Los Angeles

The Perils of Average Density

Posted on September 26, 2010 in Books, Density, Las Vegas, Los Angeles, Melbourne, New York City, Philosophy, Toronto, Transit-Oriented Development (TOD)

In his 2010 book Transport for Suburbia, Paul Mees notices a fallacy that seems to be shared by sustainable transport advocates and car advocates. Both sides of this great debate agree that effective transit requires high density.

Sustainability advocates want higher urban densities for a range of reasons, but viability of public transit is certainly one of them. Meanwhile, advocates of car-dominance want to argue that existing low densities are a fact of life; since transit needs high density, they say, there’s just no point in investing in transit for those areas, so it’s best to go on planning for the dominance of cars. Continue Reading →

The Perils of Succeeding “On Average”

Posted on August 29, 2010 in Frequent Networks, Los Angeles, Maps, On-Time Performance, Philosophy, Toronto, Words, Unhelpful

Two recent comments on different topics got me thinking about averages, and why people like to talk about them more than they like hearing about them.

Toronto transit expert Steve Munro made this comment on the familiar perils of transit operations in that city:

In Toronto, the TTC reports that routes have average loads on vehicles, and that these fit within standards, without disclosing the range of values, or even attempting any estimate of the latent demand the route is not handling because of undependable service. Service actually has been cut on routes where the “averages” look just fine, but the quality of service on the street is terrible. Some of the planning staff understand that extra capacity can be provided by running properly spaced and managed service, but a cultural divide between planning and operations gets in the way.

Continue Reading →

Los Angeles: Rail Has “Forced Ridership Down”?

Posted on July 23, 2010 in Bus Rapid Transit, Los Angeles, Rail Transit

This Los Angeles Times article will be helpful to anyone wanting to grasp the rough contours of transit debates there. As I’ve argued before, Los Angeles has emerged as a national leader in transit development, and probably offers the most hopeful models for how car-oriented cities can begin to refit themselves to shift demand to transit, with all the social, economic, and sustainability benefits that can imply. Here’s the nub of of the remaining argument:

“Overall, the push for rail has forced transit ridership down,” said Tom Rubin, a veteran transit consultant and former chief financial officer for the MTA’s predecessor. “Had they run a lot of buses at low fares, they could have doubled the number of riders.” Continue Reading →

Ridership Down in the US? Look Deeper

Posted on July 16, 2010 in Honolulu, Journalism, Los Angeles, New York City, Rail Transit, San Francisco

It seems to be, and I’m sure the New Republic’s Robert Puentes is right about the causes — (1) recession-driven unemployment (which both reduces commute demand and reduces discretionary income) plus (2) the epidemic of service cuts, which is proving yet again that not many riders are so “captive” that you can’t drive them away eventually. Both of those factors are well-observed correlations.

But it’s interesting that the New Republic chose to feature this map from the Brookings Institution’s interactive source, which shows total numbers of public transit commuters by metro area, as opposed to this one, which shows the percentage of all commutes that go by public transit, or what’s technically called the Journey-to-Work (JTW) mode share. Continue Reading →

Funny Journalism Note: Los Angeles Cuts Down on “Movement”

Posted on June 4, 2010 in Amusing, Journalism, Los Angeles

This is just funny. From the Los Angeles Times today, an article by David Zahniser on cuts to Commuter Express services run by the City of Los Angeles:

The agency also would phase out three Commuter Express routes: Line
575, which travels from Simi Valley to Warner Center; Line 413, which
moves from Van Nuys and North Hollywood to downtown; and Line 430, which
runs from Pacific Palisades to downtown Los Angeles.

Continue Reading →

Los Angeles: Columnist’s Insight Solves Everything

Posted on May 21, 2010 in Bus Rapid Transit, Los Angeles, Monorail, Rail Transit

David Lazarus’s Los Angeles Times column today lays out what everyone who’s studied the problem knows needs to be done.

Since we can’t afford subways everywhere we need them, create “virtual subways,” i.e. exclusive bus lanes on all the major boulevards, by eliminating car lanes. (The Metro Rapid bus network, compromised as it is, was in many ways designed to help people discover this for themselves. When the Rapid was being invented in the 1990s, the LA city council wasn’t willing to consider bus or HOV lanes on arterials. So Metro took the view, “let’s do everything we can to make an attractive fast rail-transit-like bus service, so that more people will care about buses getting through.” That’s pretty much what the Metro Rapid is, and did.)
Fund transit expansion by hitting up motorists, via gas taxes or congestion pricing.

Continue Reading →

The Foreign Placename Problem in Transit Announcements

Posted on April 2, 2010 in Language, Los Angeles

The bilingual blog Straight outta Suburbia / Saliendo de las Afueras is not just an interesting read on Los Angeles issues, but it’s also a good way to practice your Spanish comprehension while reading interesting things. Each post appears in both languages, so you can check the English to see if you understood the Spanish correctly. (And vice versa.) Continue Reading →

Illusions of Travel Time in Transit Promotion

Posted on March 28, 2010 in Basics, Frequent Networks, Light Rail, Los Angeles, Rail Transit

Whenever you hear someone cite the travel time of a proposed transit line, your first reaction should always be: “Yes, but at what frequency?” Often, that fact is missing from these soundbites.

There’s a nice example in today’s Transport Politic. Speaking of the proposed Gold Line Foothills extension, which if built will someday extend from Los Angeles to Montclair: Continue Reading →

Los Angeles Times Columnist Slams Transfer Penalties

Posted on March 25, 2010 in Fares, Los Angeles

Los Angeles Times columnist David Lazarus tried using transit recently, and what drove him crazy was not the waiting, the crowding, the delays. What drove him crazy were the fares:

For example, transfers. Switching from one transit provider to another is often a necessity in an area this vast. Some, such as Santa Monica’s Big Blue Bus, make it relatively easy. Others do not. Continue Reading →

Willingness to Pay for Transit Improvements

Posted on March 11, 2010 in Cuts, Los Angeles, Strategic Transit Planning, Sydney

Do your city’s political leaders understand what funding sources people would support if they knew what they were buying? A few weeks ago, the Source (a blog by the Los Angeles transit agency Metro) reported on a survey showing that current riders would pay 50c more in fares for a doubling of their frequency of service. This isn’t as encouraging as it sounds, because a doubling of frequency, even with significant ridership increases as a result, will cost a lot more than 50 cents per new rider. But it’s a useful soundbite. These questions, broadly called “willingness to pay” questions, need to be asked more, and more probingly. Continue Reading →

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