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The Los Angeles County Metropolitan Transportation Authority (also known as Metro, MTA or LACMTA) is the regional transportation planning and Public Transportation operating agency for the County Of Los Angeles . The agency develops and oversees transportation plans, policies, funding programs, and both short-term and long-range solutions that address the County's increasing mobility, accessibility and environmental needs. The Los Angeles County Metropolitan Transportation Authority operates the third largest public transportation system in the , 2006 Additionally, the authority partially funds sixteen municipal bus operators and a wide array of transportation projects including bikeways and pedestrian facilities, local roads and highway improvements, goods movement, Metrolink , Freeway Service Patrol and freeway call boxes within the greater metropolitan Los Angeles region. The authority has 9,200 employees, making it one of the region's largest employers. PUBLIC TRANSPORTATION Metro Rail The Los Angeles Metropolitan Transportation Authority operates 73.1 miles (118 km) of ''', 2006 The Metro Rail system consists of the Metro Red Line subway and the Metro Blue , Green , and Gold Light Rail lines. The system stretches from downtown Long Beach to downtown Los Angeles, to Hollywood , Universal City and North Hollywood in the San Fernando Valley , from downtown Los Angeles to east Pasadena and from Norwalk to El Segundo and all points in between. From Union Station in downtown Los Angeles, Metro Rail passengers can transfer to Amtrak and the Metrolink commuter rail system. From the Green Line Aviation station passengers can transfer to a free shuttle that will take them to the LAX terminals. Metro Bus Metro operates four types of bus services which are distinguished by the color of the buses.
The LACMTA operates the nation's largest fleet of CNG -powered buses. The CNG fleet reduces emissions of particulates by 90%, Carbon Monoxide by 80%, and Greenhouse Gases by 20% over the 500 remaining Diesel powered buses in the fleet. Alternative fuel buses have logged more than 450 million operating miles since 1993, an industry record. See Also: List of buses operated by the LACMTA Fares
A $3 day pass may be used an unlimited number of times within the same day for both bus and rail. Additional zone fares may be charged for certain freeway segments of express bus service. Day passes are not good for the Metrolink commuter rail service. The passes expire at 3 a.m. of the morning of the following day (example: a Jan. 1, 2006 pass expired at 3 a.m. of Jan. 2, 2006). A fare is collected on each boarding of a Metro Bus and no transfers are issued within the system but "Metro-to-Muni" transfers, also called ''interagency'' transfers, can be used to transfer to other connecting bus systems. There are no fare gates on the Metro Rail system. However, the Los Angeles County Sheriff's Department and Metro Fare Inspectors who randomly check for tickets patrol the system. If riders are caught without a ticket they can be fined up to 250 and/or ordered to perform community service. Recently, Metro has considered adding turnstiles, or some form of fare barriers on the Red Line, in the near future. Ridership Average boardings for February 2006 are as follows:
HISTORY LACMTA is the product of the merger of two previous agencies: the Southern California Rapid Transit District (SCRTD) and the '''Los Angeles County Transportation Commission''' (LACTC). SCRTD was created on , 2004 . SCRTD was placed in charge of creating a heavy rail public transportation system for Southern California, and for planning for bus improvements. In 1974, the El Monte Busway was opened, a bus-only lane (later converted to a High-occupancy Vehicle lane). In 1973, SCRTD shed parts of its operations outside of Los Angeles County, although it continued to operate inter-county service to Riverside and San Bernardino until the formation of LACMTA, and LACMTA continues to operate a line to Disneyland in Orange County and one route that serves Thousand Oaks, California in Ventura County. The LACTC was formed in 1976 as a requirement of all counties in the state to form local transportation commissions. Its main objective was to be the guardian of all transportation funding, both transit and highway, for Los Angeles County. The creation of the LACTC required the SCRTD to share some of its power. The governing structure of the LACTC favored suburban communities instead of central city interests. Metro Rail In 1980 voters passed Proposition A, a half-cent sales tax for a regional transit system. The measure succeeded after proposals in 1968, 1972, and 1976 had failed. The map that accompanied the initiative showed ten transit corridors Southern California Rapid Transit District . 1992. Retrieved , 2005 . Retrieved April 4 , 2006 . Hahn ensured that his South Los Angeles district received the first dollars for a Light-rail line on the old Long Beach Red Car route from Los Angeles to Long Beach, after the seeing the success of the San Diego Trolley . (This would become the Blue line.) In 1985, Congressman line was rerouted north up Vermont, the next highest projected ridership corridor, to Hollywood . Because of the change in alignment, there is now a one-mile stub on Wilshire between Vermont and Western. In the following years, several light-rail and subway lines were opened:
Also in 1996, the Harbor Transitway opened to traffic. This combination HOV lane/busway has been a success at gaining carpoolers, but bus ridership has remained low due to poor station placement. The SCRTD pioneered experimenting with alternate fuel buses in what some derisively called ''the fuel of the month club''. At the start of Metro's existence, there were buses running on Ethanol , Methanol , regular Diesel , low-sulfur (clean) diesel, and CNG . Battery-operated buses and Trolleybuses were proposed but never operated in regular service. The SCRTD and LACTC officially merged on , 2006 Initially, the agency retained the locations of the predecessor agencies in Downtown Los Angeles , but later moved to the 25-story Gateway Plaza building adjacent to historic Union Station in 1995. In the wake of local media reports of expensive italian marble used in its construction resulted in the structure being derisively dubbed the Taj Mahal . Housed within the building is the Dorothy Gray Transportation Library, a comprehensive collection of transportation-related books, videos, and other materials, said to be one of the largest in the nation. The library is open to the public. In 1994, the , 2006 . Bus Riders Union agreement When the MTA announced plans for a bus fare increase and the elimination of monthly passes, the Civil Rights organization Bus Riders Union (BRU) with several co-plaintiff organizations filed a federal lawsuit with lawyers supplied by the NAACP Legal Defense Fund , charging that the spending of money on rail was "racist" and demanding that more resources go to buses instead of rail projects. The BRU claimed that 50% of rail riders were white compared with 20% of bus riders. It argued that spending on rail projects reduced funding for bus service that disproportionately affected poor and minority riders who were dependent on public transit, and that improvements for the bus system would be more cost effective and require less subsidy than building a rail system. {Link without Title} In 1996, under the direction of then-L.A. mayor Richard Riordan , the LACMTA signed a ten-year Consent Decree with the BRU to avoid litigation. Riordan would later state, in an article that appeared in the Daily News, that the signing of this consent decree was a mistake. At the time, the LACMTA board was led to believe from information provided by MTA staff that load factors could be maintained with existing levels of bus service and without impacting the rail construction timetable; this proved false. The agreement requires an average of fewer than eight standees on a normal 40-seat bus in a 20-minute period during peak hours and a 60-minute period during the off-peak. It also requires the Authority to operate special services designed to better connect the poor with important job centers and medical facilities. Provisions of the decree that restricted Metro's ability to raise fares beyond inflation expired Jan. 1, 2004. Unless extended, the decree will expire on October 29 , 2006 . Revenue loss In 1998, frustrated with sinkholes, cost overruns, and perceived mismanagement, 65% of Los Angeles County voters approved a ballot measure sponsored by County Supervisor Zev Yaroslavsky that barred the use of county sales tax money for all future subway projects. With the passage of the initiative and a lack of confidence from federal and state agencies, the LACMTA brought in Julian Burke, a turn-around expert from the private sector. His goal was to revive MTA's reputation and stabilize its precarious budgetary condition. "Burke vows improved LACMTA bus service" . UTU Daily Digest News. October 19 , 1998 . Retrieved April 5 , 2006 . He recommended suspension of construction on both the Pasadena Blue Line light rail line to Pasadena and an extension of the Red Line to East L.A. MTA also halted planning for future subway extensions. Construction on the Hollywood and North Hollywood extensions of the Red Line continued as these projects were more then 80% complete. Shortly thereafter, the , 2000 . Retrieved April 5 , 2006 . Concerned about the suspension of the 11% completed Blue Line to Pasadena, Pasadena rail advocates lobbied State Senator , 2006 . The law went into force on January 1 , 1999 . Once completed, the authority turned the line over to LACMTA for operation. When it became clear the Pasadena Blue Line would not connect with the , 2001 . Retrieved April 4 , 2006 . On June 12 , 1999 , the extension to Hollywood/Highland was completed. In the spring of 2000, ground was rebroken on the stalled Pasadena Blue Line, later renamed the Gold Line. Later that year, in June, Metro unveiled the first of 26 planned , 2006 . On June 24 , 2000 , the Red Line reached North Hollywood . Because of the ban on county sales tax for subway construction and the separate federal ban sponsored by Congressman Henry Waxman , which bars the use of federal dollars in the Wilshire Boulevard corridor, the North Hollywood leg is likely to be last extension of the Red Line for at least the next decade. In response to the arguments made over transit zones, the MTA Board created ''service sectors'' on , San Fernando Valley , San Gabriel Valley , South Bay , and Westside/Central for bus service, and Metro Rail Operations for rail service. Each service sector has a general manager overseeing the operation of two or three bus yards or the rail system. The bus service sectors each have a ''Governance Council'' that oversees the bus routes operating out of each yard and has the responsibility to plan service in each sector within a certain budget, while Metro Rail Operations reports directly to the Metro Board. The service sectors are designed to be more responsive to community input, but since many bus riders ride routes from multiple sectors -- largely because the sectors operate lines that cross into adjacent sectors -- bus riders often do not know which governance council to complain to, a problem that was identified by the California State Auditor . [http://www.bsa.ca.gov/pdfs/reports/2002-116.pdf "Los Angeles County Metropolitan Transportation Authority: It Is Too Early to Predict Service Sector Success, but Opportunities for Improved Analysis and Communication Exist."] page 41, California State Auditor , December , 2003 . Retrieved May 1 , 2006 . In February 2003, the MTA became the first agency in the nation to use a bus made of composite carbon and polyester fibers. These "Compo Buses" are 2,100 pounds lighter than a regular bus, increase fuel economy, boast a faster faster acceleration and deceleration rate, and feature reduced maintenance cost. The buses have a distinct bulge along the bottom 1/4 of the side of the bus. On July 26 , 2003 , the Gold line to Pasadena was completed and turned over to the Metropolitan Transportation Authority for operation. It was completed on time and under budget. On opening weekend, some waited up to three hours to board the trains. Day Pass A few months after the Gold Line opened, and for the third time in nine years, the MTA experienced a strike. The Amalgamated Transit Union struck over issues concerning a Health Insurance trust fund the transit agency pays into and the union manages. The ATU wanted the MTA to contribute more to cover the steeply rising costs of medical care. However, an independent audit showed the union had mismanaged the nearly bankrupt trust fund, making the agency unwilling to contribute more money without getting a managerial stake. On , 2003 . Retrieved April 5 , 2006 . Naming changes By 2004, the agency had been using the word "Metro" for several years to describe many of its services. (Metro Rail, Metro Bus, etc...) In August of that year, the LACMTA board voted to drop the Acronym "MTA" for its common name and begin using the word "Metro" for all of its advertising campaigns and literature. The full name of the agency remains the "Los Angeles County Metropolitan Transportation Authority," the name given to it by the state legislation which brought it into existence. Along with a new name and logo, the agency decided to change the colors of its buses to clearly identify each vehicle with the type of service it provides:
The buses are being repainted through their normal multi-year painting cycle, so it will be a few years until all buses will have the new color scheme. To date only a few rail vehicles have been given the new gray and silver color scheme. Orange Line On October 29 , 2005 , the fourteen-mile Orange Line began operation. The $354 million busway traverses the San Fernando Valley . It is the region's first bus to operate within its own dedicated right-of-way. Unfortunately, within its first week of operation the at-grade Orange Line experienced three collisions with automobiles, all of which were deemed the fault of automobile drivers who ran red lights. Since the first few weeks of operation accidents on the line have declined significantly. Exposition Line See Also: LACMTA Expo Line In the years following Congressman Waxman's blocking of plans to tunnel a subway through the dense Wilshire corridor, traffic and congestion has risen considerably. The problem was underscored in 2000, when the art collective Heavy Trash group erected eight large signs along public streets announcing the construction of the "Aqua Line," a 15-mile subway "connecting downtown to the Westside." Heavy Trash - BlogSpot The Aqua Line was a hoax, but Heavy Trash's intent was to raise awareness that heavily congested and populated West Los Angeles still lacked rail access. The LACMTA has officially proposed the Midcity/Exposition Line , a light-rail line to begin in Downtown Los Angeles and end in Santa Monica . Local and state sales tax and other funds have been set aside for this project. The Final Environmental Impact Report was approved in December 2005 and actual construction will begin during the first half of 2006 on the first phase of the line, from downtown Los Angeles to Culver City. Other groups have lobbied for the completion of the originally conceived Wilshire Boulevard subway. The two proposals are not mutually exclusive. Although Waxman's legislation halted construction over safety concerns, Waxman relented in October 2005, after an investigation by experts selected jointly by the congressman and the American Public Transportation Association . The expert panel concluded: :By following proper procedures and using appropriate technologies the risk of tunneling would be no greater than other subway systems in the U.S. {Link without Title} In years prior, Waxman had stated that, if such a panel deemed tunneling safe in the Mid-Wilshire district, he would authorize legislation that would lift the ban on federal monies being used for subway construction. Since the panel proved it to be safe, the ban will be lifted, most likely early in 2006. However, no money has been allocated for future construction of the Wilshire Boulevard subway. Any subway project will require years of planning. Either the project will need to compete for federal money with many other projects across the USA, or funds will have to be raised at the local or state levels. This is also problematic due to the aforementioned 1998 Yaroslavsky measure prohibiting use of local sales taxes for underground construction. To recognize the line's ultimate destination to the ocean, and to acknowledge the contribution of Heavy Trash, the LACMTA has proposed renaming the line the Aqua Line. "Consider Color Designation for Metro Rail Project" . Los Angeles County Metropolitan Transporation Authority. Executive Management and Audit Committee. ''. March 23 , 2006 . Retrieved April 4 , 2006 . Logos |
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