Tag: light rail

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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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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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Mexico City ped/bike infrastructure, airport and random pictures

On By jamesinclair

This is a continuation of pictures from Mexico City.
Older entries:
Mexico City Periférico construction in pictures
Mexico City Metrobús in pictures

Here I look at sidewalk and pedestrian infrastructure, some bikes, light rail, the airport and even some ancient roadways.

In downtown Mexico City, I spotted a brand new separated bike lane, with a green bike box and all. Note the two folks using the Ecobici bikeshare bikes. Also note the public tourism bus.

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On foot, we explore the neighborhood of Tlalpan. Small local parks are pleasant.

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Sidewalks have many, many trees, but the trees do a good job of making the concrete very uneven. 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!