MTA rolling out plan to overhaul city bus routes.The Metropolitan Transportation Authority plans to propose a sweeping overhaul of its bus-route system and expand the use of bus-only lanes on crowded city streets. Later this month, transit officials are set to roll out a plan to build dozens of transit hubs throughout the county. Bus routes that are now laid out in a grid system would gradually be realigned to connect to these hubs. Along with the expanded bus-only lanes, the changes will affect no only bus riders who will see routes added and dropped, but also drivers who compete with buses for space on city streets. "The system we have in place now was developed over 30 years ago," said John Caloe, deputy chief executive officer for the Los Angeles Los Angeles (lôs ăn`jələs, lŏs, ăn`jəlēz'), city (1990 pop. 3,485,398), seat of Los Angeles co., S Calif.; inc. 1850. MTA (1) (Message Transfer Agent or Mail Transfer Agent) The store and forward part of a messaging system. See messaging system. (2) See M Technology Association. 1. (messaging) MTA - Message Transfer Agent. . "What we want to do is to reduce the trip time for bus riders, by speeding buses along busy corridors and by having fewer transfers." The most immediate change is likely to be the exclusive bus lane that's now in a trial run during rush hours on a 1.25-mile stretch of Wilshire Boulevard Wilshire Boulevard is one of the principal east-west arterial roads in Los Angeles, California, United States. It was named for H. Gaylord Wilshire (1861-1927), an Ohio native who made and lost fortunes in real estate, farming, and gold mining. , between Federal Avenue and the Santa Monica Santa Monica (săn`tə mŏn`ĭkə), city (1990 pop. 86,905), Los Angeles co., S Calif., on Santa Monica Bay; inc. 1886. Tourism and retailing are important, and the city has motion-picture, biotechnology, and software industries. city line. The lane runs along the curb on each side of Wilshire; to accommodate the smooth bus service, parking, which had been permitted during rush hours, is now banned. Last March, the MTA and the city of Los Angeles
Despite some initial confusion, MTA staff is set to report the trial-run a success and recommend expansion of the lanes. If the board approves the expansion, new lanes could start appearing next year elsewhere on Wilshire and on other major streets. "Not only are buses getting through that stretch much more quickly, but the overall traffic flow has been improved because the buses no longer have to weave in and out of traffic lanes," Catoe said. "What's more, we have found there have been fewer accidents along that stretch." The rush-hour bus-only lanes are also much cheaper to set up than dedicated busways, such as the $330 million Orange Line now under construction through the San Fernando Valley San Fernando Valley Valley, southern California, U.S. Northwest of central Los Angeles, the valley is bounded by the San Gabriel, Santa Susana, and Santa Monica mountains and the Simi Hills. . The total cost for the Wilshire pilot program was $160,000. Most of that was for the restriping of the street, the installation of warning signs and outreach efforts to local businesses and residents. Other stretches of Wilshire are being considered for the expansion of the lanes. Bus lane critics Jean Shigematsu, vice president of community affairs for the West Los Angeles
Another concern is traffic. Along other sections of Wilshire and many other streets in the region, parking is already prohibited during peak hours peak hours npl, peak period n → horas fpl punta peak hours peak npl → heures fpl d'affluence or de pointe , so putting in bus-only lanes would take away a lane of traffic. "The MTA's original plan was to run this program along much of Wilshire Boulevard and we were concerned back then about taking away a lane of traffic," said Jeff Spring, spokesman for the Automobile Club of Southern California The Automobile Club of Southern California was founded December 13, 1900 in Los Angeles as one of the nation's first motor clubs dedicated to improving roads, proposing traffic laws and improvement of overall driving conditions. . "We still feel this needs a very careful review before any further expansion takes place." Catoe said the MTA would work with the Los Angeles Department of Transportation and other local transit agencies to gauge the impacts before setting up additional bus-only lanes. The group representing bus riders, though, is happy with the lanes. "We really want to see more of these," said Manuel Criollo Criollo native Spanish-American light horse or riding pony. Includes a number of ethnic varieties, e.g. Argentine Criollo. Any color, 13.3 to 15 hands high. Originated from a mixture of Arab, Barb and Andalusian. , spokesman for the Bus Riders Union, an advocacy group. "The problem has been that until now, they've always taken the most expensive approach, making it a grade-separated lane, instead of the much more feasible re-striping of the road." Transit centers While additional bus-only lanes could appear as early as next year, the overhaul of the bus-route system is at least two years off, Catoe said. A preliminary plan will likely go to the board later this year. The goal is to realign re·a·lign tr.v. re·a·ligned, re·a·lign·ing, re·a·ligns 1. To put back into proper order or alignment. 2. To make new groupings of or working arrangements between. the bus system to more closely follow bus-rider travel patterns and to reduce time-consuming transfers. Called Metro Connections, it would somewhat resemble the hub-and-spoke system Noun 1. hub-and-spoke system - a system of air transportation in which local airports offer air transportation to a central airport where long-distance flights are available hub-and-spoke that most domestic airlines follow at the nation's airports. The key to the overhaul is the setting up of 40 transit hubs throughout the county--18 regional centers and 22 local ones. Each transit hub would have park-and-ride lots and many would offer amenities such as sandwich shops, bicycle lockers and waiting areas. Most of the 18 regional hubs would be along major transit corridors like rail lines, Rapid Bus lines or already existing transit centers. "These regional hubs are meant to feed into high capacity corridors," said MTA planner Nancy Micheli. Some of the transit centers already exist, such as one in El Monte El Monte (ĕl mŏn`tē), city (1990 pop. 106,209), Los Angeles co., S Calif.; inc. 1912. A residential, industrial, and commercial city in the San Gabriel Valley, El Monte manufactures furniture, electronic equipment, semiconductors, , another at the end of the Red Line in North Hollywood and one in downtown Santa Monica. Others are planned for areas already owned by the MTA, like a future Eastside rail station in East Los Angeles East Los Angeles, uninc. city (1990 pop. 126,379), Los Angeles co., S Calif., a residential suburb of Los Angeles, in an industrial area. It has a large Mexican-American population. There is a performing arts center and a cultural center. A junior college is there. . The remaining half-dozen regional centers would be in areas owned and operated by cities or local transit systems such as those in Santa Monica or Long Beach. The local transit centers would be geared more to specific regions in the county, like the San Gabriel Valley The San Gabriel Valley is one of the principal valleys of southern California. It lies to the east of the city of Los Angeles, to the north of the Puente Hills, to the south of the San Gabriel Mountains, and to the west of the Inland Empire. , the South Bay, the Westside, or the mid-cities area southeast of downtown Los Angeles Downtown Los Angeles is the central business district of Los Angeles, California, located close to the geographic center of the metropolitan area. The sprawling, multi-centered megacity is such that its downtown core is often considered just another district like Hollywood or . Few details of the plan have been released. "It all depends on how this is implemented," Criollo said. "In some instances, this could be better for bus riders, if it actually means fewer transfers. But we're concerned that this will be an excuse to actually cut bus service." Potential stumbling blocks could be neighborhood opposition to the building of the transit centers, as well as cooperation from the cities in the MTA network, said Dana Gabbard, executive secretary of Southern California Southern California, also colloquially known as SoCal, is the southern portion of the U.S. state of California. Centered on the cities of Los Angeles and San Diego, Southern California is home to nearly 24 million people and is the nation's second most populated region, Transit Advocates. But he added that the overall idea is sound. "This could prove the spark for re-orienting the region towards mass transit, especially if it's done in concert with smart zoning and smart growth," he said. Transit links MTA plan would establish 18 regional hubs, transforming bus service to a system that resembles the airlines'. 1 Topanga Canyon Blvd. at Oxnard St. 2 MTA North Hollywood Station 3 Glendale Galleria area: Central Ave. and Broadway 4 Gold Line Del Mar Station in Pasadena 5 Hollywood Blvd. and Vine St. 6 Wilshire Blvd. at Sepulveda Blvd. 7 Wilshire Blvd. at Western Ave. 8 Wilshire Blvd. at Vermont Ave. 9 Union Station, downtown Los Angeles 10 San Bernardino (10) Fwy. at Santa Anita Ave. in El Monte 11 Santa Monica Blvd. at Fourth St. in Santa Monica 12 La Cienega Blvd. at Jefferson Blvd. 13 Atlantic Blvd. south of Pomona (60) Fwy. 14 Florence Ave. at Pacific Ave. in Huntington Park 15 East of LAX: Between Sepulveda and Aviation boulevards 16 Green Line terminus 17 South Bay Galleria South Bay Galleria, formerly named Galleria at South Bay, is a mall in Redondo Beach outside of Los Angeles, California. It is anchored by Macy's, Mervyns and Nordstrom, as well as a 16-screen AMC Theatres multiplex. 18 Pacific Ave. at Ocean Blvd. in Long Beach |
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