I neglected to give a citation to the L.A. Business Journal article I mentioned last month: "MTA to Give Companies Discounts if Workers Use Mass Transit", Jan. 10, 2005.

Turns out MTA considers the 2005 Long Range Transportation Plan it is preparing "a minor update". Public input will only occur at the end of the process in early 2006 after the draft plan is readied. Given past experience (the drafting of past plans entailed lot of meetings with stakeholders which resulted in little or no impact on what the final plan contained) perhaps this is no great loss.

Karen Rubin of the San Gabriel Valley Tribune quoted me in her Feb. 22 article "Foothill Reroutes Two Commuter Bus Lines" about the closure of park and ride lots and its impact on attracting riders: "Political leadership should try to step in and help out ... It's very hard for a bus line to service directly into neighborhoods. The park-and-ride creates a means for people within a one- to three-mile radius the option to drive their car and then catch a bus. It's disappointing [to have park and ride lots closing]."

Speaking of the Tribune, its coverage of the Gold Line Foothill Extension makes clear some folks in that corridor have begun to grasp the reality of the challenges this project faces (especially if it aspires to federal funding) while others still cling to the notion that if you caterwaul enough things will move your way. At least some officials now concede that making plans based on a groundbreaking happening in the next year or so isn't prudent or realistic.

As I conjectured last month practical considerations of timing resulted in consideration of contracting out the Orange Line not getting any farther than an MTA staff power point presentation (only some of which was displayed at the Feb. MTA Operations Committee meeting before Boardmember Fasana declared the issue dead and the presentation ground to a halt).

Personally I think comprehensive status reports by MTA staff for the Board are needed on contracting and also the Metro Rapid program. Both deserve a closer look at pros and cons and what unresolved issues need addressed. Unfortunately at the moment instead of taking a forward look MTA seems to be on cruise control.

question of the month: the Dec. Metro Operations Performance Report summary submitted to the MTA Operations Committee Feb. 17 meeting concludes "This is the last month this report will be distributed to the Board". Doers anyone know why this is happening?

Matthew Barrett of the MTA Library gave an impressive presentation at the Feb. 23 MTA Citizens' Advisory Council meeting. The library is gradually placing on its section of the MTA website digitized historic photos and documents from the library's collection. Hard to imagine a few years ago it was in danger of being closed--thankfully the powers that be came to appreciate what a treasure the library is and quietly dropped the idea of closing it.

quote of the month: “I’ll back you up. I’ll give you political cover ... I’ll take the heat for this.” Los Angeles County Supervisor Zev Yaroslavsky at the Feb. meeting of the Westside Cities Council of Governments on placing a bus-only lane on Wilshire during rush hour. [as quoted in the Feb. 18 Santa Monica Daily Press: http://www.smdp.com/archives/021805.pdf]

In its quest to improve the anemic ridership on the CommuterLink route 202 (Murrieta - Temecula - Oceanside Transit Center) the Riverside Transit Agency has struck on an interesting idea: install satellite TV and wireless fidelity (WIFI) internet service on the buses for a 12 month pilot program. Maybe that will raise ridership to sustainable levels (even a fare cut to $1 has fallen short of achieving that).

fact of the month: Santa Barbara Metropolitan Transit District General Manager Sherrie Fisher's salary as of Jan. 28 has been raised 5% to $120,750 per the minutes of the MTD Board meeting held that day.

Talk about a hard luck life: Araceli Lopez, Transit Stores Operations Manager for Foothill Transit, at the Jan. 28 meeting of the Foothill Executive Board explained why average hold time for the information line increased during the second quarter of the fiscal year (Oct.-Dec. 2004) : "... electrical outages and flooding in the El Monte Transit Store, phone system malfunctions in the West Covina Transit Stores, and several changes in personnel resulting in a staff shortage". OY!

Hugh Hallenberg in the minutes of the Feb. 17 meeting of the Quality Services Subcommittee for the Access Services, Inc. Community Advisory Committee is quoted as asking Joe King of ASI staff why a release form for the certification process had not first been brought to the CAC and QSS for review. The minutes notes that in response, "Mr. King stated that it is not the responsibility of the advisory committees to micromanage the daily operations of ASI. Staff is empowered to operate business and take actions to run the operations".

I'll conclude this month by noting the ending with the Feb. 28 edition of the weekly e-newsletter Land Use Lines after six(+) years of covering growth and development issues in California. This was the last extant remnant of the California Futures Network (although the new Better California Campaign to some extent is a successor to CFN).