metrolink

Tonight's the night! Doors open 5:30pm; we'll start the meeting at 6pm. Light refreshments will be served. Attached is the agenda, and here are some more details:

Santa Ana Depot (train station), 5th floor.
To arrive by transit: OCTA 59, 62, 83, 206, 462, 463, 464, Metrolink, Amtrak

Please attend; We'd love to meet you! You'll hear the latest on the bus funding situation, the bus cuts situation, and what can be done to help save our bus service. You can let us know your concerns and questions. Refreshments will be provided at no charge. Please let us know ASAP if you can volunteer as a greeter or translator.

actually, not a whole lot to note except for Metrolink track closure dates (listed below) and the upcoming ARTIC meeting, which I'll post about in just a few minutes... read more→

This Saturday, February 20, 2010, Metrolink's hosting a Lunar New Year event at Irvine Station, with free entertainment, including a traditional Lion Dance. Plus, the first 100 guests will receive a complimentary Metrolink round-trip ticket.

For more information, visit www.OCTA.net/Lunar2010 . And, to keep updated on this event, as well as future Metrolink events, become a fan on Facebook/OCMetrolink. 

You can still take OCTA 86 to Irvine Station before OCTA cancels that route on weekends. That's pretty much your only weekend bus option. read more→

OCTA's weekly update was posted a few days ago. Just a few highlights I've found interesting with my opinion in italics:

• California Awarded $2.34 Billion In High-Speed Rail Funding.
• San Clemente Considers Wayside Horn System at Rail Crossings: could this be another "transit" project to benefit homeowners in the area?
• Orangethorpe Rail Corridor near Placentia and Anaheim to grade-separate 5 different crossings: could this be another "transit" project to benefit motorists in the area?
• OCTA's still throwing a few million dollars away in studies to evaluate building a several-billion-dollar freeway/tollway tunnel beneath the mountains separating Corona and Irvine. I'll post more about this later.
• OCTA will likely cut deeper into bus service in September. More about this later. 

The Weekly Update follows: read more→

(Above photos by Simon Oh.)

Yesterday was a whirlwind of activity at the Southern California Transit Forum, a huge conference with over 350 attendees, including politicians, transit managers, coach operators, union representatives, lobbyists, and transit advocates. I'm still trying to digest it, but if I could describe my impressions in a few words:

• Transit staff get it. They know what needs to be done to address the massive bus cuts. The CEOs of Metro and OCTA know what's politically practical and feasible.
• Politicians don't get it — and if they do get the transit funding crisis, it's not a hot topic on their radar. They continually made references to how great foreigners think Orange County's freeways are, made up lots of inside jokes, and talked about shiny projects like California High Speed Rail while photos of happy, smiling patrons on the bus and train flashed in the background.
• There are few practical solutions left. OCTA and Metro are preparing rounds of massive cuts. Most politicians and staff are resigned to let the cuts happen because California state cuts are likely to happen. Instead, they're looking to do a statewide initiative to protect local funds, and more county-wide initiatives.

Photos, video, and more after the break. (Edit 1: Added CAHSR video below.) (Edit 2: Added OCTA's recap video below.) (Edit 3: Added Simon's photo above.) read more→

A ton of news packed in OCTA's weekly e-mail newsletter. I've pasted it here below, and you can also view the original post here. In a nutshell:

• OCTA cheers for the new $2.34 bil investment in California High Speed Rail (the bullet train to link Anaheim, Los Angeles, and San Francisco). Improvements to existing track should bring Metrolink and Amtrak up to a max speed of 110 mph.
• Amante & Kempton talk goals. OCTA Chairman Jerry Amante wants to stabilize bus operations, but most of his details talk about further reducing bus service to an "efficient" level. CEO Will Kempton wants to further integrate Amtrak Pacific Surfliner, Coaster, and Metrolink Orange County Line / Ventura County Line services.
• Santa Ana is hosting two Go Local meetings next week about its planned freeway offramp through Garden Grove & the streetcar linking Garden Grove and Santa Ana's depot.
• OC Register takes a pessimistic view of the Irvine Shuttle, claiming that Irvine spends $19 per rider on a shuttle service that serves the Irvine Business Complex.

  read more→

Obama is set to announce tomorrow a whopping $2.35 billion in federal funds dedicated to improving intercity transit infrastructure in California. Here's what California's getting, according to Robert Cruickshank's comprehensive California High Speed Rail Blog: read more→

I (the Steve) helped Ted Nguyen at OCTA out with some photographs from the California High Speed Rail Los Angeles-Anaheim segment meeting, a packed auditorium well-attended by 150 or so folks whom, I noticed, were at least 40 years of age and above. Anyways, I'll write tomorrow more on it.

Below is pasted a copy of OCTA's latest Weekly Update newsletter. The most interesting part of the newsletter is this:

Policy Committee to Meet about Major Investment Study

Thursday, Jan. 28 –  The Central County Corridor Major Investment Policy Advisory Committee meeting will take place at OCTA headquarters in conference room 103 / 104 from 3:30 to 5 p.m. Contact Fernando Chavarria at (714) 560-5306 or fchavarria@octa.net.

If you recall, this is the proposal to extend the 57 freeway underneath the Santa Ana River, or even operate light rail/buses near the river. I think anyone interested in future of Orange County's transit should attend this meeting. read more→

Yesterday, I posted about Metrolink's Orange County service cuts. I found this gem buried in Metrolink's January 8, 2010 Agenda attachments with suggestions from the public, including:

• turnstyles (LOL!),
• breakfast bars on the train,
• selling newspapers,
• staff layoffs,
• advertising on the train, and
• deferring capital projects.

This ought to be easy (though long!), entertaining reading on your Android device and gives you some insight into Metrolink's situation (apologies for the bad OCR): read more→