.
In a testament, not a tribute, to exactly how poorly the LACMTA maintains buses, we can see that something (a locking mechanism?) is missing from this Rapid bus. Sorry for the “cell phone quality” of the picture.
I board a 358 Line bus in the Marina, it has an “old style” whois poster. We arrive at the CCTC and I wait briefly for a 439 Line bus and ride it to the LAXCBC. Two passengers chat with the driver who holds his own in the conversation, only occasionally turning to look at the others.
I wait with several other people, at a bus stop, for a 40 Line bus. A 740 passes us by, this is not a 740 stop. I count the passenger load, it is in the neighbourhood of a dozen passengers. When I finally get to ride the 40 Line it is crowded, more than 25 passengers. That is what is meant by: “Moving fewer (slightly) faster”.
2010-05-18 @ 09:15: I ride a 439 Line bus where yet another “preacher” is questioning a woman: “What church do you go to?”. She replys: “none”, which stops the conversation before it can begin.
2010-04-28: I take a short ride on the red, or was it the purple line? The mumbling operators have been replaced by automatic announcements which are clearer BUT, only when the train is stopped or moving at a rate which doesn’t generate too much noise. When the train is clanking along it is audible but not understandable, a distinction that is probably too nuanced for the LACMTA to deal with. Too, the sound quality even when both audible and understandable would be like that found in the drive up of a fifth tier fast food outlet.
Too much bus riding gives one “El Blues Del Autobús”,listen to it here, at Grooveshark: http://listen.grooveshark.com/#/s/El+Blues+Del+Autob+s/2K8WNm
Dedicated to the Dulcinea of my dreams
'But Don Quixote, supported by his intrepid heart, leaped on Rocinante, and bracing his buckler on his arm, brought his pike tothe slope, and said, "Friend Sancho, know that I by Heaven's willhave been born in this our iron age to revive revive in it the ageof gold, or the golden as it is called; I am he for whom perils,mighty achievements, and valiant deeds are reserved; I am, I sayagain, he who is to revive the Knights of the Round Table, theTwelve of France and the Nine Worthies; and he who is to consignto oblivion the Platirs, the Tablantes, the Olivantes and Tirantes,the Phoebuses and Belianises, with the whole herd of famous knights-errant of days gone by, performing in these in which I live such exploits, marvels, and feats of arms as shall obscuretheir brightest deeds. Thou dost mark well, faithful and trusty squire, the gloom of this night, its strange silence, the dullconfused murmur of those trees, the awful sound of that water in quest of which we came, that seems as though it were precipitatingand dashing itself down from the lofty mountains of the Moon, and that incessant hammering that wounds and pains our ears; which things all together and each of itself are enough to instil fear,dread, and dismay into the breast of Mars himself, much more intoone not used to hazards and adventures of the kind. Well, then, all this that I put before thee is but an incentive and stimulantto my spirit, making my heart burst in my bosom through eagerness to engage in this adventure, arduous as it promises to be; therefore tighten Rocinante's girths a little, and God be with thee; wait for me here three days and no more, and if in that timeI come not back, thou canst return to our village, and thence, to do me a favour and a service, thou wilt go to El Toboso, where thou shalt say to my incomparable lady Dulcinea that her captiveknight hath died in attempting things that might make him worthyof being called hers." When Sancho heard his master's words he began to weep in the most pathetic way, saying: "Senor, I know not why your worship wants toattempt this so dreadful adventure; it is night now, no one sees ushere, we can easily turn about and take ourselves out of danger, even if we don't drink for three days to come; and as there is noone to see us, all the less will there be anyone to set us down ascowards; besides, I have many a time heard the curate of our village,whom your worship knows well, preach that he who seeks dangerperishes in it; so it is not right to tempt God by trying sotremendous a feat from which there can be no escape save by amiracle, and Heaven has performed enough of them for your worship in delivering you from being blanketed as I was, and bringing youout victorious and safe and sound from among all those enemies thatwere with the dead man; and if all this does not move or soften that hard heart, let this thought and reflection move it, that you will have hardly quitted this spot when from pure fear I shall yield my soul up to anyone that will take it. I left home and wife and children to come and serve your worship, trusting to do better and not worse; but as covetousness bursts the bag, it has rent my hopes asunder, for just as I had them highest about getting that wretched unlucky island your worship has so often promised me, I see that instead and in lieu of it you mean to desert me now in a place so far from human reach: for God's sake, master mine, deal not so unjustly by me, and if your worship will not entirely give up attempting this feat, at least put it off till morning, for by what the lore I learned when I was a shepherd tells me it cannot want three hours of dawn now, because the mouth of the Horn is overhead and makes midnight in the line of the left arm."' Miguel De Cervantes (1547-1616), Don Quixote (1605), http://www.literaturecollection.com/a/cervantes/don-quixote/1/
Chapter XX
Fare Box Score Box and related Lists of Shame
I.D. Numbers of buses with Out of Order Fare Boxes:
Note: No or few entries above do not necessarily mean all fare boxes are in operation.
I.D.Numbers of Distracted Drivers: 75460(ii*);
Codes: (i) Extended conversation(s) with passenger(s) or (ii) cell phone call(s). Frequently, details can be found in the text above, (ii*) cell phone call(s) which are aggravated by some other action, (iii) Self-distracted. Codes (ii*) and (iii) will ALWAYS be explained in the posting.
I.D. Numbers of Buses Defaced by WhoIs stickers: 6412; 7594~UR; 9289+UR; 9564; 6412; 7639;
~UR or +UR = (+UR) whois sticker and the ugly residue left after passengers partly remove the sticker. (~UR) = Only the ugly residue left after passengers almost completely remove the sticker. +L = an old (legacy) sticker black letters on a plain white background –these are the original form of defacement.
* Another reason for displaying the operator's ID on the internal display and the headsign.
ID numbers of Buses whose Head and Tail signs disagree: ; 117/211 6417;
Format is Bus number followed by Headsign number/Tailsign number.
La Taupe's Abréviations
ADADO = Automatic Destination Announcement (on) Door Opening. This feature is installed on many buses and operates on extremely few. Another “money down the toilet” LACMTA investment. La Taupe that this is intended for the visually impaired because people who can see can read the “head signs”.
ASAS = Automatic Stop Announcement System the GPS (Global Positioning System) driven mechanism for generating audio for the upcoming stops. N.B. Because of the low power (read weak) processors used in the on-board stops may be too close to identify stops separately. This is know as a granularity problem. Then too, if the driver operates the bus at speed above the speed limit you will find the system “back announcing” stops which you have already passed. I find that this will NOT keep some drivers from complaining “that you didn’t signal (ring) in time. They don’t understand their relationship to the system and how, by driving faster than the GPS computer, they can bias it.
BBB = Santa Monica’s Big Blue Bus
CC or CCMBL = Culver City (Municipal) Bus (Lines)
CCTC = Culver City Transportation Center this is the place formerly known as FHMTC = the Fox Hills Mall Transportation Center (Sepulveda & Slauson)
FFE = Full Fare Equivalent (presently $1.25)
LAXCBC = the LAX City Bus Center.
Rapid Transit = does not compete for right of way, that is, it will not run at grade unless it has EXCLUSIVE DEDICATED USE of the right of way).
TT = Torrance Transit.
T1 = the normal type of driver/staff.
T2 = is the non-stop talker type of driver/staff, on the phone or to passengers,
T3 = the uncommunicative type of driver/staff, sometimes surly.
WLATC = the West Los Angeles Transportation Center (Fairfax & Apple)
Su Topo’s Disclaimer and apologia
Your Mole always attempts to write an easy-on-the-eyes page using text input. Blogger.com however, has other ideas and will often not stay with a single font type or point size, produces extraneous spacing and etc. I wish I had time to debug the HTML which they produce, it is NOT the straight text which I pasted into the form, but I don’t. Therefore, I apologize on behalf of Blogger.com for the changes which they make, of which I do not approve. Sometimes, what I see, thankfully you don’t, is 24 point type –it is giant and other times they swallow my text, although it still seems to be there. In fairness to them, things seem better, although this is partly because I do understand which of their “features” do the most damage to me and consequently do not use them. Communicating these problems to them, for me, is something like having teeth extracted without the benefit of anesthetic, actually it is less fun than that. By their design, there is no simple e-mailing them with "Please look at my say, posting of 2009-06-28, it is weird!” I am hoping that one of their developers will some day read this, copy my code and improve their text to HTML engine. Until then, lo siento.
Mole’s Copyright Statement
All photographs and original written materials are copyrighted © 2007~2009 by LAmetroMole. ♪Clicking a photo will often* present you with an enlargement. *This feature is dependent upon the Internet browser which you use and possibly other factors.
FAIR USE NOTICE
This site contains or provides links to copyrighted material the use of which has not always been specifically authorized by the copyright owner. We are making such material available in our efforts to advance understanding of environmental, political, human rights, economic, democracy, scientific, and social justice issues, sustainable development, environmental, community and worker health, public disclosure, corporate accountability, and etc. We have often included relatively brief quotes from articles and etc., sometimes in addition to a simple link, because we have found that links frequently go "bad" or change over time. We believe this constitutes a "fair use" of any such copyrighted material as provided for in section 107 of the US Copyright Law. In accordance with Title 17 U.S.C. Section 107, the material on this site is distributed without fee or payment of any kind to those who have expressed a prior interest in receiving the included information for research and educational purposes and to those who access the site via any and all other channels. If you wish to use copyrighted material from this site for purposes of your own that go beyond 'fair use', you must obtain permission from the copyright owner. Music or other recorded material on this site, or referred to by this site are copyrighted by their respective artists and are made available here for evaluation purposes only. Please support the artists you like by buying their commercial CDs, MP3s and downloads.
Your Mole’s Conflict of Interest Statement
This is to certify that I, the blogger who is known as the LAmetroMole, with respect to this blog, except as described below, am not now nor at any time during the past year have been, nor it my current intention to ever be:
1) A participant, directly or indirectly, in any arrangement, agreement, investment, or other activity with any vendor, supplier, or other party doing business with any of the entities about which I have written, which has resulted or could result in personal benefit to me.
2) A recipient, directly or indirectly, of any salary payments or loans or gifts of any kind or any free service or discounts or other fees from or on behalf of any person or organization engaged in any transaction with any of the entities about which I have written.
Any exceptions to 1 or 2 above are stated below with a full description of the transactions and of the interest, whether direct or indirect, which I have (or have had during the past year) in the persons or organizations having transactions with any of the entities about which I have written.
There are no exceptions.
Date: 2009-06-24 S/ LametroMole
Bibliography/References
(1) Haddon, Heather. “[The NYC] MTA wields ax again“. annycom. Weekend 7~9 May 2010:p03. Last Accessed 7 May 2010.
Connell, Rich and Weikel, DanNew chief chosen for high-speed rail project”. Los Angeles Times. 7 May 2010. http://www.latimes.com/news/local/la-me-high-speed-rail-20100507,0,1714272.story Last Accessed 7 May 2010.
(3) Russell, Christine. “Take the Metrobús in Mexico City“. Atlantic Magazine (OnLine). 17 Nov. 2009. http://www.theatlantic.com/science/archive/2009/11/take-the-metrob-s-in-mexico-city/30339/ Last Accessed: 7 May 2010.
(4) Anderson, Troy. “L.A.'s Metropolitan Transportation Authority will let public speak on fare hikes”. Daily News. 22 Apr. 2010. http://www.dailynews.com/ci_14940475?IADID=Search-www.dailynews.com-www.dailynews.com Last Accessed 7 May 2010.
(5) N/A. “Earth may be too hot for humans by 2300: study” www.Cnet.com 18 Mar. 11 May 2010. http://rawstory.com/rs/2010/0511/earth-hot-humans-2300-study/. (Agence France-Presse) Last Accessed 11 May 2010.
(6) Taylor, Brian D. “The Thin Red Line: A Case Study of Political Influence on Transportation Planning Practice”. Institute of Transportation Studies at the University of California , Los Angeles. Journal of Planning Education and Research, Vol. 29, No. 2, 173-193 (2009)
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# posted by LAMETROmole @ 12:38 
