The late Pat Moser often bemoaned to me the NIMBY opposition that had prevented the extension of the Red Line along Wilshire past Western to the Westside. How he would have cheered if he had lived to witness the recent announcement that the Beverly Hills Chamber of Commerce Board of Directors voted overwhelmingly to support the extension along with supporting the MTA's proposed trial of an exclusive bus lane along Wilshire Boulevard during peak traffic periods. Amazing!

At our Feb. meeting we adopted a motion to support the high speed rail component of Senate Bill 1024 and oppose the inclusion of funding for maglev as part of the infrastructure proposal floating around Sacramento. I prepared letters expressing our stance and sent them to the Governor, Senators Torlakson and Perata (the sponsors of SB 1024) and other appropriate bodies.

I am impressed to note on occasion the Santa Barbara Metropolitan Transit District holds evening board meetings, and telecasts them on the city cable channel. Bravo!

MTA's Office of Inspector General recently issued a report on lost and found procedures. Along with uncovering defects in the way lost and found items are handled, OIG received information that cash allegedly had been stolen from a wallet while it was in the Lost and Found area of a bus division. Surveillance revealed a Transportation Operations Supervisor (TOS) had indeed taken $50 for the wallet in question. When confronted with the evidence the TOS admitted taking the money. The case was turned over to the L.A. City Attorney, who reported the TOS pled guilty to one count of petty theft, and was ordered to pay $50 restitution, a $150 fine, 12 months probation and 5 days community service. MTA no longer employs the TOS. (Agenda item #34, Jan. 19, 2006 MTA Executive Management and Audit Committee meeting).

The Signal Feb. 2 article "City Remaining Vigilant with Its Transit System" [http://www.the-signal.com/News/ViewStory.asp?storyID=8832] was a tad too gung-ho regarding security cameras placed on Santa Clarita Transit vehicles. Agency staff will look at footage in response to complaints on such serious matters as vandalism and more trivial ones like talking too loud on a cell phone. In some instances they have even made referrals to Deputy Sheriff Bob Schneider who is described as having made "quite a few" arrests due to the cameras. I acknowledge catching vandals on tape and prosecuting them is not a bad thing. But am I the only one uneasy about Big Brother keeping an eye on us while we ride the bus?

Remember the fictitious Aqua Line that caused consternation on the Westside a few years ago? Now one of the pranksters who pulled this hoax, Karen Weise, has posted her story on the net: http://www.berkeleyprizecompetition.org/essay/2003/essays.cfm?winners=98

You can term Foothill's proposed "Silver Streak" Metro Rapid-like version of its route 480 and the new "Express" version of the Gold Line as two ideas that while well intentioned really don't make sense. And in both cases it is partly because implementation is being done on the cheap (versus the baby bullet express for Caltrain in the bay area that cost $163 million for passing sidings and has been a roaring success). Sometimes you don't get what you don't pay for...

When I heard Yvonne Burke requested a report on putting turnstiles in MTA's rail stations, I was incredulous. Couldn't someone have informed her this has been studied before and found to not pencil out? I guess not. Is it any wonder I avoid attending MTA Board meetings unless absolutely necessary?

The latest mania among privatization proponents is to gush over Chicago's recent sale of the franchise to operate the Skyway toll system for $1.83 billion (by the way I understand the money was just put in the general fund--not reinvested in transportation). Interestingly our co-founder Steve Crosmer, who makes his living as a truck driver, sent me the year in review article published by The Trucker magazine [http://www.thetrucker.com/] in its Jan. 1-14 issue that decries the new franchise arrangement for resulting in higher tolls to discourage trucks from using the route during peak hours.

Feb. 16 I attended the monthly meeting of the Plans & Programs Technical Advisory Committee at the Southern California Association of Governments. And witnessed several members bridle at how the growth forecast process for the Regional Transportation Plan was being handled. Turns out the bumpy process by which the forecast during the last RTP cycle was arrived at had created lingering distrust and concern which SCAG isn't addressing with how it is preparing the new forecast. I expect when push comes to shove SCAG will have to take these issues seriously.

At the Feb. 14 Access Services, Inc. Community Advisory Committee meeting item #10 was Operations Administrator Brian Selwyn's Report on Standing Orders for ASI paratransit users. This included the stunning information "... an important factor mitigating the granting of Standing Order trip requests is the high rate of cancellation of these types of trips. It is inefficient to schedule and route trips that are consistently cancelled. For example, in January 2006, 16% of all Next Day trips reserved in the West/Central and Southern services areas were cancelled by the Access Paratransit rider. During this same period, 29% of Standing Order trips were cancelled by the rider in these two service areas." This adds to the cost of providing this service, mandated by the Americans with Disabilities Act. No wonder the National Transit Institute this month is putting on a Workshop on Managing the Cost of Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) Paratransit Services in Austin, Texas. Wonder if anyone from ASI is attending...

Faithful Reader asks why Lines 333 and 368 have stops that don't jibe with the route maps in the schedule, much like the new stop at Beverly Glen that isn't shown in the Metro Rapid 720 schedule.

Obscure entity of the month: Inland Empire Transportation Coalition, which advocates creating an alternative to the 91 freeway for linking Orange and Riverside Counties (including a possible tunnel). And the President is none other than Moreno Valley businessman Bob Wolf, a former member of the California Transportation Commission.

As of late January the Antelope Valley Transit Authority has 8 vehicles down due to problems with their Detroit Diesel Series 50 engines and the vendor says they cannot fix the problem although the equipment is still under warranty. An Interim Vehicle Maintenance Plan is being implemented to hopefully resolve the situation, which threatens AVTA's ability to provide continuous service. YEOW!

I'll conclude by noting member Juanita Dellomes reports she has been getting calls from elderly riders of MTA line 255 with concerns about changes being made to the route. Would anyone like to take on working with this group of concerned users?