2016-02-29
Vae Vitor 72, 2016-02-29
Vae Viator72
America's Worst♪
Importantly, adding the bus drivers number to the scrolling sign inside the bus, so that riders can report those drivers who are rude, crude and have poor driving skills. Obviously, the LACMTA is unable to make those determinations.
Please remember to vote AGAINST any LACMTA/Metro ballot measures this fall!
The LACMTA/Metro doesn't deserve any additional funding from us until they begin to deliver the service which we deserve; including but not limited to:
Building restroom facilities where they are needed. They know the locations! If the drivers have a restroom the ridership needs them as well;
Providing security at the LAXCBC and along bus routes especially at 96th ST and Airport BL; they devote lots of policing, which is likely NOT cost effective, but almost nothing is spend on REAL system security. Providing an "app" is NOT providing security!
Training bus drivers that can DRIVE, which will be partly evidenced by positioning their buses at a bus stop equidistant and an EASY step to/from the curb and no break/accelerate, repeat, viz. rough and jerky driving.
Providing a pleasant on-board ambiance; no LOUD audio emanating from Metro or riders. NOT employing drivers who think they are there to provide entertainment —Silence is Golden!
Disallow boarding of passengers with unpleasant body odors, dragging trash bags stuffed with recyclables, drunk and/or unruly etc., etc.
Importantly, adding the bus drivers number to the scrolling sign inside the bus, so that riders can report those drivers who are rude, crude and have poor driving skills. Obviously, the LACMTA is unable to make those determinations.
Riding LACMTA services is generally not that pleasant to begin with and is only made more unpleasent by experiencing the above "punishments".
When politicians involve themselves in technical matters, expect failures.
This Mole has offered many suggestions to the LACMTA but few have been implemented!
It has been my understanding that ALL rapid buses will have a bus stop at points where they cross another Metro bus line.
Portion of the 720 Line♪
Please note the many lines with designators lower than 700 on the photo of a portion of the 720 Line shown above.
Portion of the 740 Line♪
That seems not to be the case where the 740 Line Rapid is concerned. It crosses the 120 local line at El Segundo BL yet no stop is shown. I reviews a lengthy document concerning policies which had nice drawing of bus stops etc.
However, it seems to me that no change which would simplify transportation for the typical rider would ever be implemented. The subject 120 Line is important to anyone who needs to get to Hawthorne BL or stops along Imperial BL that are not serviced by the Green Line, a case in point would be Crenshaw BL. So as I speed along Hawthorne BL and pass Imperial BL, my plan and time budget go out the window of the 740 Line bus! I could catch a bus back to Imperial Bl, ride a 120 Line Bus to Aviation Station and then ride a LAWA “G” Shuttle to LAX. Or I could stay aboard the 740 and debus at Rosecrans, ride a 125 line to a stop near Douglas-Rosecrans Station, walk to the Green Line Station , ride the Green Line to Aviation Station and descend from the platform level and walk to the LAWA “G” shuttle stop for a ride to the airport.
However, it seems to me that no change which would simplify transportation for the typical rider would ever be implemented. The subject 120 Line is important to anyone who needs to get to Hawthorne BL or stops along Imperial BL that are not serviced by the Green Line, a case in point would be Crenshaw BL. So as I speed along Hawthorne BL and pass Imperial BL, my plan and time budget go out the window of the 740 Line bus! I could catch a bus back to Imperial Bl, ride a 120 Line Bus to Aviation Station and then ride a LAWA “G” Shuttle to LAX. Or I could stay aboard the 740 and debus at Rosecrans, ride a 125 line to a stop near Douglas-Rosecrans Station, walk to the Green Line Station , ride the Green Line to Aviation Station and descend from the platform level and walk to the LAWA “G” shuttle stop for a ride to the airport.
The more direct way would be to add a 740 stop at Imperial Highway so that one could get directly to LAX by debusing at Aviation and walking about a bus length to the LAWA “G” shuttle.
It is the “Los Angeles County Metropolitan Transportation Agency”, right? I believe that ALL rapid lines should add stop for any Los Angeles County facility along their routes. Such stops should include the offices of Los Angeles County elected representatives, County Libraries, etc. So it adds 30 seconds of travel time to a Rapid Line ―most of these lines are not on schedule anyway―if anything, they are likely ahead of schedules due to frequently running well below capacity while the Local buses which share some or all of the route are crammed full!
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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 continue to be used as improvised trash cans. BBB N.B. The stop still needs a trash can!
BBB Maxella Trash Fix???♪
SuTopo will include this comment in every post with the above until BBB corrects the problem. For quite awhile BBB has been charging for inter-line transfers, reversing the long-standing policy of free transfers to other BBB lines. This presents the BB as less friendly to its ridership than in years past.
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 documented by your Mole, 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 video(s) 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.
2016-02-29
Please see this VIDEO of vehicles crossing the solid white line and cutting off a Line 111/311 bus.
Airport auto rental shuttle drivers, if shown in the above videos, are all Class-B operators and should know better; but often they don't care and neither does the LACMTA and any of the policing agencies which have jurisdiction in the area.
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. Washington would review su Topo’s simple solution (vide infra) and implement it.
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 to do than protecting bus passengers.
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, (2) the L.A.P.D., (3) the L. A. County Sheriff’s Department and (4) Mr. Washington who is the current 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, stop there 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 so far has proved to be inadequate.
Su Topo has recommended a simple solution to the problem. That is, have the 111 Line buses pull up to pedestrian crosswalk, stop there 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 so far has proved to be inadequate.
Metro's Flag♪
At sea, a vessel in distress will fly its' flag upside down. It is only right that, given the dysfunctional LACMTA, we should fly Metro's flag in that manner.
In this section it is su Topo's intention to call your attention to situations which he has observed that highlight the "LACMTA Way" of doing things.
An homage for her "contribution" to L.A. transportation.
Your Mole would like the former head of LAWA remembered for her "contribution" to Los Angeles area public transportation. She was quicker than her contemporary, the former bus driver and former head of the LACMATA, to implement the lucrative FlyAway service and discouraged all attempts, however feeble, to bring other modes of transportation to LAX.
Too, we should memorialize her attitude vis-à-vis public transportation directly to LAX in following the transportation direct-to-airport access pattern used by many, if not most, world-class airports, to wit, "Any time you go under the airport, it is fraught with problems, ..." [hardly a get it done attitude!].
The Mole reads the papers and other things, obviating the necessity of your doing so.
The Angeles Times publishes an article (Weikel) about the dramatic change in routing of the "Bullet Train" by the CHSRA. Confusion, uncertainty and doubt could be considered the main forces motivating CHSRA, as I read this excellent piece.
And of course, their overriding consideration is doing things cheaply, which seems to be a trait of any California agency that has anything to do with transportation.
By way of comment this Mole would like to include below, the quote from C. Northcote Parkinson —the author of Parkinson's Law(s).
And of course, their overriding consideration is doing things cheaply, which seems to be a trait of any California agency that has anything to do with transportation.
By way of comment this Mole would like to include below, the quote from C. Northcote Parkinson —the author of Parkinson's Law(s).
"Expansion means complexity and complexity, decay; or to put it even more simply— the more complex the sooner dead [emphasis mine]."
Please follow the link supplied below to Mr. Weikel's article so you can understand that the LACMTA is a cash hungry agency which want to provide little or no service to its ridership.
The Los Angeles Daily News covers (City) The opening of Metro's Division 13 building across from the Taj Mahal. It cost $120 million to build. Su Topo wonders whether it has public baños? It is a LEED [Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design] building because is is green as detailed by the Times: "Some “green” features, such as a rainwater capture system and the strategic use of sunlight to reduce energy use, helped earn the building a Gold LEED rating from the U.S. Green Building Council, according to Metro officials."
La Opinión informe (La Opinión) that the LACMTA will charge for parking a various stations around the County. Fees are either $2 or $3 per day depending on the location. According to La Opinión" "El programa está destinado a gestionar la demanda de estacionamiento en solo ciertas estaciones ocupadas, así como ayudar a pagar los costos de construcción y operativos para aparcamientos, y disuadir el uso de los estacionamiento por personas que no toman el tren o autobús [The program is designed to manage parking demand in only certain stations and help pay the costs of building and operating parking, and deter the use of parking by people who do not take the train or bus. Mole]
Mass Transit Magazine tells us (METRO) that the LACMTA has a new plan, using to identify fare evaders. The plan has a kind of “Minority Report” movie feel to it in that the system will read fare evasion intent [la Taupe's description] and then somehow act on that knowledge. This piece is based on a METRO press release and it is likely that Mass Transit Magazine simply printed it verbatim.
Although explained in the article as: "Metro’s Video Analytics software monitors activity at stations through existing video surveillance cameras. The software then highlights behavior that is out of the norm and alerts security personnel."
Your Mole's understanding that the LACMTA is never so humble as to forgo an opportunity to take credit for as much as possible; I submit the NextBus/Nextrip renaming as the LACMTA's typical of their "credit grabs"; further su Topo's limited research identifies a company such as http://www.agilityvideo.com as the actual software provider. More work needs to be done but, over the long haul wagering against the LACMTA's technical ability will make one a winner more often than not :-).
The Los Angeles Times (Rocha) covers a collision between a vehicle and an Expo Line train. Quoting Ms Rocha's article: "It is unclear how the collision occurred, but it was reported at 8:37 a.m. in the 3700 block of South Normandie Avenue, officials said."
This collision will, no doubt, be one of many over the years, as a result of allowing trains and vehicles to share the roadway. This is the definition of mass transit, not rapid transit.
The Press-Telegram reports (Scauzillo) that a LACMTA attempt to speed up the HOV [High Occupancy Vehicle] lanes has not exactly gone according to “plan” and, it appears, that no one can explain why. Mr. Scauzillo's story's first line says most of it:"Metro ExpressLanes are not living up to their name." His second line present a nice overview: "Since miles of pay lanes were created as an experiment three years ago, too many solo drivers are riding the converted car-pool lanes on segments of the 110 and 10 freeways, causing speeds to drop to levels that could result in federal highway funds being withheld."
Lots of drivers paid $40 for the required transponder because they were promised or assumed that they would experience faster commutes. Now they belong to a class of users that seem not to be receiving the service they expected, paid for and continue paying for their usage. Please read Mr. Scauzillo's nicely detailed article by using the link in "Works Cited" below. Links, when available, are provided for all the reportage in this section.
Lots of drivers paid $40 for the required transponder because they were promised or assumed that they would experience faster commutes. Now they belong to a class of users that seem not to be receiving the service they expected, paid for and continue paying for their usage. Please read Mr. Scauzillo's nicely detailed article by using the link in "Works Cited" below. Links, when available, are provided for all the reportage in this section.
An excellent team of Times Times transportation reporters (Weikel and Vartabedian) relate the newest attempt by CHSRA to cobble together a California Bullet Train. It sounds to me like a sort of, Oops, wrong place at the wrong time, let's reset. This seems to be a familiar transportation theme in California.
"The shift to the Bay Area will help the California High-Speed Rail Authority hold down costs and expedite construction of the system, which is already two years behind schedule, according to details of the new plan released Thursday."
Let's see, two years behind schedule and they will catch up by starting over in a different location. This would qualify as another definition for insanity if you and I presented that rational for some of our work. Wouldn't it??
Also please look carefully at Mr. Luis Sinco's photograph at the top of this piece (linked below). Look at the rail tie on which the workers are placing the rails. Su Topo can tell you from his experience in Japan that the Shinkansen (Japanese Bullet Train) would be halted immediately if a railroad tie looked as bad as the one pictured.
Maps, plans and CHSRA's approach, this article has it all!
"The shift to the Bay Area will help the California High-Speed Rail Authority hold down costs and expedite construction of the system, which is already two years behind schedule, according to details of the new plan released Thursday."
Let's see, two years behind schedule and they will catch up by starting over in a different location. This would qualify as another definition for insanity if you and I presented that rational for some of our work. Wouldn't it??
Also please look carefully at Mr. Luis Sinco's photograph at the top of this piece (linked below). Look at the rail tie on which the workers are placing the rails. Su Topo can tell you from his experience in Japan that the Shinkansen (Japanese Bullet Train) would be halted immediately if a railroad tie looked as bad as the one pictured.
Maps, plans and CHSRA's approach, this article has it all!
A Los Angeles Daily News article (Williams) relates another CHSRA “speed-bump” in that they are back before a judge again. This time it is a number of things. Ms Williams, whose story comes to the Daily News from, I believe, her AP filing does a beautiful job of covering the details. Ms Williams writes: "Eight years after they approved funding for [the Bullet Train], construction is years behind schedule and legal, financial and logistical delays plague the $68 billion project. ... The bullet train’s timeline, funding and speed estimates are back in the spotlight for a longstanding lawsuit filed by residents whose property lies in its path."
There is lots of detail in this article —which to this Mole's way of thinking— places CHSRA is the same peer group as the LACMTA.
There is lots of detail in this article —which to this Mole's way of thinking— places CHSRA is the same peer group as the LACMTA.
A Los Angeles Times piece (Weikel) how a half billion dollars of Federal funds be divided by Orange County and Los Angeles County to spend on “transportation” projects. Orange county will build a four-mile-long street car line while LAC … further scaring the landscape with more mass, not rapid transit.
It seems to this Mole that the LACMTA has lots of Federal (our) money already so they have no need to place an additional tax burden on us as the are supposed to do in yet another ballot Measure this fall. Your Mole recommends
voting AGAINST the ballot measure!!
Orange County, it seems wants to build a 4.1 mile longToonerville Trolley, er, street car. More contention for the roadway yields yet more mass NOT rapid transit.
It seems to this Mole that the LACMTA has lots of Federal (our) money already so they have no need to place an additional tax burden on us as the are supposed to do in yet another ballot Measure this fall. Your Mole recommends
voting AGAINST the ballot measure!!
Orange County, it seems wants to build a 4.1 mile long
Please follow the link supplied below to Mr. Weikel's article so you can understand that the LACMTA is a cash hungry agency which want to provide little or no service to its ridership.
« L'ouverture du parlement est un moment intéressant. »
Jean-Baptiste le Rond d'Alember (1717-11-16~1783-10-29)
Merci beaucoup à http://www.linternaute.com/ pour la citation!
Ars longa vita breva
The work of Jean Jouvenet (1644-04~1717-04-05) had strong religious themes and superb technical mastery.
More of his work on display at the Louvre can be seen here.
Merci bien à Le Louvre for allowing us to see this magnificent work!
¿Musica?
Composer Jean Baptiste Lully ( 1632-11-28~1687-03-22) offers us both his Les Folies d'Espagne and as an encore, his Marche pour la cérémonie des Turcs.
Composer Jean Baptiste Lully ( 1632-11-28~1687-03-22) offers us both his Les Folies d'Espagne and as an encore, his Marche pour la cérémonie des Turcs.
And again, I'd like to thank www.youtube.com for always offering something appropriate and to the uploaders, respectively: Le Lutin d’Escouves and mephisto01cl.
Metro Area – Lower your expectations!♪
The Mole rides again, so you don’t have to avert your gaze when you see a man step behind the dumpster at LAXCBC.
All dates are ISO8601 format, times are expressed in the 24 hour system.)
Blobs of gum♪
Blobs of gum♪
2016-02-03 10:00 @ ITC: As I wait I notice how ITC is given little maintenance priority. Why could that be? Quite a while ago the LAXCBC had a similar look but when I posted information about using a high-pressure water stream to clean the mosaic of gum, it was done quite rapidly. Here is a link to the cleaning equipment that does the job. Just search the page (hold down Ctrl and press f); then enter "Long Beach street" (no " marks, please) as the search argument.
Loo for who?♪
2016-02-04 08:50 @ LAXCBC: Shortly before this I saw a man slide behind the dumpster ―pictured above― and use it as a, well, umm, loo. It is my understanding that micturating in public is treated as a sex crime, with all the attendant disadvantages, public registry etc. The LACMTA could acknowledge that its ridership is human and is deserving of such creature comforts, but generations of management has yet to see fit to establish public rest rooms, but then that would cut into managements' bonuses.
Seating for few♪
2016-02-07 14:40 @ South Bay Center: Here again, is proof positive that the LACMTA cares less than nothing about its ridership —short of taking their tax monies— here they/we are left standing for long periods with only two benches seating perhaps two people. There was better seating months ago but it was removed for no reason which I can discern.
2016-02-07
mid-morning on bard a 130 Line bus: A
passenger is accused of waking another passenger who apparently was sleeping;
lot of cursing ensues. The driver calls
the M.V. Transit dispatcher Mdwe can hear both side of the conversation because
all audio devices are always set at full volume. The dispatcher advses the driver to tell the
unruly passengers to be quite or leave the bus.
2016-02-08
Long Beach late morning: This Blue Line train travels for six blocks then
halts fifteen minutes. After we start another few minutes s spent
waiting for traffic signals; that waiting is repeated several more times before
we enter signalised track.
What ever
happened to the LACMTA's plan to control traffic signals, giving mass transit
the right-of-way? Inplementing that plan
would have made the LACMTA's Tooonerville Trolleys lame instead of totally
lame! This is just another of the
LACMTA's broken promises providing another reason NOT to approve any more of
taxpayer mones for them. Simply put,
that would be a “good money after bad” situation.
Sheriff's
deputies board my train in two seperate waves.
Each team find a free-rider in my train car. Apparently, “catch and release” is the order
of the day because the deputies soon leave.
I transfer
to the Green Line at and take a seat, briefly, next to a person who is
unfamiliar with personal hygiene.
Signage♪
2016-02-08 12:00 @ a Green Line platform: Your Mole looks up to see that the LACMTA has lost yet another battle with technology.
Signage2♪
2016-02-10 @ 08:30 On a Blue Line platform: I study the signage which seems to be operating and try to figure out what “7MC” means. It is still early in the morning and I had to skip coffee so that I could be in Long Beach for a meeting. Do you know what it means. Answer next month. There is enough space for them to better display the message, but sometimes I feel that the space is between the LACMTA's collective ears :-) As it turns out my train unceremoniously dumped us off at Willow Station so they could hurry back and provide transportation to the more fortunate. As your Mole says quite a lot, equal taxation unequal service by the LACMTA!
Oh, and related to the signage pictured above, although the times are expressed in minutes after the hour, they would rather show a Metro commercial at the bottom of the screen instead of the current time. One cheer for the LACMTA!
2016-02-10 @ 13:50 aboard a north bound 40 Line bus: The driver says nothing and allows each passenger to tap or try to insert money and learn that the farebox is out of service individually.
2016-02-15 @ 08:40: This32 Line bus was scheduled to leave at 08:31, but after the driver made a number of false starts we finally depart. She (#87648) is one of the roughest of a contractor, M V Transportation, known for rough and jerky drivers. The ambiance is bad too! All audio is full on and EVERYTHING rattles. One wonders why it doesn't fall apart!
2016-02-17 11:00: Your Mole waits at Santa Monica and Sepulveda BLs for a 740 bus. There is one which has been parked at the curb with its engine idling with no sign of a driver. Another bus comes along and checks the mystery bus whose driver was sleeping. We wait until that bus pulls out and then we leave. The driver was sleeping.
2016-02-10 @ 13:50 aboard a north bound 40 Line bus: The driver says nothing and allows each passenger to tap or try to insert money and learn that the farebox is out of service individually.
2016-02-15 @ 08:40: This32 Line bus was scheduled to leave at 08:31, but after the driver made a number of false starts we finally depart. She (#87648) is one of the roughest of a contractor, M V Transportation, known for rough and jerky drivers. The ambiance is bad too! All audio is full on and EVERYTHING rattles. One wonders why it doesn't fall apart!
During the
preceeding fortnight this Mole has seen two fights aboard 40 Line buses. Security officers were neve called and all
idividuals involved left the scene.
Mystery Bus♪
2016-02-17 11:00: Your Mole waits at Santa Monica and Sepulveda BLs for a 740 bus. There is one which has been parked at the curb with its engine idling with no sign of a driver. Another bus comes along and checks the mystery bus whose driver was sleeping. We wait until that bus pulls out and then we leave. The driver was sleeping.
Punishing!♪
2016-02-18 @ 08:30 aboard a Green Line train: It appears that a graffiti artist has defaced this poster which tells us how good that it is to have the LACMTA “working” on our behalf.
Cannabalised Bicycle♪
2016-02-18 11:20 @ LAXCBC: Here we can see the LACMTA's warning (above) to those who would use the bicycle racks which the agency provides. The decent thing to to would be to remove the bicycle skeleton AND the bike racks —the racks also present an impediment to those who are visually challenged.
Poor Parking♪
2016-02-18 13:00 @ ITC, waiting for a bus: As if to prove the rule that, “It is the ninety-eight percent which give the rest a bad name”, pictured above is another example of exactly how poor Metro drivers are at positioning their buses. La Taupe estimated that the front door is an acceptable one foot from the curb, the middle door three feet and the end door approaching five feet.
Ok, here is what the need to do: simply paint a white line that the right tire must follow in order to pull up to the stop equidistant and an easy step to and from the curb. It is the pattern followed by the airline pilots to place their aircraft at its gate upon arrival. Alternatively, the LACMTA could instill a spirit of professionalism and pride in their drivers. Which would be the easier task, I wonder??
Narrowed Aisle♪
At times navigating the cramped, crowded aisles of a bus can be difficult. This one is not too bad. Perhaps the LACMTA could instill a spirit of coöperation in its passengers—although that might be impossible.
Ear (and Eye) to the Rail
Transit as unseen and unimagined by the LACMTA
The LACMTA (Subordinate to LAWA)
Presents
Every Which Way But Right!
OR
Four (OR Five) Seats to LAX!
OR
The LACMTA Tries Again; Asymptotically to LAX!
OR
Metro is the worst way from Center to an Airport, LAX, that is!
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 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.
Jakarta Indonesia has a population of 26,063,000, making it about twice the size of Los Angeles. Just below, there is a link to a description of their system.
Yes, it is in Indonesian but Mass Rapid Transit is understandable in any language. You can pick out some English phrases, like “completely separated from other traffic” i.e., grade separated.
Please note that the grade separation is assurance that it will be a RAPID ride.
Although this is the description of a Future system you can wager that it will be completed and require fewer seats, city to airport and be faster per unit of distance than anything that the LACMTA can implement.
View the youtube.com material here.
Systems like this are the result of people who can think in terms of systems, benefits and objectives NOT primarily about cost.
Cosmology
Gravitational waves continue to be an important part of recent news. This news.discovery.com article asks, so what? Follow this link and find out.
Then we can find out that things are astonishingly simple; you can view the Perimeter Institute's Neil Turok's lecture here.
Fare Box Score Box OOS and related Lists of Shame
I.D. Numbers of buses with Out of Order Fare Boxes: Direction Line, etc
East bound 130 Line Bus #11067 (2016-02-07@ 11:30); North bound 40 Line Bus #7922 (2016-02-07)
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.
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. At the present time (2015-10-31)there are too many drivers to name, whose skill at parallel parking is deficient .
XXXXX F[+0] 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 40 foot bus length. nnnnn* = Contract Driver
I.D. numbers of drivers who are almost guaranteed to give you a Rough and Jerky (R& J) ride: 87648;
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 $1.75)
GTrans (Gardena transit?) formerly 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].
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 have been submitting feedback and experiences slow but positive progress. Until all issues are resolved, lo siento. [Addenda 2014-07-31]: Things have been much better lately. There is a more responsive feedback system now. [Addenda 2015-08-22]: Recently, even the "Feedback" mechanism has failed to submit problems.
[2015-12-31] The feedback section disallows screen shots which show problems with the "final posting", such as, orange sections which cover blocks of text and change the font size. All it would take is allowing and attachment. But, ...
I like blogger.com very much, and IF things ever normalise, I will consider deleting this "Disclaimer and apologia" section.
Your Mole’s Copyright Statement
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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
City News Service. "Modern-minded $120 million Metro bus maintenance facility opens in downtown LA". dailynews.com. Feb. 8, 2016. Web. http://www.dailynews.com/general-news/20160208/modern-minded-120-million-metro-bus-maintenance-facility-opens-in-downtown-la
Scauzillo, Steve. "110, 10 Freeway ExpressLanes are slowing down and officials aren’t sure of the fix". presstelegram.com. Feb. 9, 2016. Web. http://www.presstelegram.com/general-news/20160209/110-10-freeway-expresslanes-are-slowing-down-and-officials-arent-sure-of-the-fix#author1
La Opinión. "Pronto podrías pagar por dejar tu coche en estaciones de Metro". laopinion.com Feb. 22, 2016. Web. http://www.laopinion.com/2016/02/22/pronto-podrias-pagar-por-dejar-tu-coche-en-estaciones-de-metro/
METRO. "Metro Testing new Security Technologies to Crack Down on Fare Evasion". masstransitmag.com. Feb. 18, 2016. Web. http://www.masstransitmag.com/press_release/12171827/metro-testing-new-security-technologies-to-crack-down-on-fare-evasion
Rocha, Veronica. "Expo line halted after Metro train collides with vehicle". Los Angeles Times. Feb. 22, 2016. Web. http://www.latimes.com/local/lanow/la-me-ln-expo-line-halted-20160222-story.htmlMETRO. "Metro Testing new Security Technologies to Crack Down on Fare Evasion". masstransitmag.com. Feb. 18, 2016. Web. http://www.masstransitmag.com/press_release/12171827/metro-testing-new-security-technologies-to-crack-down-on-fare-evasion
Scauzillo, Steve. "110, 10 Freeway ExpressLanes are slowing down and officials aren’t sure of the fix". presstelegram.com. Feb. 9, 2016. Web. http://www.presstelegram.com/general-news/20160209/110-10-freeway-expresslanes-are-slowing-down-and-officials-arent-sure-of-the-fix#author1
Williams, Juliet. "Plagued by delays, California high-speed rail back in court".
dailynews.com. Feb. 7, 2016. Web. http://www.dailynews.com/general-news/20160207/plagued-by-delays-california-high-speed-rail-back-in-court
Weikel, Dan and Vartabedian, Ralph. “Change in bullet train construction plans will delay rail line’s arricval in Southeren California”. Los Angeles Times. Feb. 18, 2016. Web. http://www.latimes.com/local/california/la-me-bullet-train-route-20160219-story.html
Weikel, Dan. "$500 million in federal funds earmarked for L.A., Orange County transit projects". Los Angeles Times. Feb. 9, 2016. Web. http://www.latimes.com/local/lanow/la-me-ln-local-transit-funds-20160209-story.html
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