2012-05-31

 

Vae Viator27

BBB Maxella Trash Fix??

The photograph above documents the “fix” applied at the Maxella AV and Lincoln BL stop on their number 3 Line.  It is the sort of “work” one would expect from the LACMTA.  They taped or caused to be taped shut the aperture in the plastic pipes associated with power poles.  These pipes were used as improvised trash cans. BBB N.B. The Maxella stop still needs a trash can as do many of your other stops along Lincoln BL!

Su Topo will lead every post with the above until BBB corrects the problem.


Bus Camera

One would assume Metro buses have cameras with functionality.  Perhaps cameras like the one circled in the photo above do have some functionality.  So why is it that drivers are not taking photographs of vehicles which endanger them?; such as the situation which faces 111 Line drivers on the corner of 96th Street and Airport BL just east of the LAX City Bus Center.  This is the very thing that San Francisco’s Muni system is implementing in order to improve safety.










Council District 11
Incidentally, su Topo found out that the Council District 11 is responsible for the problematic corner mentioned below.  It is a giant district along the coast, and only a portion of it is shown above. So if anyone knows how to interest that political group in cleaning up the scoff-law drivers who multiple times daily place bus passengers and others at risk, please do so.  

White Line Incursion Series
The series of pictures taken at the Airport BL and 96th Street intersection shown below document that, and this is important, even though there is no Metro bus at the stop, a never ending stream of airport rent-a-car shuttle buses fail to use the lane as required by law.  Please note that the drivers of these vehicles all hold a class of license which allows them to transport passengers; although perhaps not safely!
 Line Crossing 1
%Line Crossing 2%


Line Crossing 3


Line Crossing 4


%Taxis Too♪%

It is not only the shuttle buses but taxis as well which cross the white line and like the shuttle buses, do so at a speed which endangers those aboard buses and pedestrians.

La Taupe’s prescription for this problem:

  1. LACMTA drivers should report all cases where other drivers endanger their passengers, whether those passengers are onboard or as pedestrians.
  2. LACMTA staff should periodically review those reports and bus camera photographs and involve the appropriate police agencies in order to put a stop to such poor driving habits.
  3. The police agencies should produce PUBLIC reports of arrests made and citations issued at the problem sites.  This is as opposed to absolutely NOTHING at all being done to stop the scoff-laws, as is presently the case.
  4. The LACMTA operations division should format the reports for printing and distribution to the ridership as indication that they are taking responsibility for passenger safety.  These reports should replace, at least some of, the frivolous printing now being done.
«Généralement, les gens qui savant peu parlent becoup, et les gens qui savant beaucoup parlent peu. »
Jean-Jacques Rousseau (1712~17878)
[Generally speaking, the people who know little speak a lot and the people who know a lot speak little.]



The Mole reads the papers and other things, obviating the necessity of your doing so.

The Los Angeles Times covers (Bloomekatz) the route of the “Subway to the Sea (kind of)”. The “kind of” translates to the “Subway to Westwood”.  Using the usual LACMTA paradigm of, Build, “Legal Defense and Plan” the result can usually be predicted.  The quote contained in the piece which prepares us for that predestined result is: “Despite vociferous objections and legal threats, Los Angeles County transportation officials Thursday approved a plan to tunnel beneath Beverly Hills High School … .”  Repeating the same actions and expecting different results is defines a word which we all know well.  Insanity is the word which may or may not define what is going on with the promised Beverly Hills legal challenge.   However, COSTLY, does define this and what could be a lengthy court case while the LACMTA happily spend taxpayers TRANSPORTATION funds without providing transportation.  Your Mole’s solution?  Put a nice curve in the line and bypass Beverly Hill High School.  Please use this link http://www.latimes.com/news/local/la-me-beverly-hills-subway-20120524-g,0,4064444.graphic to see the Los Angeles Times sketch of that portion of the approved route. Mentally draw a nice curve that follows the natural line of the track and join it to the Century City Station.

Su Topo has constructed an example with the “fair use” of just a sliver of the beautiful Los Angeles Times graphic and for which he says “Thank you Los Angeles Times!” and included it below.

Subway To Westwood Curve

Another Times piece (Weikel) calls attention to yet more LACMTA shortcuts, i.e., "build then plan" vis-à-vis the safety of grade crossing intersections.  This Mole hesitates to remind readers that only the elevated portions of the Expo Line are rapid transit, the tracks at grade level are NOT.  The Times reporter details the failings of three intersections pointed out by a USC professor.  Su Topo encourages his readers to read the article. In short, the professor identifies dangers to pedestrians caused by the Expo Line design.

The LACMTA, driven by a desire to build at any cost fails the citizens of Los Angeles by not proposing, planning and building a true mass rapid transit system by elevating the entire route of the Expo Line.  It is not as if they don't have a perfectly good example in the Green Line which is the only true rapid transit system we have; excepting of course, the subway lines.

The LACMTA seems organized to snatch defeat out of the jaws of victory.  We have seen this tendancy time and time again.  Building on school property in the case of the Gold Line East Los Angeles extention and now, as noted above, insisting upon impinging on Beverly Hills High School property. 

In every know case, and without a doubt in LOTS of unknow cases, time lines are streched and cost estimates exceed by this tendancy.  The physical initil build is completed and the arguments begin.  The solution is, as in most of the projects handeled by the LACMTA, to not begin work until a complete sign-off on all aspects of the work are agreed upon by recognized specialists in each area.  Instead, the LACMAT is always looking for the "quick and dirty" way, so that they can show "progress" and boast about new rail or whatever systems developed on their watch.   

What la Taupe sees, very simply put, is breach of fiduciary responsibility! 


¿Musica? How about some Tahitian music, family style?  Tahiti, un au revoir de la famille et des amis avec de la musique et la danse” 

[A Goodbye to family and friends with music and dance.] 

 Kind of makes you want to go to LAX and hop on Air Tahiti Nui J.

 ¡Muchas gracias youtube.com!


Want to see more of Tahiti?  How about taking a sail around the Society Islands?  The scenery is simply beautiful, in any language! Here is the link http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0NZdtXsUsEY

Merci Bien youtube.com!


Ear to the Rail 

Here is a link to the ”Bike Show” podcast from http://kboo.fm/ in Portland, OR the unofficial “Bike Capital” of the United States.  An area congressman discusses bicycling and transportation policy.  Lots of interesting ideas!
 http://traffic.libsyn.com/portlandtransport/kboobike_20120502.mp3

 Cosmology

A TED talk by Brian Green covers multiverses.  I am linking you to a youtube.com version which played “better” than the TED site.  As far as I can tell it is an identical presentation.  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2S8G_BH9OPA

This excellent presentation gives us insight into the “extra dimensions” with string theory demands and how the “big Bang” might have generated multiverses.

 The Mole rides again, so you don’t have to listen to whistling drivers and lots of other noise onboard buses.
(All times are expressed in the 24 hour system.)

I am aboard a 232 Line bus being driven by (buses aren’t noisy enough) “the whistler”, ID # 18010.

2012-05: Many tourists end up at the LAXCBC with “advice” for an airport “Information Booth”.  Once told something by the staff at such booths, it is difficult if not impossible to disabuse of the disinformation.  This month, I explained a better way of traveling by bus to the west San Fernando Valley instead, as they were told by the “Information” booth staff that they could just jump on a bus at the LAX City Bus Center OR first go to Union Station.

 Another person wanted to go to Redondo Beach but did not have a major cross street so that the driver could drop her off at the closest bus stop.

Finally, another woman ended up on an eastbound 117 Line bus with a destination of, you guessed it, the Valley.

Your Mole was out of town a quite a bit this month, so he is unable to report on many Metro rides.
                                            

Fare Box Score Box and related Lists of Shame

I.D. Numbers of buses with Outs of Order Fare Boxes: xxxxx, xxxxx;

Note: No or few entries above do not necessarily mean all fare boxes are in operation. 

I.D.Numbers of Distracted Drivers: xxxxx (i);

None included here, but observations of a minor nature may be included in the main posting;

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: xxxx;

~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 Tailsigns disagree: xxxx; xx/xxx.      ;

Format is Bus number followed by Headsign number/Tailsign number.

ID numbers of Buses without Braille signs: XXXX;


METRO drivers Basic Technical Skills Report

The format is Driver number F[{Y/-n/+n} C[{Y/N+/-}].  Meaning of F if Y the driver stopped with the Bus stop “flag pole” somewhere between the bus front door frames.  A negative number, e.g., -3 is the approximate distance in metres (think yards dear readers) between the nearest bus door vertical frame member and the flag pole signifying that the bus stopped short of the flag.   A positive number, e.g., +3 (metres) is the approximate distance between the nearest bus door vertical frame member and the flag pole signifying that the bus stopped past the flag.    The value for C[{Y/N}], “Y” tells us that the driver stopped within an easy step from the curb to the bus, “N” means it was NOT an easy step from the curb to the bus.   It is this Mole's belief that an average experienced good driver should be able to control his bus so as to position in near the curb and with the flag pole slightly to the front of the bus.  

XXXXX[+6] C[Y]; xxxxx F[Y], C[Y]; xxxxx F[Y], C[Y]; xxxxx F[Y], C[Y];  N.B. distances are in metres, think yards.

nnnnn* = Contract Driver

I.D. numbers of drivers who are almost guaranteed to give you a Rough and Jerky (R & J) ride.  xxxxx;

I.D. numbers of drivers who will give you a potentially life-threatening ride.  XXXXX(-); XXXXX(-);

Codes: S = not wearing seat belts; J = bad judgment (unsafe driving practices).

 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 known 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 didnt signal (ring) in time.  They dont 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 $1.50)

GMBL = Gardena Municipal Bus lines

LAXCBC = the LAX City Bus Center.

OCTA = Orange County Transportation Authority.

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).

R & J = Rough and Jerky [ride].

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 someday 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 (sometimes successive clicks will further enlarge the photo). *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                  

Works Cited

Bloomekatz, Ari. “Metro to run Westside subway extension under Beverly Hills High. Los Angeles Times. May 25, 2012:A1. Web. 

 

Weikel,Dan.“Expo Line, intersections called flawed”. Los Angeles Times. May. 29, 2012:AA1. Print 



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The above is  ### 30 ###  in Braille

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