So How Much Does the Expo Line Actually Stop?

September 27, 2012 5 Comments

The Expo Line has gotten a lot of bad press for being slow. For stopping at lights. For stopping in between lights. Metro says they’re working on it, and having ridden nearly every day since it opened, I believe it’s gotten better. Or I’ve gotten used to it. Really, I think a little bit of both. I’ve accepted that random stops are going to be normal for a while, but I’ve also noticed they’ve become shorter and fewer as time has gone on.

In order to see how much time the train could save if Metro was able to completely eliminate stops (other than those at stations, of course), I did a little non-scientific research. For two weeks, I timed the amount of time the train spent stopped while not at a station. Here’s what I found:

Total Time Stopped

Mon 9/10 Tues 9/11 Wed 9/12 Thurs 9/13 Fri 9/14
OUT to Culver 5:16 3:55 4:22 2:38 2:37
IN to DTLA – – 2:35 2:21 –
Mon 9/17 Tues 9/18 Wed 9/19 Thurs 9/20 Fri 9/21
OUT to Culver 3:19 3:58 3:25 4:32 2:28
IN to DTLA 3:33 3:12 4:06* (2:26) 6:59 –

There are some holes in my data, as I didn’t ride Expo home every day (I told you this was non-scientific), but the surprising thing to me came in comparing the outbound and inbound trips. The Expo Line has mainly gotten bad press for it’s stops while heading inbound, or towards Downtown, but on many days, it stopped just as much or more on the outbound trip.

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Who Says LA’s Not a Football/Transit Town?

September 6, 2012 Leave a comment

When I think of the great things that have happened in my world so far this year, there are a few that immediately come to mind… Aside from getting engaged (which obviously tops the list), it’s hard not to recognize the greatness of the Metro Expo Line opening and the USC football season starting.

When the Expo Line opened in April, it dramatically changed the way I commute to work from Downtown LA to Culver City. It gave me time to read every day, something I had seriously been missing, and put me on my bike at the end of the ride, getting me out in the beautiful Los Angeles weather, if only for a few minutes each day. It also saved me a ton of gas money, stress, and wear & tear on my car. And it wasn’t just for work, I’ve written before about some of the great adventures I’ve had on the Expo Line. Ridership is already above predictions for this point in time, and on it’s way to meeting projections far into the future. It’s crowded even late into the night… And yet people say LA isn’t a transit town.

An Expo Line train with a USC Football ad waits at 7th Street / Metro Center Station.

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Metro Adds Dash Signs to Expo and Blue Lines

August 16, 2012 3 Comments

As I reported a few weeks ago after the Transit Coalition meeting, Metro this week rolled out their new dash signs to help clear up confusion between Expo and Blue Line trains.

The signs are a cheap, easy way to make things a little clearer for passengers trying to get on the right train.

The new Blue Line dash sign in the front window of the train, in addition to the destination sign on top, helps passengers identify it as the train approaches.

They are, however, limited to help only passengers who see the front of the train as it approaches. They’re nice and clear when outside in the sun and should be great for the Pico stop, though they’re a bit harder to see on the dark platform at 7th Street / Metro Center. Also, trains are often already sitting at the platform at 7th Street, so you won’t see it approach before getting on.

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Grand Park: Half-Way There

August 1, 2012 1 Comment

LA’s newest park opened this week with a splash (literally… there were tons of people, myself included, splashing around in the fountain’s membrane pool), but it’s only half way there.

I say this not to be negative, but because the park is actually only half open. The first two blocks (which are really contiguous as one) opened this week, but the final two will open later in the fall.

It’s hard to accurately judge the park before it’s completely open, but I’d like to give a quick review anyway.

With the lighted fountain and City Hall in the background, Grand Park feels like the open, public, and civic space Los Angeles had been missing.

First of all, I love the park. It’s been compared to Central Park in New York and Millennium Park in Chicago, with some push back from those involved in making it happen as well as those who are critical of the new park. Instead of focusing on “this one’s larger” or “this one has more art” and similar specifics, though, I think that the parks all accomplish a similar thing regardless of how different they may actually be. Its still opening week and the awe hasn’t worn off, but I’ve spent one afternoon and another evening at the park and it’s been full of people walking around, sitting at tables, reading, eating, playing in the fountain, taking pictures, and more both times. What the park does is give residents, employees, tourists, and anyone else a place to relax, a place to come together for events, a place to enjoy the beautiful weather, and a place to sit and appreciate the city. In this way, the park is very much like both Central Park and Millennium Park.

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