MTA Gets It Right: More "Metro Rapid" Bus Lines
By Walter Moore, Candidate for Mayor of Los Angeles, MooreIsBetter.comPop quiz: What form of mass transit does NOT require us to wait 10 years and spend billions of dollars to start reducing gridlock? The correct answer, of course, is "buses."
The MTA just announced that it is adding eight new "Metro Rapid" bus lines throughout the county. According to an article in the L.A. Times:
"Service on the Metro Rapid Program, implemented in June 2000, is 25% faster than regular service because the buses make fewer stops and run every three to 10 minutes during peak travel times, the MTA says. Also, the Rapid buses have equipment that extends green lights or changes red lights 10 seconds faster. "
"By June 2008, 500 Metro Rapid buses, up from 359, will serve 28 transit corridors covering 420 route miles and 35 cities throughout the county. Metro Rapid's most popular route, Line 720 on Wilshire Boulevard, had 46,000 riders in the month of April, and Line 754 on Vermont Avenue had 25,000 riders, the MTA reported."
This, in my opinion, is exactly how our mass transit dollars should be spent. Buses -- especially if we start creating "bus only" lanes where we now clog streets with parked cars -- can get commuters moving NOW, not a decade from now. We should stop spending money on new rail and subway projects, and use that money instead for bus rapid transit ("BRT"), and stop charging passengers any fares.
How much money is already available for buses? According to MTA Chief Executive Roger Snoble, the proposed budget allocates, in the words of the L.A. Times, "$1.39 billion, about 45% of the total spending, to cover all bus operations in the 2008 fiscal year." That's a bargain. Let's increase the percent spent on buses.
Posted by Walter Moore @ 6/05/2007 06:34:00 AM
27 Comments:
Walter
you take away street parking, you business' on those streets (and don't give me the whole "build a parking lot"
1 parking lot is not the same as street parking and will hurt businesses in the area.
Life is trade-offs.
It's easier to build parking lots than to create new lanes on streets. As for your "it'll hurt business" assertion, do you have any empirical evidence to back that up? Have you been to the Third Street Promenade in Santa Monica? How about the Grove? Zero street parking, and business is booming.
Depending on the price, moreover, I'd like to see us build underground parking and use the land on top for more parks.
Much of L.A. was laid out back when the street cars prevailed anyway, so there is no parking, and the businesses might wind up doing better if people can arrive and depart on fast buses rather than having to sit in traffic forever.
Walter...you cite 2 malls as evidence that parking lots are useful...
wow...GREAT FUCKIN RESEARCH there buddy!
Walter, have you ever taken an MTA bus?
Walter: It's obvious you've never used a bus or even understand their function or limitations. Perhaps you ought to use them exclusively for maybe 60 days.
Lock up your car and buy a bus pass. You can still get one today or tomorrow for $52. Next month they are $62.
Now your first assignment is to go to a luncheon meeting with an executive of a bank on Wilshire Blvd. which is located 1/2 mile from the nearest Rapid Bus stop.
You take the crosstown local from your home to Wilshire Blvd. in Santa Monica. You soon find that the Rapid Bus takes an hour to get to mid-Wilshire. You hit Westwood Blvd. and 50 folks jam aboard the bus. It's only 10:30 a.m. and you've got time to get to your noon appointment.
You are in a nice suit, but the guy that sits next to you smells like rotten eggs. The bus is now way overcrowded. You can't move, as the standing space is fully occupied.
Then, the coach operator starts telling folks to move to the back of the bus. No one listens. So, because the bus is so full, the operator won't go, until folks start to move back. This goes on for about 3 signal cycles.
Oh, that Rapid is so fast, but it doesn't account for human behavior.
Now, it slowly moves through jammed traffic in Beverly Hills and the Miracle Mile.
You look at your watch. It's 11:40 a.m. and so, you get off the Rapid Bus at Crenshaw, only to find that the local bus stop is across the street, not next to the Rapid Bus.
The local runs every 15 minutes and will drop you off right at the corner of the bank or you can walk 1/2 mile to your appointment.
While you get off the Rapid, the signal turns red and you can't cross the street, but the local has just pulled up to the stop.
The light turns green and you are waving at the local, so you can just get to the meeting on time. But as you are half way across the street, the local closes its doors and pulls away from the curb, leaving you in the dust.
So, now you have to either wait another 15 minutes or start walking back across the same intersection towards your appointment.
It's hot outside. You are working up a sweat. But that 15 minutes you had to spare is now going to be consumed by a walk to your appointment.
You finally walk that 1/2 mile to the appointment, but you are drenched from sweat, so you need the men's room to straighten up.
Now, its appointment time. Your suit carries the odor as it start to dry. Can the bank president smell it? So, off you go in his car to a fancy restaurant.
Now, while you insist this Rapid Bus increase is so great, you will never have the courage to use the bus exclusively for 60 days. You will never know what it is like to be on the other side, using a second class idea from a third world country.
Subways and other rail is simply a 150 year long investment in our city. It goes fast and on the corridors that it serves, the local buses run every 5-10 minutes to get you the last 1/2 mile.
It doesn't matter if it takes 10, 20 or 30 years, rail transit must be built and at a faster pace then we now do it.
Buses have a role as a feeder system, but a solution? They are 25% faster? Do the math. The local is 12 MPH and the Rapid is 15 MPH. in scheduled running speed. This is yes, 25%. So you save a big THREE minutes every hour you travel 12 miles.
How does this reduce gridlock? How does it go faster? But, your opinion closely matches the Bus Riders Union. Eric Mann, BRU head makes over $200,000 per year. Maybe you can work for him as in house Counsel. They pay well.
8:16
POST OF THE WEEK!
lol, Walter, seriously, don't f*** with Numan!
Unless you really dig the beat-downs.
We can't stop laughing over here.
As for my research, if you go to my platform, you'll find a link describing successful bus rapid transit programs all over the world.
As for my providing "only" two actual, real-world examples to counter the bald assertion of the first poster that businesses will fail without street parking, no more evidence was needed. If more were required, it would be easy enough to provide. The world is full of parking garages next to thriving commercial areas.
As for the buses being unpleasant now, yes, they are. That needs to be fixed. That circumstance, however, does not mean it would make more sense to spend money on subways. Rather, that circumstance indicates more money should be spent on security.
As for buses supposedly not being a practical way to attend meetings, see the research about BRT all over the world. Do not confuse things as they are with things as they should be.
Furthermore, mass transit can reduce traffic even if nowhere near 100% of commuters or business people ride it. Getting 10,000 or 20,000 or 50,000 cars off the road would help, even if most people still need to use cars.
As for your laughing, good. Laughter is good for you.
Walter, how will having more security reduce overcrowding or prevent smelly people from getting on the bus? How will having more security keep the buses on schedule or make the locals come sooner than every 15 minutes? It is painfully obvious you have never ridden an MTA bus in your life.
BRT has its own exclusive right-of-way, like the Orange Line. BRT is not a lane on a boulevard shared with autos that are turning right.
"As for my providing "only" two actual, real-world examples to counter the bald assertion of the first poster that businesses will fail without street parking, no more evidence was needed. If more were required, it would be easy enough to provide. The world is full of parking garages next to thriving commercial areas."
Walter...we're talking about shops on Santa Monica Blvd. and Wilshire and Pico....NOT MALLS!!! What part of "NOT MALLS" do you not understand?
3rd Street Promenade is...A MALL
The Grove is...A MALL
Westfield Century City is... (let's finish the sentence class)
Melrose doesn't have much street parking and the stores and restaurants seem to be doing pretty good. Old Town Pasadena is also doing pretty well without street parking. I never thought I would agree with Walter, but I think he is right on this one. There are numerous examples of international bus systems that thrive. Bus systems in Brazil are the classic example (ex. Curitiba.) I used the bus system in Germany and it was first rate. Clean, modern and on time. Of course, they also have first rate rail systems.
Numan, are you also SS Sam Taylor?
Walter, I have three words for you. You're an IDIOT!!!!!!! I have to use the bus, and it sucks. I currently commute from Glassell Park to La Cienega & Airdrome. To be at work at 8:30 (this is to account for busses that breakdown or simply pass you by because they are too full), I have to leave home at 6am. I get off work at 6pm, and usually get home between 7:45 and 8pm. Oh, and I take a Rapid. I learned the hard way that taking the direct route home won't get me home until 8:30pm. That is because all the illegal alien nannies caring for the the liberal westsiders going home have filled numerous other buses on that line to overflowing.
I love it when people like you, and even our illustrious Mayor Viva-La-Raza, spout off on the bus system. You have not either aken a bus, or you have not taken a bus within the last 20 years. The MTA is a joke! Black drivers bypass Latinos, Latino drivers bypass blacks. Ask a question about connecting to another line, and you get a rude remark about how that driver is not the MTA information system. Or better yet, be 25 feet from a bus stop late at night, and wildly flagging down the bus, only to watch it whizz by completely empty. Or my favorite thing. Get on a bus that is 15-20 minutes late, only to discover that the driver is busy yacking on his cell phone's headset (which is a violation of State law). Complain about anything and you get a canned response from the MTA, and nothing gets done. Are all bus drivers bad? No, they are not, but the good ones are few and far between.
Seems like you are just another out of touch politician. I guess that is what we are doomed to have.
PochoPatriot you're a nutjob.
I agree we need more buses, more dedicated bus lane, and even less street parking on major streets to accomodate this, but I by no means think that we can rely in any way on buses to save us from the ever growing gridlock.
Subways and monorails aren't hindered by traffic, while buses, even with dedicated lanes, will still be slowed down and oftentimes even stopped during rush hours and by accidents.
There is no indication that people will be doing anything but adding more cars to our already congested roads. The nice thing about buses is they're relatively cheap and immediate... but they're just a bandaid, no matter how you cut it.
9:55
Security will not help with crowding. More buses will help alleviate crowding.
11:20
With all due respect, you really need to get out more. The world beyond your zip code, or block, or wherever circumstances have you confined, is full of parking structures in commercial areas.
12:34
Reading comprehension isn't exactly your strong point, is it? I did not say the bus system, as currently constituted, is a nice way to get around right now. Rather, the issue is how best to spend a finite amount of money available for mass transit. Subways would take too long and cost too much. Bus rapid transit, judging from systems all over the world, can work, and can work efficiently.
As for which one of us is the idiot, it seems you have managed to arrange your life to include riding a form of transit you detest. By contrast, I either ride in my car, while smoking a cigar, or enjoy riding my motorycle to work. Who's the idiot now, skippy?
Walter
You ride a motorcycle...I'm fairly sure that makes you the idiot...
heard eric mann(of bus riders union) on KPFK yesterday saying all white middle class folks are racists. Guess he's too rich (at $200 K per year) to be in the middle class.
No, I understood your article fine. I simply pointed out why you are incorrect, but that's cool if your Gard degree from Princeton blinds you to good sense. Most Ivy League types aren't worth the sheepskins their degree is printed on, but that's cool.
I think that you really do need to see how impossible it is to get around L.A. without a car to smoke your cigar in or a motorcycle (which in and of itself disqualifies you as a grown-up).
However, as others have pointed out the current chokehold on street traffic makes bus service a pipedream. Mainly because bus service is simply not fast enough. I agree that subways are not the best form of spending, but I don't see another viable manner of mass transit other than rail.
Oh, and you are still an idiot, and won't ever be getting my vote.
Walter Moore is on the mighty KFI!!
Walter!
I heard you also on KFI, GREAT SOUND BITE just stick to those topics and issues and your a winner!!
aLSO YOU WILL BE GETTING MY CHECK ALSO !!
A SHOUT OUT FROM LINCOLN HTS!!
Walter:
Leave my zip code?
You're the one who brought up the Promenade and The Grove! All I did was add in the mall thats right inbetween them.
As for Melrose...Its a destination! When have shops on Pico and La Cienega been a destination? Where are you going to put a big lot?
Old Town Pasadena (never been), but I'm sure there is some "destination" feel to it...
Thanks, y'all. Send those contributions so I can buy more ads, would you?
As for which one of us is the idiot, it seems you have managed to arrange your life to include riding a form of transit you detest. By contrast, I either ride in my car, while smoking a cigar, or enjoy riding my motorycle to work. Who's the idiot now, skippy?
I love it when Walter shows contempt for the common man. If you ride the bus, you are an idiot and haven't "managed" your life incorrectly. Is this guy for real?
Walter, thousands of people simply can't afford a car. The bus is all they have. Not everyone can be brilliant lawyers like you and rake in the big bucks to afford a car AND motorcycle.
Moore for Mayor. He hasn't ever taken the bus, but he thinks you should! Once you get on the bus, he can encounter less traffic as he chomps on his cigar!
Oops. I meant to write that if you ride the bus, Walter thinks you are an idiot and haven't "managed" your life correctly.
Walter Moore has more contempt for his (potential) constituents than Jack Weiss.
Let's be real...there's not a chance in hell he'll even have "potential" constituents.
No kidding and that one east side voter won't be the one to serve him up the constituents either.
As someone who drives from Woodland Hills (for all you "over the hill" rich white Weiss constituents, WH is as far west as you can go in the valley) to Melrose fairly often, I have to say that I have never had a problem parking on the street. I have never paid for parking either.
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