Dana Gabbard
Recent Posts
Updated 11:04…The TAP Day Pass Solution That Snuck Beneath Our Radar (and a peek at Metro’s latest plans for the rail station gates)
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One of the glaring gaffes of the original design of the TAP (Transit Access Pass) program is it didn’t take into account the need to allow day passes to be issued on board buses without patrons already possessing TAP cards. Bus operators were provided TAP cards to issue to patrons needing to buy day passes […]
A Chance to Look Behind the Curtain of the Division 6 Bus Facility
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My bus fan contacts have tipped me off that Friday some Metro buses that have been retired will be on display for inspection at Metro’s Division 6 in Venice from 9 a.m. to 1 p.m. This is a rare chance to enter a Metro bus yard and take a look-see, albeit ostensibly to inspect buses that […]
Metro Service Changes Take Effect This Sunday
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June 26 Metro will be implementing what are in some cases rather substantial service changes. The Recommendations of the Blue Ribbon panel and remarks made late last year by Metro’s Deputy Executive Officer for Service Planning and Scheduling Conan Cheung signaled substantial trims in revenue service hours were in the offing. Also an evaluation of […]
What Questions Would You Ask Daily Transit User Reps. on Advisory Panel to Metro’s Measure R Oversight Committee?
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My metaphor of choice to describe transportation funding and policy making is an onion, in which there are a succession of layers representing complexities and multifaceted cross-jurisdictional dimensions. And one cannot be complacent since there are always new aspects to explore and try to fathom. For example, in a previous commentary I laid out the […]
Speaking at This Weekend’s So.CA.T.A Meeting: Stephen Box
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Originally Stephen Villavaso of the Los Angeles County Bicycle Coalition was scheduled to be the guest speaker at the Southern California Transit Advocates May 14th meeting, only to have a conflict force him to request to be rescheduled to our June meeting. As I scrambled to seek a replacement Nick Matonak who handles the Facebook […]
Gold Line Foothill Extension Station Planning Workshops Upcoming
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The Metro Gold Line Foothill Extension Construction Authority is co-sponsoring workshops with the cities in the 12.6-mile corridor between Azusa and Montclair along which the Authority hopes to extend the Gold Line. The subject of the meetings are proposed station sites in Glendora, San Dimas, La Verne, Pomona, Claremont and Montclair. The meetings begin this […]
NIMBYism Strikes Buses in Culver City, San Pedro
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Last year Culver CityBus briefly stopped running its buses onto the campus of West Los Angeles College as Culver City Vice Mayor Micheál O‘Leary noted at the August 2, 2010 City Council meeting “with the understanding that the College would be providing service from the street into the College. … since the College failed to […]
Metro Budget Planning Document Contains Some Revelations
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As Metro prepares its budget for the forthcoming 2012 fiscal year (which commences July 1) certain assumptions underlie the numbers. These budget planning parameters are outlined in a document being presented to the Metro Board Finance and Budget Committee on Wednesday March 16th. Here are a few of the revelatory highlights of the assumptions: * […]
Metro Muddle Continues
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Tonight is the Metro San Fernando Valley Governance Council meeting at which Metro staff are slated to offer up for the Council to consider amended service change proposals with the changes in part responding to the input of the public heard at the hearings held last month. This meeting also gives the public one last […]
CA High Speed Rail Authority Meets in Los Angeles, Tomorrow
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As Damien has noted the California High Speed Rail Autjority is coming to L.A. this week, specifically to the Metro Board Room (3rd floor of the Taj Mahal, as some of us like to call the Metro Headquarters Building). Wednesday afternoon its Executive/Administrative Committee is meeting at 1 p.m., followed by the Finance Committee at […]
Memo to Metro (the sequel): Service Change Proposal Details Still Lacking
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I was gratified that my commentary Memo to Metro: “Additional Details” on Bus Cuts AWOL provoked illuminating comments plus at the behest of The Source’s Fred Camino Metro updated its website adding a link to the additional details I had futilely sought. Chalk one up for L.A. Streetsblog helping make the world a better place. […]
Review of Last Week’s Metro “Service Enhancement” Hearings
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The Feb. 1st “all regions” public hearing for the June service change proposals had a good turnout. My estimate is it started with about 150 attendees and even with comments limited to just a minute per speaker the whole thing took some 2 and a half hours. I submitted a statement for the record, reproduced […]