Dana Gabbard
Recent Posts
Sothern California Transit Advocates monthly meeting
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Discussion of SCA 4 (55% sales tax passage legislative proposal) and question to pose candidates for L.A. Mayor as part of Streetsblog upcoming video interview series. Plus circa 2:30 p.m.-3 p.m. after formal meeting concludes we’ll have an extensive digital program of photos taken during Muni’s (San Francisco) recent 100th anniversary celebration.
Do You Have Any Metro/LACMTA Tokens? They Still Work!
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Recently the Employee Transportation Coordinator at my workplace asked me how does one pay to ride Metro Rail using tokens. After a few days I acquired and passed along a take one brochure (of the type you see on rail and bus vehicles) describing the procedure. In the interim the ETC had also sent a […]
More Local Agencies Dealing with TAP, But Metrolink Remains Elusive and a Surfliner Update
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Here are updates on two issues I have been paying close attention to: TAP and the LOSSAN takeover of the Surfliner. With no fanfare several of the Los Angeles County municipal bus operators (including Foothill and Santa Monica Big Blue Bus) as of November 1st are providing paper TAP cards when patrons purchase transfers to […]
TAP Solution for Metrolink 2.0
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My last Metro Transit Access Pass (TAP) related post detailed the vexing situation regarding TAP and Metrolink’s patrons and the ongoing inability of Metro and Metrolink to find a means for Metrolink riders to be able to pass through the Red and Purple Line station gates after they are locked. I couldn’t hide my incredulity […]
SO.CA.T.A.: Converting transit buses to all electric
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Southern California Transit Advocates is having a presentation by Macy Neshati Vice President, Sales & Marketing for Complete Coach Works on their 100% electric Zero Emission Propulsion System for remanufactured transit bus. Question and answer discussion will follow.
Updates on Surfliner, FlyAway and Metrolink/TAP
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Temporary Solutions for Metrolink’s TAP Issue Shelved The ongoing saga of Metrolink & TAP is apparently not going to end anytime soon. At the Oct. 12th meeting of the Metrolink Board of Directors, the Board decided to not adopt the proposed solution to the connectivity issues between Metrolink and Metro trains caused by the “locking” of […]
Torrance Transit Celebrates New Services; Free Rides Today
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Torrance Transit is holding a “kick off” of their new Rapid and ExpressLanes bus services today from 10:30AM to noon at the Del Amo Fashion Center parking lot in front of Macy’s, 3520 Carson St. in Torrance.
Metrolink Service to San Diego Contemplated
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One of the staff reports presented during the monthly cycle of Metro Board committee meetings I try to read conscientiously is the Regional Rail Update. The report presented at the Oct. 17th Planning and programming Committee contains a fascinating tidbit on page 2: “Staff is working closely with Metrolink on two new initiatives that would […]
Patsaouras Plaza Busway Station Hits Snag
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An update in The Source last year confirmed that, thanks to a Federal Transit Administration grant, Metro would be able to accelerate the completion of the Patsaouras Plaza Busway Station to 2014. Now a transit project status report being presented at today’s Metro Board Construction Committee meeting contains bad news regarding the project. To wit: […]
The latest Metrolink TAP solution
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When you look over the list of 90 some posts I have contributed to this blog over the past few years, certain recurrent topics become apparent like the Wilshire bus lanes and the statewide bullet train project. Recently I have been quite involved in covering the effort by local agencies to assume management of the […]
Orange County Transpo Authority Vies to Be Regional Rail Manager
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Now that the Governor has signed the bills to allow local stakeholders to take over management of the Pacific Surfliner and San Joaquin Amtrak intercity rail routes the next steps are the formation of the joint power authority boards and in the case of the Surfliner the selection of a managing agency from among the members […]
Governor Signs Surfliner/LOSSAN Reorganization Bills
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Saturday, Governor Brown signed the two bills (SB 1225 and AB 1779) to facilitate local agencies assuming management of the Pacific Surfliner and San Joaquin intercity-rail routes. Streetsblog previously published an an in-depth piece exploring the history and challenges involved. While the LOSSAN Technical Advisory Committee will meet on Thursday at Metro’s headquarters building, this will mostly […]