LA-area light rail now reaches the sea

Just in time for summer I can take the Metrolink to LA then the Expo Line all the way to the beach! This is really exciting, it gets way too hot out here and it will be nice to get away for a day!

(From the Associated Press)

LA-area light rail now reaches the sea

By Andrew Dalton

The Associated Press

LOS ANGELES — Commuter light rail extended across metropolitan Los Angeles to the Pacific on Friday for the first time since the 1950s.

The opening of the 6.6mile final leg of the Expo Line connected seaside Santa Monica to downtown Los Angeles and Metro lines stretching as far inland as suburban Azusa, some 40 miles from the coast.

The milestone fulfills a decades-long dream of public officials and transit fans, and its symbolic value is undeniable. Its true test, however, will be whether it can shake up the commuting status quo in sprawling and automotive LA.

The Los Angeles County Metropolitan Transportation Authority says the ride from downtown Los Angeles to Santa Monica will take 48 minutes. That may hardly sound speedy for a 15-mile trip, but the nearly constant congestion of Interstate 10, the usual car route for the trip, can often take just as long or longer.

An Expo Line train burst through a banner before the route opened to crowds of riders at noon.

“From the skyline of downtown to the shoreline of the Pacific, this Expo line connects this city for the first time in 63 years,” said Los Angles Mayor Eric Garcetti.

Frequent Metro rail passenger Anwar Marcus said his last job was in Santa Monica, and to get there from the east side of Los Angeles he would take the Expo Line to its previous terminus in Culver City then ride his bike four miles to work.

Even traveling that way, he said that “during rush hour I would get home the same time on the train as if I drove.”

Marcus said the newly extend line would be “super convenient” for people in his circumstances, and that it’s likely to make some inroads in getting drivers out of their cars, but it’s also likely that it won’t be enough.

“It’s a driver’s city,” Marcus said as he sat riding a Metro Gold Line train into downtown’s Union Station on Tuesday. “I feel like it will always be that until they get the public transit system to where it’s more extensive, which is going to take some years.”

In some ways, the region is getting there. The Gold Line just opened an 11.5mile eastward extension to Azusa in March that means the line runs more than 30 miles into the northeastern suburbs.

If all the approved projects are completed by 2020 the Los Angeles County light-rail-andsubway system will be longer than Washington, D.C.’s Metro system.

For the first time since the 1950s, a Southern California light rail line extends to the Pacific Ocean. With the opening of the 6.6-mile extension of the Expo Line on Friday, riders can now take Metro rail from the far-inland suburb of Azusa some 40 miles to the sands of Santa Monica. NICK UT, THE ASSOCIATED PRESS

I really need to get my bike fixed before next week! It needs a good tune-up and Bike to Work Week seems like a good time to get that taken care of!

Kudos to Metrolink! I still think they need wifi and to work with other public transit groups to make fares more affordable, but they have done a lot to get bicyclists on board in the last few years. So for this one I will say “Goodonya!”

Metrolink offering free rides during Bike to Work Week

By Steve Scauzillo, San Gabriel Valley Tribune

POSTED: 05/11/16, 11:58 AM PDT | UPDATED: 22 SECS AGO

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Metrolink is offering anyone with a bike a free ride during Bike to Work Week, May 16 – May 20.

Train riders must board with a bicycle and accompany their bike during the entire trip.

The promotion includes Bike to Work Day, Thursday, May 18.

May is National Bike Month, established in 1956 by the League of American Bicyclists.

Metrolink has transported 1 million bicyclists since the multi-county agency introduced its bike cars in July 2011, according to the agency. A bike car is usually on the lower level of a train and is equipped with multiple stalls designed to hold three bikes in each stall. A bike train can hold 18 bikes. A bike car has a decal on the side of the train or a train wrap.

Metrolink operates seven routes of commuter rail service in Los Angeles, Orange, Riverside, San Bernardino and Ventura counties. For more information, go to http://www.metrolinktrains.com.

Metrolink aims to rebuild ridership

From the Los Angeles Times

Metrolink aims to rebuild ridership with new scheduling on the San Bernardino Line and digital ticketing

Metrolink’s San Bernardino Line snakes its way along the 10 Freeway in Alhambra. The agency is adding two trains to the line during rush hour and eliminating express service.

(Irfan Khan / Los Angeles Times)

Dan WeikelContact Reporter

In an ongoing effort to bolster customer service, the Metrolink commuter railroad has made mobile ticketing apps available throughout its system and plans major schedule changes on Monday to reduce problems for users of the San Bernardino Line.

The digital ticketing and scheduling adjustments to one of Metrolink’s most heavily traveled routes is part of a broad attempt to add amenities for passengers, reduce delays, improve safety and rebuild ridership.

“You need reliable, convenient service. Otherwise people just won’t use us,” said Art Leahy, Metrolink’s chief executive officer who has vowed to help turn around the 512-mile system that serves six Southern California counties.

Metrolink officials say the San Bernardino Line, which runs from Los Angeles Union Station to San Bernardino, will continue to have 38 weekday trains. However, the new schedule will eliminate express service and add two trains during the morning and evening rush hours.

It is expected that the changes will reduce overcrowding on passenger cars, provide riders more options at peak travel times and improve on-time performance.

“I like the new schedule,” said Gerry Salas of West Covina, who commutes on the San Bernardino Line. “The crowding was terrible, and under the old schedule, if I missed the 5 p.m. train, I’d have to wait an hour for the next one. Now there will be more options at night.”

The changes are the result of a comprehensive review of the route’s reliability and travel patterns. A customer survey conducted by Metrolink in mid-February found that more than 60% of riders supported removing the express train and adding service during peak travel times.

Last year, the number of delayed Metrolink trains surged from 2,382 in 2014 to 4,395 — many were on the San Bernardino Line. The delays were caused by a variety of problems, including conflicts with freight trains, breakdowns of locomotives and glitches in the railroad’s new positive train control system, which can automatically stop trains in an emergency.

The situation was made worse for passengers in October when a train was removed from the schedule’s peak hour, leading to overcrowded rail cars. The problems triggered an estimated 2,000 complaints.

“We’re tightening up the schedule and offering better peak hour service. The single express train that has caused some delays will be turned into a non-express train,” Leahy said. “There will be all around better service for everyone out there.”

Metrolink also will make minor schedule changes on the Ventura County Line from East Ventura to L.A. and the 91 Line from downtown Riverside to Union Station via Anaheim.

Starting Monday on the Ventura line, Train 155 will leave Union Station at 3:15 p.m. and arrive in Chatsworth at 4:05 p.m. Train 115 will depart from Union Station at 3:35 p.m. and reach Moorpark at 4:47 p.m.

To avoid conflicts with Amtrak on the 91 Line, Train 707 will operate five minutes later and depart downtown Riverside at 6:07 p.m. and arrive at Union Station at 7:45 p.m.

In another customer relations move, Metrolink expanded the use of mobile ticketing apps last week to all its routes. The app gives riders the option of buying tickets on their smartphones, tablets and laptops.

Mobile ticketing began in early March on the Inland Empire-Orange County Line. Since then, the app has been downloaded more than 7,000 times, and users have bought more than 4,700 tickets, or about 13% of all tickets sold on the route.

The app, which is available for free in the Google Play and Apple App stores, allows riders to connect to participating transit bus systems at no extra cost.

Riders who transfer to Metro Rail, Corporate QuickCard users and Metrolink riders participating in the Rail2Rail program with Amtrak should continue to buy paper tickets from Metrolink’s vending machines.

Railroad officials say they will introduce more improvements in the future to make mobile ticketing available to those customers.

Metrolink is FINALLY getting on board with e-tickets!

This is exciting! Amtrak has had e-tickets for a while now, LA and San Diego use TapCards on their transit systems, and now Metrolink! It will be really awesome when Metro Rail reads these tickets too. I love that I can use my Metrolink ticket on Metro Rail too, but it sounds like that will be up and running soon.

If only Omnitrans will get with it, I hate having to buy paper passes, I really would prefer to just reload a TapCard every  month.

Metrolink wants to turn your smartphone into a ticket

By Steve Scauzillo, San Gabriel Valley Tribune

POSTED: 03/31/16, 9:26 PM PDT | UPDATED: 4 HRS AGO

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For the first time since 1991, Metrolink passengers no longer have to buy tickets on station platforms.

The commuter-rail agency Thursday launched a mobile ticketing app that enables passengers to buy and store tickets on their smartphones, tablets or other devices.

“It will display on your phone. When you purchase your ticket it will give you a digital ticket. When the conductor comes through the train you just hold up your mobile device and the conductor will scan it,” explained Scott Johnson, Metrolink spokesman.

As of Thursday afternoon, Metrolink’s app had been downloaded 9,000 times and 4,700 tickets were purchased, he said.

“We expect that number to grow now that it is available across all seven of our lines,” Johnson said.

Johnson called the move “way overdue” and more in line with other transit agencies and airlines.

The app allows for the purchase of one-way and round-trip tickets, as well as 7-Day and Weekend Day passes. A single device can hold several tickets. Each ticket must be activated for every member of the party.

The paperless ticket system is not available for riders connecting to Metro Rail, Metro Bus, nor for those commuters using the Corporate QuickCard or for those taking part in the Rail 2 Rail program with Amtrak, he said. These passengers must continue to use the paper tickets from Metrolink’s vending machines in order to make those transit connections.

Johnson said Metrolink hopes to complete the mobile ticket option for all riders sometime this fall, when bar code readers will be installed at Metro Rail subway and light-rail gates. Then, a Metrolink passenger could transfer to rail or bus by scanning their phone ticket on a reader affixed to the station or bus. Metrolink is working with Amtrak to allow conductors to read the paperless ticket.

The commuter rail’s mobile ticketing app is free and can be downloaded through Google Play and the Apple App Store by searching for “Metrolink.”

Metrolink is a heavy-rail commuter line run with locomotives and train cars. It runs seven routes through a six-county area. Most go to and from L.A.’s Union Station from the Antelope Valley, Riverside, San Bernardino, Ventura and Orange County.

Who’s running this show?

It’s become very clear lately that the people who run public transit agencies have never had to rely on public transportation. I can’t imagine half this shot would fly if they were using it.

Apparently omnitrans in San Bernardino county has a driver shortage. Two days ago my bus didn’t show up and again this morning it hasn’t. About a month ago this happened and when I called them the customer support person pretty much said “well it happens, we can send you a note of your boss needs it.” A late note, like this is middle school and I had a doctors appointment. I told her I didn’t want a note I wanted them to run the schedule they publish. She tells me they don’t have enough drivers, I told her not to offer times they can’t meet. “A lot of people set their schedules around your schedule, you need to honor that.” 

Metrolink doesn’t have wifi. That seems like the easiest and most basic service to offer to get more people using it. The San Bernardino line stops AT Cal State LA!! If college students could do homework or finish projects while commuting they would use the service. The line ends at Union Station in LA, if business people could get into their email or go over calendars and meeting notes before getting into the office, they would be more willing to use the service. Metrolink has made it easier to bring bikes on board, now  they just need to add wifi and they’ll really reach the millennial and hipster crowds. 

What’s with the freight engines??

I’ve been noticing a lot of the BNSF engines on Metrolink trains lately. Apparently it’s a new safety measure after a crash in Ventura County last year. I’ve never felt unsafe on trains myself, and I moved from Florida to California on the Amtrak, but plan for the worst hope for the best, right!?

http://www.vcstar.com/news/local/oxnard/metrolink-likely-to-start-adding-second-safety-locomotives-this-week-or-next-270b2641-c9f5-082d-e053-362724611.html?d=mobile

Metrolink is the first commuter rail agency in the country to purchase ‘Tier 4’ locomotives

This is awesome! Now if only they would get the wifi on there then maybe more people would use Metrolink. If people could check their email on the way into the office or get some work done for school ridership may go up. It’s all about convenience.

And it’s still really expensive.

http://www.railjournal.com/index.php/north-america/first-look-at-emds-tier-4-f125-locomotive.html

Mobile Web – News – Southern California doesn’t have the money to fix its transportation problems

Score one more for public transportation! While Caltrans is billions of dollars short to fund road repairs, Metro (LA County), SANBAG (SB County), and metrolink.

How long will it take for people to see that public transportation works!?

http://www.sgvtribune.com/general-news/20151015/southern-california-doesnt-have-the-money-to-fix-its-transportation-problems