2013-04-30
Vae Viator38
BBB Maxella Trash
Fix??♪
The photograph above documents the situation at the
Maxella AV and Lincoln BL BBB stop on their number 3 Line. It is the sort of “work” one would expect
from the LACMTA, not BBB. 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 and still are. BBB N.B. The stop still needs a trash can!
Su Topo will lead every post with the above until
BBB corrects the problem.
White Line Incursion Series
Su Topo uses video to highlight the problem of
scofflaw drivers endangering Metro bus passengers yet, no authority will take ownership of the problem.
The issue is not unique to the particular site which this Mole
documents, but is illustrative of a general problem. Your Mole encourages you to report similar
problems to the appropriate agencies in your area(s) and hope that you will
have better luck than he. In the
youtube.com videos linked below one can see exactly what happens when the
policing agencies fail to enforce traffic laws.
The videos linked below document that, and this is
important, a never ending stream of vehicles fail to use the lane as required
by law.
Neither are the policing agencies active when it
comes to protecting us by bringing these obvious and frequent traffic law
violations to an immediate halt. The
LACMTA is derelict as well, in that they fail to use the near hourly proof of
the violations captured by the on board cameras, which cameras are mentioned here and discussed
at length in the posting of 2012-05-31.
In the following video we can see a van cross the
white line and cut ahead of a bus which has stopped to discharge passengers.
But
wait, there is more! Virtually every
time the 111 bus makes a stop at Airport BL and 96th ST, some vehicle is always ready to cut in
front of it.
In this case it
is a Hertz shuttle bus, whose driver is in such a hurry to get to LAX that he crosses
the white line and cuts the Metro bus off.
Su Topo feels that it is appropriate to dedicate this Hertz bus to ALL the agencies who should be protecting us. So, the Hertz shuttle bus is dedicated to (1): Airport (LAWA) Police & the L.A.P.D., the L. A. County Sheriff’s Department & Mr. A. Leahy who is CEO of the LACMTA.
Then we have a three car convoy which cuts across
the white line in front of a bus with passengers streaming towards the cross
walk.
Car 1 is
dedicated to the Airport (LAWA) Police, car 2 to the L.A.P.D., and car 3 is
dedicated to the County Sheriff’s Department & Mr. A. Leahy.Another day, another series of vehicles, two taxis and two civilian vehicles, cross the white line and race ahead of a bus, the bus is pinned in place, forced to wait for these scofflaws. You may note the lady who exits the bus and is almost at the crosswalk when the fourth cars speeds by. She is in very real danger of additional cars, thinking that they have a "green light" to break the law, entering the crosswalk at the same time as she does.
Taxi 1 is dedicated to the Airport (LAWA) Police, Taxi 2 to the L.A.P.D., and car 3 is dedicated to the County Sheriff’s Department and car 4 to CEO A. Leahy.
These taxi operators hold Class B licenses and should be cited on-the-spot, because they are expected to know the California driving laws and know them well.
These guys won't cite themselves! What is wrong with our policing agencies?
Are they too timid to enforce the laws??
Mr. Leahy, there really can’t be
any aspect of your job that is more important than protecting Metro passengers;
is there? No matter what, if you are unwilling or unable to perrform this important function, shouldn’t you be
tasking a staff member to address the issue?
Respect is due to an agency that is really on top of its responsibilities,
the CADOT. They have done a portion of the cleanup your Mole has highlighted
for the past two months AND quite a lot of the rest should be accomplished
soon, I hope.
From what la Taupe has seen so far, there is a night and
day difference between the mess that existed and what we can see today. I believe that is important to understand that
the litter didn’t just fall from the sky, some careless citizens caused
it! Let’s all do our part to make
CADOT’s job a little easier.
<<La
médiocrité ne s'imite pas.>>
Jean-Paul Sartre: (1905-06-21~1980-04-15)
[Poor quality
cannot be imitated.]
The Mole reads the papers and other things,
obviating the necessity of your doing so.
You are going to love this. The LACMTA can’t find the few thousand
dollars which it would cost to put public toilets at bus centers or
the million dollars which it would take to equip all rail stations and bus
centers with such facilities.
Yet it can find the $1,367,000,000 ($1.367 BILLION) (Metro Insider) for the totally unnecessaryregional
central city connector. People naturally
find connections to the places which are their destinations; even when the
“system” is poorly conceived, designed and built. There is no need to build a 2 mile subway in
central Los Angeles. Your Mole wonders
if this is just another ”funds transfer” scheme?
Yet it can find the $1,367,000,000 ($1.367 BILLION) (Metro Insider) for the totally unnecessary
Speaking of bad design, take a close look at this latest Frank Gehry building linked here. Gehry is up to his usual tricks, covering less space for more money. Because of the unusual angles and stresses involved, this Mole can just imaginethe broken glass covering the sidewalk after a high wind or an earthquake.
Back to transportation, while the LACMTA hatches "connector" schemes that waste taxpayer dollars, countries like Brazil build ariel tramways
(Berg) to service the favelas, which are home to many near Rio de Janeiro, It is expected to carry 30,000 people each
day. Its’ cost? $74 million for the two
miles it covers. That is only 5% of that
budgeted by the LACMTA estimated for the budget dismemberer, er, that is,
central city connector. Perhaps we
should import a Brazilian to head the LACMTA and send Mr. Leahy to a favalea in Rio?
The Argonaut
covers (Walker) LAWA (Los Angeles World Airports) and reports that Director Gina
Marie Lindsey was presented with a Westchester based organization's ”notice of default” “… of a settlement agreement on the airports future plans …”.
Lindsey says LAWA is ‘completely in support of rationaliszation' [reducing LAX
traffic by making greater use of Ontario and Palmdale - Mole].
Lindsey says LAWA is ‘completely in support of rationaliszation' [reducing LAX
traffic by making greater use of Ontario and Palmdale - Mole].
heavily
traveled NYC subway lines. I followed
the simple directions supplied
by Mr. Pereira
and have included the results for Grand Central Station, below.
NYC Google Subway Times♪
Another amNY.com cover story reported(Herrera) that the MTA (New York’s
not ours) Times Square Station and 29 other stations would have
Wi-Fi and cell
service. A Riders Alliance spokesman
said, “Adding cell phone
coverage
in stations is a great example of something the MTA can do even
when the
agency is severely underfunded …”. What a concept! No wonder
it’s called
the “Big Apple”.
I have
included the links to these amNY.com pieces in the “Works Cited"
section at the
end of this post. Please read these
excellent articles about how MTA places its passengers first.
Thank
you amNY.com for the great coverage! And
to Google.com, Nice Job on the map related train timings!
The
LACMTA has experienced its’ own “accounting problems” in the past and is a “Member
Agency” of Metrolink. The Metrolink’s board of directors is overly represented by politicians; a career choice not usually
associated with good administrative or technical skills and it appears that accounting in not their forte either.
This
Mole believes an answer to transportation problems is reducing political involvement
to an irreducible minimum. Let the politicians
attend meetings, etc., but, allow transportation to be overseen by transportation
professionals.
Consider
that no other major city in the U.S., when using a Bing search argument of ‘"Los Angeles" "Blue Line"
+accident’ (please substitute the appropriate words for other cities), is likely to return search results anywhere near the results that your Moles found, viz. 27,100. Some of these results are duplicates but is is generally accepted that the Blue Line is the most dangerous in the US.
Here
is a Los Angeles Times Opinion piece of several years ago; I read it and feel that the situation today is not much different than that
described, except that there seems to be fewer Sheriff’s Deputies on board and
the Expo Line was built without “access control gates”.
How
to make up for the deficiencies in the Metro “app”
Android Version
Well,
anyway the deficiency which doesn't provide for downloading schedules to a "smart"
phone. If the metro app can do this it is
a well kept secret. I don’t use an
Android phone, so I searched and found this link to a straightforward explanation.
Thank You!
Android.stackexchange.com!
But when attempting to test this methodology, we
were greeted by the message shown below.
Short answer – something was wrong at the metro.net site! You are not surprised, are you?
¿Musica? Let’s listen to a composition by France’s
“Mozart”, François-Adrien Boïeldieu, Concerto for Harp and Orchestra in C.
Ear (and
Eye) to the Rail
Cautionary Note: Those employed by the LACMTA
should NOT view the following videos. The speed
of the trains in the videos, because they are truly rapid transit, their
quietness, the clarity and sound level of the on board announcements will likely
make you dizzy, nauseous and frighten you.
Additionally, the concept of having a DIRECT LINK to the airport
should place you in a state of “cognitive dissonance”, which occurs when two
cognitions complete. Cognitive
dissonance results in the case where Cognition 1, “It is impossible to directly
link a city to its airport” and cognition 2, “many cities are directly linked
to their airports”.
One can learn more about cognitive dissonance
here. But again, I must caution LACMTA
management and staff that they should not try this sort of psychological study
at home and definitely not without the involvement and guidance of a trained
professional.
What
people headed to the airport want to hear is “one seat, one ride” not what we
are forced to say here in Los Angeles, viz., “at minimum, three seats three
rides.”
Here is a link to a ride on the CTA’s(Chicago
Transit Authority) Orange Line to Midway Airport.
¿Perfecto,
es no? Both these lines are Rapid
Transit Lines. Unfortunately, that
is not the case for Los Angeles’ light rail which, except for the Green Line,
must share the right-of-way with other vehicles, making it slower and more dangerous for all.
Thank you too, “eyetube21” for the Midway
download and “Nachtwolf1” for the O’Hare download!
Youtube.com, thank
you so much for complementing my words with videos!
Cosmology
Please follow the link which follows in order to see the Big Bang explained.
The Mole
rides again, so you don’t have try and find a way through mounds of trash bags full of recyclables to
board a Blue Line train.
(All times are expressed in the 24 hour system.)
2013-04-09
I am at the Inglewood Trnsit Center. The area is, how can I
say this diplomatically?, filthy. The
ITC mosaics are comprised of blobs of bubble gum. It looks like the LACMTA needs to bring their All American Cleaning Systems power washer (vide infra) and a cleaning crew to the ITC.
Loaded Bags♪
2013-04-11:
I ride a 117 Line bus east on century we stop for a man who takes a long time
to load his multiple bags. See the photo
above to see part of his luggage aboard the bus.
Then he
debuses and reverses the loading process.
You can see some of his “luggage” (two photos below) as he piled it up
on a bus bench. It took him several trips to unload everything.
Bags Off-loaded 2♪
At about 11:10 I board a Blue Line train to Long Beach and am suddenly in the middle of an argument. It looks like both parties are in it for the long term, so I change seats. Two Latino families board within a station of each other; they exchange hugs and kisses while the argument goes on in the background. The mood is brighter at our end of the car.
On a
return trip on a Blue Line train. A
heavy duty recycler had a mountain of stuffed garbage bags. I could only obtain a photograph of about half of the pile,
shown below.
Bags Block Access♪
Mr.
Leahy? Do you get the idea? Hauling people, usually men, with more than
two (2) bags disrupts service
and, in case you don’t know, in many, if not most cases it is
unsanitary. With all the useless
phamphlets containing suggestions you publish, isn’t it time to prohibit this type of rider.
The sheriffs are just the men to do it. A few dozen citations and these recyclers will find another way to get their collections to market. Sometime I feel like I’m visiting a third world country, not living in America’s second largest city! Establish a fare for more than two bags; which are not recyclables. Let’s say one full fare for each bag over two. And two full fares for each bag of recyclables! Plus, no boarding at all for anything which leaks, even a little and/or smells, even a tiny bit!
The sheriffs are just the men to do it. A few dozen citations and these recyclers will find another way to get their collections to market. Sometime I feel like I’m visiting a third world country, not living in America’s second largest city! Establish a fare for more than two bags; which are not recyclables. Let’s say one full fare for each bag over two. And two full fares for each bag of recyclables! Plus, no boarding at all for anything which leaks, even a little and/or smells, even a tiny bit!
Above we
can see the east side of the Expo Line bridge crossing Sepulveda at Exposition. Then, below, the west side of the crossing
can be seen.
View West Expo Line Crosses Sepulveda@Exposition♪
The
SKANSKA you see in the photos is NOT the steel maker but the construction
company. Here is a link to Skanska’s web page describing its work for the LACMTA.
Here are
just a few lines from their Website.
“Skanska has been awarded a contract
to extend the light rail in Los Angeles County, California. Customer is Los
Angeles County Metropolitan Transportation Authority (METRO). Skanska’s share
of the contract is worth USD 382.9 M, about SEK1 2.4 billion, and
will be included in Skanska USA Civil order bookings for the first quarter.” 1SEK means Swedish Krona, right, it
is NOT an American Company!
2013-04-19 @ 11:40: I am on a 740 bus seated on a right-side longitudinal seat. Across the aisle, a man repeats random phrases: "big motor ...", "... you know about that?". I close my eyes and deprived of an audience, he goes silent.
Cleaners work at the LAXCBC♪
Thid two man crew use an All American Cleaning Systems Power Washer. You can visit AACS's Website and check out their mobile cleaning systems. You can also note that a car (on the right, just above the mid-point) is using the entry drive as an exit. This happens quite a bit here because there is no policing to speak of at the LAXCBC.
Flag Stop♪
Pictured above is a bus stop with two "flags".
2013-04-26: I ride on two lines contracted out to MV Transportation. The driver of the 125 Line bus, #11039, stopped about two metres short of the "flag" and more than a metre away from the curb. The driver was a man, #71220.
The next MV Transportation contract was a 232 Line bus, #11004, stopped an incredible 5 metres from the "flag" and waited until we walked to her bus. The driver, #80775, was a woman who seemed to have not grasped the concept of stopping exactly where passengers wait, i.e., the flag, and as a result slows the boarding process.
MV Transportation, it appears that you need to recycle some operators back though basic driving skills, right Mr. R. Carter Pate?
Recycle Lady♪
Above we can see a "recycle lady" with a smallish bag of cans and bottles. This is an example of an unintended consequence, that is, the recycling fee was imposed so that a "deposit" was charged at the time of purchase. It was expected that people would return cans and bottles after use and have their deposits refunded. It was intended to eliminate waste and protect the environment.
However, with the busy modern lifestyle, lots of people don't recycle; they just throw the cans and bottles away, hopefully, in a trash container. A sub-culture of bottle and can collectors has sprung up. For some, probably like the lady pictured above, it is a sideline. For others, it is a full-time job.
Just before waiting for her bus, this lady rummaged through, what to me is a filthy trash container, barehanded, searching for recyclables. Therein lies the problem, in the current environment of H7N9 disease, if this lady picks up some of that --or any other strain-- on her hands she will touch parts of the bus and passes it on. In effect, becoming a disease vector!
Fare Box Score Box and related Lists of Shame
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 the 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 xxx/xx;
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.
14893 F[Y] C[1]; 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 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 $1.50)
GMBL = Gardena Municipal Bus lines
ITC = Inglewood Transit Center
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 was using a font that, although I liked, was not supported. So in April 2013 I changed to a supported font, which I like, Verdana; but that seems to do little good either. Seemingly random fonts appear, I change them back to Verdana and the undesirable fonts reappear in the same place or somewhere else. There are times when the system refuses to save my work so occasionally, in order to publish on schedule, I have to release a less than profession job with spelling mistakes and other errors. :-( 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. Or, alternatively, reestablish a load from Word doc as they used to do. Until then, lo siento.
Mole’s Copyright Statement
All photographs and original written materials are copyrighted © 2007~2013 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
Berg, Paul. “The Favela Express”. Wired. Mar. 2011. Print.
Garrison, Jessica. “Metrolink begins reforms”. Los Angeles Times. Mar. 9, 2013:AA3. Print.
Hererra,
Tim. “Smart Stations”. amNY.com. Apr. 24, 2013. Web.
http://edition.pagesuite-professional.co.uk/Launch.aspx?eid=95c95ba1-7ae7-4ae5-a2c3-e2d9a233f533&pnum=1
Metro
Insider. “April 2013”.
13-155TR ©2013 LACMTA. Print.
Pereira,
Ivan. “Google Your Ride”. amNY.com. Mar. 28, 2013. Web.
http://edition.pagesuite-professional.co.uk/Launch.aspx?eid=1f829cc1-8e36-4458-9be9-8519870437aa&pnum=1
Walker,
Gary. “Westchester organization aaccuses LAWA of abandoning
regional aviation solution”.
Argonaut. Mar. 28, 2013:1. Print.
Weikel, Dan, and Vartabedian, Ralph. “Bullet train bid rules altered”. Los Angeles Times. Apr. 19, 2013:AA1. Print. Web. http://www.latimes.com/news/local/la-me-high-speed-bidding-20130419,0,188616.story
Weikel, Dan, and Vartabedian, Ralph. “Bullet train bid rules altered”. Los Angeles Times. Apr. 19, 2013:AA1. Print. Web. http://www.latimes.com/news/local/la-me-high-speed-bidding-20130419,0,188616.story
### .. .
###
..
The above is ###
30 ### in Braille
# posted by LAMETROmole @ 10:41 
