Tag: expo line

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One year after opening, Expo line ridership meeting projections for 2020

On By jamesinclair

A bit over a year ago, the city of Los Angeles welcomed its newest (and long delayed) light rail line, called the Expo Line. Taking riders between downtown LA and Culver City (and eventually Santa Monica), the line had been greatly anticipated to fill a large gap in the metro system. For one, the line would have three stops serving USC, which includes a stop at the famous and frequently used LA Coliseum.

Not everyone was excited about the line. One conservative group, the Reason Foundation, which had spent years yelling about the horrors of rail transit in LA, sent out two reporters to the new line to count, and thus estimate, ridership. They used their loose estimates to declare the line a failure. Click to read more!

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LA’s newest light rail line ignores the pedestrian

On By jamesinclair

This past week, I was in Los Angeles and rode the Expo Light Rail Line for the first time, from end to end. I’ve written about the line before, and taken pictures of its construction, but had never been on board since it opened last April. The line runs from downtown LA to Culver City, with an under-construction extension to Santa Monica scheduled to open in 2016.

One thing I’d observed during the construction phase was the seeming lack of attention to how riders actually get to the line. A transit line cannot only focus on the immediate tracks and stations – people need to arrive safely and comfortably. And because we’re talking about rail transit within a city, many passengers will arrive on foot or by bike. Ignoring them doesn’t just depress ridership, but it can be dangerous too. Click to read more!

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If light rail was built like roller coasters….

On By jamesinclair

Fresno may not have a light rail line, or any plans for one, but I do like to follow the progress of construction on transit lines in other cities. In the past, I kept up with the development of the Expo Light Rail line in Los Angeles. Phase 1 opened last summer, and Phase 2 is is now well under cosntruction.

Phase 2 to Santa Monica now has almost-completed bridges, well graded sections of dirt, and even the first foray of construction deep into downtown Santa Monica. But even though the first track is scheduled to be dropped off this summer, the line isn’t going to open to passengers until 2016, if all goes well…..and these things never go well. Click to read more!

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Expo line ridership increasing rapidly – 16,569 in June

On By jamesinclair

A little less than three months ago, LA’s Expo Light Rail line finally opened after years of delay. The launch wasn’t perfect, as there were many kinks being worked out, and travel times were slower than expected (train times are now matching their schedules).

While many were happy to celebrate the launch of a new travel option, some were quick to proclaim doom. If you recall, I wrote a couple of posts about how the Reason Foundation decided that Expo was a failure based on some random counts they made within days of the line opening. They then took those random counts, and decided that they were an accurate reflection of lifetime ridership on Expo. Click to read more!

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One more post about Reason and Expo

On By jamesinclair

I know I said any time spent discussing the Reason article proclaiming terrible Expo Light Rail ridership is time wasted, and yet here I am, typing away. They’ve gone out of their way to link to me, so I might as well point out a couple more problems I have with their critique of the Expo line. But then no more, I’ve got too much of a backlog of stuff I’ve been wanting to talk about.

Here is their response to my previous post on the subject, which Streetsblog picked up on.

The too-early-to-judge complaint is one you hear all the time about rail, but curiously never about cars, movies, burgers, condominiums, software, new fashion lines, tech gadgets, or pretty much any other product that is brought to market. For all the palaver about “soft launches,” “slow rollouts” and the like, your opening sales figure is almost always a good indicator of how you’re going to do over the Long Tail. That’s why they call it the “Long Tail” and not the “Long Trunk” or the “Long Opposable Thumb.” Click to read more!

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Reason Foundation makes a hilarious claim about the Expo line

On By jamesinclair

Does intellectual dishonesty make you mad? Then sit down and enjoy a hearty laugh instead, this* article is so bad it deserves nothing more than an extended chuckle.

*(that’s where the hyperlink would usually be)

The article starts with grand claims, claims that any reporter can latch onto quickly to create a firestorm. Make no mistake, the following paragraph was carefully written to create as much outrage as possible in one easily digestible scan.

Los Angeles’ brand new $930 million Exposition light rail line is carrying so few riders and bringing in so little revenue that it will, at best, take 65 years for the train to earn back its capital investment (not including ongoing operating costs). If the project completes its next phase and establishes an at-grade train that runs through heavy street traffic from Downtown L.A. to the city of Santa Monica, it will not pay for its construction for 170 years. Click to read more!

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Can it really be? Expo line finally opens

On By jamesinclair

It finally happened. After delayed and more delays, the Exposition Light Rail line in Los Angeles has finally opened.

The first public Expo Line passenger train was a sweep train departing from 7th/Metro at 4:54 am on Saturday, April 28, 2012.

I’ve written about the line three times before, and it was always about the never-ending delays.

9/19/2011 Expo line delays should not be tolerated
11/26/2001 Expo line to miss 2011 opening
3/24/2012 Endless Expo delays coming to an end…?

See a theme?

Originally scheduled for a summer 2010 opening, the line was delayed and delayed and delayed again. The mayor finally set in stone an April 29th opening, and it looks like that official announcement was enough to motivate the contractors to finally do their jobs. Click to read more!

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Endless Expo delays coming to an end…?

On By jamesinclair

I’ve written about construction progress on the Expo line in LA twice before. Both times it was to complain about the amazing continuous delays faced by the line. The expo line is a new light rail line that will connect downtown LA, USC, Century City and (eventually) Santa Monica. The line was supposed to open in 2010 but hasn’t yet.

Now a date has finally been announced, but Metro is keeping with the theme of treating their shiny new rail line as some kind of Disney attraction, and not a critical piece of transportation. They’ve chosen a launch date that actually minimizes the lines use. Click to read more!

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Expo line to miss 2011 opening

On By jamesinclair

I’ve been following construction progress on the Exposition Light Rail line in Los Angeles for a couple of reasons. One, is because it’s one of the most exciting transit extension projects happening in this country, hitting a very dense, under-served, and populated area that deserves fast rail access. Two, is because my sister goes to USC, and the line will serve the campus at multiple points, offering students a quick and cheap ride to downtown This will allow students to comfortably live further from campus…never mind the enormous benefits to faculty and staff who will see better commuting options. Click to read more!

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Expo line delays should not be tolerated

On By jamesinclair

In Los Angeles, the Exposition light rail line has been under construction since mid-2006, with planning starting well before that. After countless delays, word is coming in that the start date of service will once again miss the plan, this time slipping well into 2012, almost 2 years late. And this time, it’s managerial incompetence that fueling the next delay in service.

Too many delays

Like all major projects, there have been delays and cost overruns. Some nature of delay should always be expected; when a project is so large and complicated, a small delay in the early stages can quickly affect delivery dates later in the project. Some delays cannot be avoided, such as unexpected weather events, civil disturbances (strikes for example) and even unexpected shortages in material. Click to read more!