2015-02-28
Vae Viator60
When politicians involve themselves in technical matters, expect failures.
Taj Mahal II♪
Shown above
is a photo of the Division 13 Maintenance and Operations facility as a work in
progress or, as you Mole likes to term it, “Taj Mahal II”. Nice, huh?
Pictured below is an artist’s conception of what the completed structure
will look like.
Documentation
on this project can be found, especially the cost related data, but I wouldn’t
consider it a simple task. La Taupe had
performed due diligence vis-á-vis the project and presents the results below.
Taj Mahal II Concept♪
The concept
photograph has been excerpted from this Metro publication.
But let’s
talk costs. Just below is an excerpt
from another Metro publication which is stored here.
D13 M&O facility COSTS♪
Su Topo
like to consider LACMTA costs in terms of FFE (Full Fare Equivalents)
presently, $1.75. So if we look at the
project costs highlighted above, we can see that the total adjusted cost of
$120,342,000 divided by $1.75 yields a quotient of 68,766,857 full fare
payments to cover the cost of Taj Mahal II, please understand that almost sixty-nine million full fare riders are required to pay for construction. The CMA cost of $18,512,000 000 divided by
$1.75 yields a quotient of 10,578,285, i.e., ten point six million full
fare passengers will be required to pay for this item.
But this
structure will not be paid for by the ridership! It will be paid for, I believe measure R
taxation and future instantiations of like taxes. This would not be of much concern if the
LACMTA was delivering first class rapid transit but, they are not!
I don’t doubt
that an updated maintenance/operations facility is needed. I do feel that the kinds of expenditures
noted in the publications referenced above are out-of-line. Especially when one considers that the LACMTA
refuses to provide any creature comforts [think rest rooms] at its
transportation centers —do you see why I consider the LACMTA/Metro “America’s
Worst”.
We haven’t
seen the end of additional costs on this project, so follow along as more
information is presented. Will it be
completed on time? Probably not.
*************************************************************
The photograph below documents the
situation at the Maxella AV and Lincoln BL stop on the BBB 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
stop still needs a trash can!
BBB Maxella Trash
Fix???♪
Su Topo will include this
comment in every post with the above until BBB corrects the problem. For quite
awhile BBB has been charging for intra-line transfers, reversing the long
standing policy of free transfers to other BBB lines.
Too, BBB has spent lots of
money to build a big headquarters on Colorado BL just east of 4th Street. Mr.
King, just a few dollars for a trash can, you might need a few more to
cover other bus stops too, will erase this section. After all, it is Marina Del
Rey! :-)
Why a trash
container is needed♪
The photo above shows exactly what
people will do when a trash container is not provided. They will jury rig
something. What they did in this case is rip off the tape which covered
the plastic pipes at the base of the utility pole and stuffed their trash into
the pipe, nice, huh?
Edward F. King, Director of Transit
Services
City of Santa Monica's Big Blue Bus
City of Santa Monica's Big Blue Bus
(Photo: www.bigbluebus.com)
The man pictured above could ensure
that trash containers are installed along BBB routes with a simple three-line
memorandum.
White Line Incursion Series
Su Topo uses video to
highlight the problem of scofflaw drivers endangering Metro bus passengers yet,
no authority seems to want to 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 the
important fact that 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, mentioned here, and discussed at length in
the posting of 2012-05-31.
In the following video(s) we see
further instances of scofflaw drivers, some in convoy, cutting in front of
Metro 111/311 buses.
Please see the www.youtube.com video of an
auto crosses the solid white line and cuts off a Line 111/311 bus. In this case it is a van which first cuts in front of the bus and is soon followed by a taxi!
Please carefully note that, in some
videos, pedestrians are pinned to the curb by the vehicles that cut in front of
the bus —as a result these pedestrians are illegally denied the right-of-way.
Which right-of-way would be unchallengeablely theirs IF, and
only IF, Mr. Leahy would have one of his staff
explain su Topo’s simple solution (vide infra)
to him.
In spite of the potential for these
violations to occur several times per HOUR, I have never
seen a police presence at this location. One would think that with a bus
schedule taped to the dashboard one of the several policing agencies would have
made some arrests by now. Unless they have "more important"
work, than protecting bus passengers, to do.
La Taupe feels that it is appropriate
to dedicate these video(s) to ALL the agencies that should be protecting us.
So, they are dedicated to (1): Airport (LAWA) Police, the L.A.P.D., the L. A.
County Sheriff’s Department and Mr. A. Leahy who is CEO of
the LACMTA.
Su Topo has
recommended a simple solution to the problem. That is, have
the 111 Line buses pull up to pedestrian crosswalk then stop and discharge
passengers. Doing so eliminates the space in front of the bus which the
always-in-a-hurry scofflaws use to cut in front of the bus. But, with
the LACMTA nothing is simple. Although the solution could be
implemented with nothing more than a memo to the 111/311 Line drivers, it is a
task for which the LACMTA is inadequate.
OVERMATCHED
The
Mole reads the papers and other things, obviating the necessity of your doing
so.
The Los Angeles Times reports
(Bierman) on the expected federal money which would allow the spend-thrift
LACMTA to divide hoped for funds three-ways: “… $115 for the downtown regional
connector set to link several strands of the subway system; $115 million
towards the first phase of the Purple Line extension from Western Avenue to La
Cienega Boulevard; and $100 million for the second first phase of the Purple
Line extension from La Cienega to Century City.
I’ll address the plan “to link several
strands of the subway system” mentioned in the piece, about which you Mole has
written on prior occasions.
The strands, the Gold Line and the
Blue line are already linked; as is the Expo Line —at 7th and Metro
Center. Yes, it does require a transfer
from the Gold Line to the Red/Purple Line at Union Station and another transfer, (to the Blue Line, at 7th
and Metro Center. But realistically,
expecting a single seat for the entire trip that spans more than thirty miles is, well, irrational. Especially when it is a product of an
organization which in its several instantiations has never been able to complete the
last mile which separates Aviation Station from LAX.
Before spending $115 million of
taxpayers’ money on such an ill-conceived idea, one would expect some HARD
statistics on exactly how many riders would be served by building it. But, no, statistics other than someone’s WAG,
are not the LACMTA’s forte.
If the LACMTA must pour dollars into the downtown regional connector their feet should be held closely to the fire until they produce a cost benefit analysis for the project. The few people that will actually make a say, a Pasadena to Long Beach commute do NOT provide justification for the expense. In future, if cost justified, a subway line could be laid across the Gold and Blue/Expo Line route providing natural linkage.
Making transfers when
using public transportation is expected —one is not riding in a limousine!
Another Times story reports (Nelson)
that the LACMTA CEO, Art Leahy is leaving the agency when his contract expires
in April. Leahy said that leaving Metro was his choice. Ms Nelson’s reporting makes one wonder about
Leahy’s assertion. She writes: “Arthur
T. Leahy’s performance as chief executive has been under confidential review
for more than six months and a majority of members were ready to let his
contract expire in April according to sources familiar with the
negotiations. Please read Ms Nelson’s
detailed piece.
The links below SHOULD NOT be read by any Metro staff as they will not be able to absorb the concepts. Or as I like to say about the LACMTA, possessing none of three qualities, ain’t bad.
The links below SHOULD NOT be read by any Metro staff as they will not be able to absorb the concepts. Or as I like to say about the LACMTA, possessing none of three qualities, ain’t bad.
You can read about the Crossrail
project here.
You may also find this auditor’sreport on the Crossrail project interesting.
Now, for those who want more about
Crossrail, take a look at this description of the 118KM (73.3 mile) project. Seventy-three miles in ten years? That works
out to seven PLUS miles per year! Let’s
do the math on Phase I of the subway
to the sea, er, subway to Century City.
A rough estimate of
the distance between Wilshire Boulevard and Western and Avenue of the Stars is
just over six miles, but we’ll use seven miles as its length, slightly
exaggerating the project. Seven miles,
twenty years; dividing 20 by 7 will
yield a quotient which will tell us how many years it take to advance one mile,
vis, 2.9 years/ mile, we can check that values by multiplying number of mile by
2.8 which should approximate 20. So, 7 X
2.8 = 19.6, a value which is close enough for LACMTA work.
If the 73 mile Crossrail project in
London had moved as slowly, it would have taken them (73 X 2.8), i.e., 204
years! Or viewed another way, the Crossrail group would have completed our 7
mile, subway to Century City, in a year.
We are so extremely fortunate to have
the LACMTA as a source of entertainment.
Perhaps someone should make a movie —titled?? Something along the lines
of the “Gang who couldn’t plan straight”.
The Times features a piece (Weikel)
on the retirement, “in the spring”, of Gina Marie Lindsey, LAX’s executive
director. She is the person who put the “timidity” in the transportation plans to
“link” LAX. I will remember her by her
quote describing discussion of a subway under the terminal, you know the way
most modern cities do it, as “dangerous and
fraught with problems” [Mole:2014-03-31]. She is also the “owner” of the “Flyaway” buses which this Mole has always contended
should be under the control of the LACMTA.
Art Leahy, who will also leave his post this year, paved the way to her success by cancelling the only express service between downtown Los Angeles and the LAXCBC —the 439 Line; which line also linked four (4) major Westside transportation centers: the West Los Angeles Transportation Center (WLATC); Culver City Transportation (CCTC); the LAX City Bus Center (LAXCBC) and the Green Line’s Aviation Station which has its own bus center.
As things stand, the only direct way to get from the LAXCBC to Aviation Station is by using BBB or CCMBL or yet more transportation expense. Nice work Art and Ms Gina too. When it comes to the LACMTA, NOTHING is ever done to benefit its ridership!
The bottom line is that the many people who depend on the LACMTA for transportation need not shed any tears at the departure of these two. They are not friends of the people! A good case can be made that the LAWA head has frustrated whatever plans that the LACMTA may have formulated for LAX and other areas. She has, in effect, picked the LACMTA's pockets and by extension, those of the taxpayers of Los Angeles County by building her own private transportation system, the FlyAway buses.
In his years on the job, he CEO of the LACMTA has done virtually nothing for the agency's ridership. In attempting to serve two constituencies, he has opted to favor, and who wouldn't, those with the money and political clout, those who use the freeways.
An extremely good case can be made for breach of fiduciary on the part of these soon-to-be-gone executives. How? Simply look at the job done by San Francisco which should have been the model for Los Angeles. The have the old systems too; the ones which delight the tourists. But, anything built since the 1960s has been RAPID TRANSIT. It appears to su Topo to be a case of the the NIH syndrome!
Those who look at public transportation as their lifeline must accept what they are given, not much, and drink little on their trip while hoping that they can find a restroom which is open to the public at a transfer point.
Given the same choice as other large U.S. cities have faced, the LACMTA opted for rail based on the Toonervile Trolley model. As a result the LACMTA operates the most dangerous rail line in the United States —the Blue Line— and are replicating it all over the landscape because it is cheap!
Someone born today may be able to ride the Purple Line to UCLA in 2035, but this Mole is not betting on it. We need only contrast the progress of London’s “Crossrail” project: begun in 2009 and scheduled for completion in 2018. Imagination, will and technical ability; Crossrail has all three qualities.
This Mole looks forward when (i) politics is factored out of transportation, (ii) the LACMTA will make public transportation and freeways separate parallel entities and (iii) the two people mentioned above will be replaced by individuals who are transportation professionals who are willing to coöperate in developing a transportation system NOT disjoint pieces of one.
Art Leahy, who will also leave his post this year, paved the way to her success by cancelling the only express service between downtown Los Angeles and the LAXCBC —the 439 Line; which line also linked four (4) major Westside transportation centers: the West Los Angeles Transportation Center (WLATC); Culver City Transportation (CCTC); the LAX City Bus Center (LAXCBC) and the Green Line’s Aviation Station which has its own bus center.
As things stand, the only direct way to get from the LAXCBC to Aviation Station is by using BBB or CCMBL or yet more transportation expense. Nice work Art and Ms Gina too. When it comes to the LACMTA, NOTHING is ever done to benefit its ridership!
The bottom line is that the many people who depend on the LACMTA for transportation need not shed any tears at the departure of these two. They are not friends of the people! A good case can be made that the LAWA head has frustrated whatever plans that the LACMTA may have formulated for LAX and other areas. She has, in effect, picked the LACMTA's pockets and by extension, those of the taxpayers of Los Angeles County by building her own private transportation system, the FlyAway buses.
In his years on the job, he CEO of the LACMTA has done virtually nothing for the agency's ridership. In attempting to serve two constituencies, he has opted to favor, and who wouldn't, those with the money and political clout, those who use the freeways.
An extremely good case can be made for breach of fiduciary on the part of these soon-to-be-gone executives. How? Simply look at the job done by San Francisco which should have been the model for Los Angeles. The have the old systems too; the ones which delight the tourists. But, anything built since the 1960s has been RAPID TRANSIT. It appears to su Topo to be a case of the the NIH syndrome!
Those who look at public transportation as their lifeline must accept what they are given, not much, and drink little on their trip while hoping that they can find a restroom which is open to the public at a transfer point.
Given the same choice as other large U.S. cities have faced, the LACMTA opted for rail based on the Toonervile Trolley model. As a result the LACMTA operates the most dangerous rail line in the United States —the Blue Line— and are replicating it all over the landscape because it is cheap!
Someone born today may be able to ride the Purple Line to UCLA in 2035, but this Mole is not betting on it. We need only contrast the progress of London’s “Crossrail” project: begun in 2009 and scheduled for completion in 2018. Imagination, will and technical ability; Crossrail has all three qualities.
This Mole looks forward when (i) politics is factored out of transportation, (ii) the LACMTA will make public transportation and freeways separate parallel entities and (iii) the two people mentioned above will be replaced by individuals who are transportation professionals who are willing to coöperate in developing a transportation system NOT disjoint pieces of one.
There is lots to read about the 2015-02-23 Metrolink accident in Oxnard. It occurred just weeks after a similar accident involving NYC's Metro-North at Valhalla, NY on 2015-02-02; six died and fifteen were injured in that one. Both involved vehicles that ended up on the right-of-way.
Sadly, it illustrates a problem with this kind of transportation, i.e., NOT RAPID TRANSIT. Here the different modes of transportation intersect, where with RAPID TRANSIT there is grade separation. Yes!, it does cost more, but leaving things the same as they were in the 1930s is NOT the answer. And, tragically, these accidents will recur because today there are many times the number of automobiles which existed during the early years of passenger railroads; their drivers tend to be in a hury, distracted and sometimes impaired.
Sadly, it illustrates a problem with this kind of transportation, i.e., NOT RAPID TRANSIT. Here the different modes of transportation intersect, where with RAPID TRANSIT there is grade separation. Yes!, it does cost more, but leaving things the same as they were in the 1930s is NOT the answer. And, tragically, these accidents will recur because today there are many times the number of automobiles which existed during the early years of passenger railroads; their drivers tend to be in a hury, distracted and sometimes impaired.
« L'amour est le miracle de la civilisation. »
Henri Beyle dit Stendhal (1783-01-23~1842-03-23)
[Love is the miracle of
civilisation.]
Merci
Beaucoup http://evene.lefigaro.fr/ et http://www.jesuismort.com/
Ars longa vita breva
Berthe Marie Pauline Morisot (1841-01-14~1895-03-02) was the wife of Eugène Manet and an excellent artist in her own right.
¿Musica?
I feel
like something from Sr. Baldemar Garza Huerta (1937-06-04~2006-10-14) AKA “Freddy
Fender”. So let’s listen to
his “Wild Side of Life”
And as an encore, “I can’t stop loving you”.
Thank you very much! to our good
friends at www.grooveshark.com for always
providing the appropriate music for us!
The Mole rides again, so you don’t
have to wonder if it’s safe take pictures while standing in the middle of the
track - it isn't!
2015-02-10: I watch as a 40 Line bus driver
shows that she can park the front end of the bus, but not the middle and end parts,
as one can see in the picture above. The
LACMTA believes that they are legally in-the-clear because they warn passengers
to “watch their step on exit” or words to that effect. It would be safer and more efficient if they
trained drivers of these long vehicles how to “track into” the curb.
View (West) of Gold Line Extension Testing Section ♪
2015-02-10 Pictured above is the section of track in Duarte on which the Gold Line
Extension is being tested.
2015-02-10 La Taupe arrives at a section of track
in the San Gabriel Valley where the Gold Line Extension is being tested. It is said that testing must ensure that
2,400 miles of track is tested prior to certification.
Please visit the Gold Line
Extension website here for lots more info.
This Mole thinks that testing is great, but, as one can see by viewing the video here, that this is mass NOT RAPID Transit; the very presence of signalised grade crossing scream that fact out loud and clear. For somewhat more money the system could have been elevated of the crossings dipped down into underground tunnel. Unfortunately, “Leahy’s Legacy” will be the Toonerville Trollies. Just as Ms “Lindsey’s Legacy” will be four (4) seats to LAX!
This Mole thinks that testing is great, but, as one can see by viewing the video here, that this is mass NOT RAPID Transit; the very presence of signalised grade crossing scream that fact out loud and clear. For somewhat more money the system could have been elevated of the crossings dipped down into underground tunnel. Unfortunately, “Leahy’s Legacy” will be the Toonerville Trollies. Just as Ms “Lindsey’s Legacy” will be four (4) seats to LAX!
2015-02-10 I’m at an unnumbered bus stop on Walnut
between Raymond and Los Robles in Pasadena. Try as I will to extract the TOA of
the next 267 Line bus. I restart the Go Metro app several times, but I have no
luck! The thing thinks I’m still in SouthGate!
My old Garmin hand-held was slow in acquiring the GPS
satellites but much faster than this. I
give up and soon the bus arrives, but has no schedules aboard.
I test the app at the next opportunity. When I do, it wants me to turn on my battery
draining, hacker beckoning Wi-Fi; I comply and it performs much better. Below is a “screen scrape” of what I saw.
But again my seven year old Garmin didn’t have and
didn’t need Wi-Fi in order to establish a position. Tapping the bus stop location, Del Mar and
Wilson in this case, will display the scheduled arrival time for buses by
category.
I rate my satisfaction with Go Metro at five on a ten
point scale. Weaknesses are: seems to
unnecessarily require Wi-Fi; one cannot independently access the bus schedules
which are stored in the app space; without Wi-Fi it will often think that you
are at the stop across the street from your actual location, therefore produce
a schedule for buses going away from your destination and etc.
Two women, accompanied by a small girl of perhaps tres años, board my bus. Encouraged by the women the girl climbs up,
unaided, onto a transverse seat. The girl arranges herself on the seat between
the women, opens her handbag, removes a tiny plastic brush and begins to comb
her hair. She is adorable! I want to video this scene, but of course I cannot.
2015-02-12 @ 08:00. I am aboard a CCMBL Rapid 6 bus; it
is crowded. Seated across from me, a
developmentally challenged young adult make grunting noises several times per
minute. It is so sad. Bus travelers see both the happiest and saddest sides of
life.
I am using Microsoft Word on my iPhone. So far, it seems quite efficient; I use Word
in conjunction with Microsoft OneDrive which stores data in the
“cloud”. This process allows me to
produce near finished sections which can be integrated into the final posting.
This is not a commercial for MS! Rather,
it simply documents one technical Mole’s experience :-) .
2015-02-14 @ ITC:
There appears to be no security at any LACMTA site! Above, shows a vehicle which seemed be driven
by tourists who parked their car here, took photographs and then as shown, left ITC.
Ear (and Eye) to the Rail
The French certainly know how to construct fast, safe rail systems. Now they, in conjunction with the Italians, are building a link between Lyon (FR) and Turin (IT). It will be on the TGV (Train à Grande Vitesse) [High Speed Train] model. It will cover 321.4km (200 miles) with a 12.5 percent gradient; that means it goes uphill!
Plans call for it to be in service in the 2028~2029 time frame. Let's see, 200 miles, thirteen years results in about 15 mile per year on the short schedule.
Our own LACMTA has scheduled the subway to the VA which covers about eight miles over TWENTY YEARS or about .4 mile per year. Men, ready your teaspoons!
Plans call for it to be in service in the 2028~2029 time frame. Let's see, 200 miles, thirteen years results in about 15 mile per year on the short schedule.
Our own LACMTA has scheduled the subway to the VA which covers about eight miles over TWENTY YEARS or about .4 mile per year. Men, ready your teaspoons!
Please see more France24.com article here.
Metro Makes it
Happen♪
We want your feedback ...♪
We want your feedback ...♪
I take the photograph above, which is excerpted from glossy, apparently expensive publication "15-1405BC ©2015 LACMTA", to mean they believe they have exhausted all the wrong way possibilities and are beginning to grasp at straws. The LACMTA didn't even need to ask me for my feedback. But, the LACMTA is certainly in luck. Because this is the section in which I usually provide feedback on the very topic of "the transit connection to LAX" and I usually show examples of RAPID TRANSIT connections to various airports that are best practices.
I have also recorded my feelings about the way in which the LACMTA does many things —including but not limited to— the transit connection to LAX.
You can listen to my succinct reaction to the LACMTA's take on the transit connection to LAX, here. Click on the musical note, then the PLAY symbol.
Transit as unseen and unimagined by
the LACMTA
The LACMTA (Subordinate
to LAWA)
Presents
Every Which Way But
Right!
OR
Four Seats to LAX!
OR
The LACMTA Tries
Again; Asymptotically to LAX!
OR
The World’s Most
Inconvenient Way in Which to Travel From City Center to an Airport!
The purpose of this section is to
make people aware that the LACMTA is not home to many problem
solvers. I hope to accomplish this end by presenting the solutions
adopted by other cities, some in foreign countries, in solving the city to
airport rapid mass transportation challenge.
Cautionary Note: Those employed by
the LACMTA or LAWA should NOT view the following video(s). The speed of
the train(s), the fact that they neither share the right of way nor stop at
stop lights, because they are truly rapid transit, will likely make you dizzy,
nauseous, confuse and frighten you.
Located 382 miles north of Los
Angeles and light-years ahead of the LACMTA, BART should have served as a model
for our own transportation plan. But the
Los Angeles CMTA has too little will and other necessary characteristics, too
much political involvement, and perhaps they are, basically uneducatable.
The video is produced by Bay Area
Rapid Transit TV. It Is extremely
professional and demonstrates why San Francisco is such a great city to visit
and in which to live! If the video seems
like a commercial, that is just fine with me.
It is a commercial for systems thinking and IT IS RAPID TRANSIT!
Please enjoy this Bart ride because
the probability of experiencing the same sort of trip in Los Angeles is, for
all intents and purposes, ZERO. N.B. BART SFO has been running
for ten years, while we have waited twenty years for the latest, i.e., “Four
Seats to LAX”, vision. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=V6-QH6x_SIY
Thank you to our host www.youtube.com and to BARTable for
uploading this video.
Cosmology
I
viewed an excellent lecture given by Dr. Kendrick Smith of the Perimeter
Institute of Theoretical Physics which is located in Ontario, Canada. You can see it too, here. Please don’t be put off by the delay at the
beginning due to a laptop connection failure.
I’ve attended many meetings which started out in exactly the same
way. Dr. Smith makes a difficult subject
as simple as possible.
Fare Box Score Box and related Lists
of Shame
I.D. Numbers of buses with Out of
Order Fare Boxes: xxxx;
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: Not noted xxxx/xxxx;
Format is Bus number followed
by Headsign number/Tailsign number.
ID numbers of Buses without Braille
signs: xxxx;
METRO drivers Lack of 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.
79054 F[-8] C[Y];
I.D. numbers of drivers who are
unable or unwilling to position their buses parallel to the
curb, a short step from the curb and/or equidistant from the vehicles exits.
XXXXX F[+10] C[Y]; F[+7], C[Y]; xxxxx F[Y],
C[Y]; xxxxxF[Y], C[Y]; N.B. distances are in metres, think yards.
13 metres is this is MORE than a bus
length. 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(J)date; XXXX-XX-XX(-);
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.
BART = Bay Area Rapid
Transit – Please note the use of the word “Rapid” because it is a word we
almost never hear in Los Angeles.
BBB = Santa Monica’s Big Blue Bus
CHSRA = California
High-Speed Rail Authority, which is the equivalent, in more ways than one, of
the LACMTA.
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
LAWA = Los Angeles
World Airports.
LAXCBC = the LAX
City Bus Center.
OCTA = Orange
County Transportation Authority.
OOS = Out Of Service.
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].
T= 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 have been submitting feedback and
experiences slow but positive progress. Until all issues are
resolved, lo siento. [Addendum 2014-07-31]: Things
have been much better lately. There is a more responsive feedback system
now. If things keep this way, I may have to delete this "Disclaimer
and apologia" section in the near future. Almost
immediately after writing the preceding, the system "returned an
error" on a save.
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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 is 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
Bierman,
Noah and Hennigan, W.J. “Obama plan would boost L.A. transit”. Los
Angeles Times. Feb. 3,
2015:A1. Print.
Weikel, Laura J. "L.A.
World Airports chief to retire". Los Angeles Times. Feb. , 2015:B3. Print.
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