metrolink

It’s not everyday that a City launches a website dedicated solely to the transit options available, whether they be bus or rail.

It’s certainly not a normal day when an Orange County City launches a website dedicated solely to the transit options available, whether they be bus or rail, or in this case, rapid buses, high-speed rail, and monorails.

The City of Anaheim has recently launched a new website called AConnext, highlighting the future of transit in the Resort Area, as well as providing information for options currently in place, such as OCTA, Metrolink, Amtrak, and Anaheim Resort Transit (ART). The website serves as a one stop shop for residents and transit geeks alike to find all the information they need related to the new and upcoming projects that are sure to excite any diehard transit fans, along with the average businessman looking for ways to get around the Resort Area without driving. read more→

OCTA is soliciting ideas for improving the Metrolink parking experience. You have the chance to rate their ideas, which include:

• More parking spaces
• Valet parking
• Reserved pre-paid parking spaces
• Real-time freeway signs and Internet info showing parking availability
• Vehicle amenities (car washes and oil changes)
• Commuter amenities (coffee shops, restaurants)
• Better bus access
• Better pedestrian & bicycle access

Interestingly, the bus, pedestrian, and bicycle options have been buried at the bottom of these lists (see questions 14 and 19). But you can imagine what options I told OCTA to prioritize! Take OCTA's Metrolink survey now.

  read more→

OCTA staff listened to a proposal at a recent Transit Advocates of UC Irvine meeting in which they asked for better OCTA transit service. 40 students attended this session along with OCTA planner Gordon Robinson and OCTA CEO Will Kempton.

OCTA has already made some improvements to UC Irvine's transit service. A little over a year ago, OCTA planners re-allocated trips to include more southbound 79 buses to relieve standing-room only conditions during peak commute hours. OCTA also made permanent a detour that serves UC Irvine's core students and Gottschalk Medical Plaza better (see below). Plus, they've recently added UC Irvine as a station for their future rapid bus system in their proposed long-range transportation plan.

Here are OCTA's permanent re-routings. They now serve the core of campus better, serving the School of Medicine, Gottschalk Medical Plaza, Beckman Laser Center, the Trevor School of Arts, the athletics center, and the new humanities building directly. 

But TAUCI believes more should be done. Currently, 27,600 students (not including staff) attend UC Irvine. OCTA's line 79 is the only bus line that runs through UC Irvine on weekends — every 80 minutes — and students have no regular daily bus routes that connect to the airport, Amtrak, or Metrolink stations. According to TAUCI president David Weinreich, they also discussed:

• Needing larger buses on route 175 to people due to frequent pass-bys and late buses
• Using advertising on bus stops to pay for desperately-needed schedule info
• Needing to have routes 70 & 90 meet at Culver — instead of Tustin Metrolink Station — to require one less wait & transfer for students coming to/from the route 79 (the most commonly used route by students).
• How OCTA's plans to boost Metrolink service is useless for UC Irvine students because of UC Irvine's distance from a station. TAUCI stressed that bus rapid transit lines would be much more preferable to frequent Metrolink service.

Their presentation included some useful facts like these:

What I think should even be done: OCTA should fold that (and may I editorialize) useless Newport Transportation Center into UC Irvine's hub. These two hubs compete for buses, and there will be a much higher demand for OCTA buses this coming year because UC Irvine will house another 1,500 or so students in new housing units, and Newport Transportation Center has no transit-dependent population nearby.

Route 1 — perhaps with a combination of the anemic route 76 — can serve to pick up the meager boardings in Newport Beach.

Having route 57 run to UC Irvine will give students access to Angel Stadium, an Amtrak/Metrolink station on weekends (okay, a 10-minute walk to Anaheim Station), UC Irvine Medical Center, South Coast Plaza, and Costa Mesa's clubs. WOOT.

Having route 1 run to UC Irvine will give students and Irvine residents a one-seat joyride to all of the beaches Orange County has to offer: Long Beach, Seal Beach, Sunset Beach, Huntington Beach Pier, San Clemente Pier, Laguna Beach, and Dana Point Harbor. Folks coming from Central Orange County have to transfer to the 1 anyways, so why not expand this to a transit-dependent population: UC Irvine students?

What do you think? Crazy idea? It's not going to cost *that* much money to re-route some buses, but will there be a trade-off for non-students? read more→

OCTA just sent out its usual weekly update. In essence, the latest laws signed by Governor Schwarznegger will make a further deep cuts in bus services unlikely this coming September. OCTA's also pushing ahead on new freeway construction along the I-5 carpool lane. And Mayor Cavecche of my very own city of Orange helped guide seniors at a local center on how to use Text4Next, how to navigate the buses, and more.

Relatively benign weekly update. But very good news overall. read more→

Metrolink's proposing some massive service cuts — along with a possible increase of up to 13% in fares plus elimination of some discounts — to solve a plunge in state and local transit funding. I've put together a map showing all of the proposed cuts to date, combined with the recent service cuts that put Orange County transit service in a hole:

The Transit Coalition says it best. In their most recent newsletters, they've summarized it as follows:

Metrolink is preparing for another round of service cuts and/or fare hikes. While the last round of cuts focused on trimming weekend service, current proposed cuts appear to decimate the Antelope Valley Line and the Ventura County Line, which may lose eleven and eight weekday trains, respectively. The San Bernardino Line would lose two trains on weekdays and Sundays and four trains on Saturday. The Inland Empire-Orange County Line would see four trains disappear on weekdays, and one train will terminate in Laguna Niguel instead of Oceanside. 

Riders may also see a fare increase between 3% and 13.1%, depending on station pairs. Aside from the usual 3% to 6% increase, discounts would be eliminated or tempered for 10-trip and monthly passes, as well as senior/disabled, student, round-trip and weekend tickets. The proposed plan would also see the 80-mile cap on tickets lifted, meaning that the highest fare, Lancaster to Oceanside, would rise from $14 to $23.50. Those who wish to comment on the proposed fare hikes and/or service cuts may do so online at theMetrolink web site or in person at the public hearing on Friday, April 2.  ...

Metrolink is one of the Southern California agencies proposing drastic service cuts to nip a $17 million budget shortfall. The Ventura County Starand the Los Angeles Daily News have provided coverage and editorials. Transit advocates have been meeting with Metrolink staff and directors to propose cost efficiencies by linking the spoke and hub train system into a series of corridors. For Ventura County and Antelope Valley Line riders that want to help save the service, you may join the TTC campaign, as we need volunteers aboard the trains to circulate line specific post cards linked above. Contact TTC to help. 

If you'd like to comment, attend the Metrolink Board of Directors meeting on April 2, 2010 at 10:00 a.m. at Southern California Association of Governments (SCAG), 818 W. Seventh Street, 12th Floor, Board Room, Los Angeles, CA 90017 read more→

Still behind in updates although this week should go more smoothly. Lots of restaurants to review, and lots of news to deliver. Meanwhile, I've pasted OCTA's last two weekly news updates below. read more→

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→