The Transit Advocate
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How to join SO.CA.TA: Yearly dues are $30.00 cates. In all other cases, permission must be ($12.00 low income). Dues are prorated on a secured from the copyright holder. quarterly basis. Disclaimer: The Southern California Transit THE TRANSIT ADVOCATE Submission of materials: ALL materials for the Advocates is not affiliated with any governmental TRANSIT ADVOCATE newsletter go to Andrew agency or transportation provider. Names and Newsletter of the Southern California Transit Advocates Novak at P.O. Box 2383, Downey California 90242 logos of agencies appear for information and or to [email protected]. Please enclose a self reference purposes only. June 2011 Vol. 19, No. 06 ISSN 1525-2892 addressed stamped envelope for returns. SO.CA.TA officers, 2011 Newsletter deadlines are the Fridays a week President: Nate Zablen before SO.CA.TA meetings, at 6:00 p.m. Pacific Vice President: Kent Landfield time, unless otherwise announced. Recording Secretary: Edmund Buckley Executive Secretary: Dana Gabbard Opinions: Unless clearly marked as "Editorial" or Treasurer: Dave Snowden "Position Paper", all written material within, Directors at Large: Ken Ruben including all inserted flyers and postcards, are the J.K. Drummond expressed opinions of the authors and not Joe Dunn necessarily that of the Southern California Transit ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Advocates. Newsletter Editor: Andrew Novak Newsletter Prod. Mgr: Dana Gabbard Copyright: © 2011 Southern California Transit Webmaster: Charles Hobbs Advocates. Permission is freely granted to repro- th th duce/reprint ORIGINAL articles from the Transit NEXT SO.CA.TA MEETINGS : June 11 and July 9 at Angelus Plaza, 4th Floor, 255 S. Hill, Los Angeles Advocate, provided credit is given to both the au- thor and the Southern California Transit Advo- June 2011 — Issue 223 Southern California Transit Advocates 3010 Wilshire #362 Los Angeles, CA 90010 44¢ First 213-388-2364 Class http://www.socata.net Postage [email protected] FIRST CLASS MAIL Inside This Issue: Metrolink Cab Car 656 at Los Angeles Union Sta- • Bulletin Board (pg. 2) tion on May 7, 2011. Full train sets equipped with • Members in Action (pg.2) the all new Hyundai-Rotem cars are • Transit Updates (pg. 3) becoming more common. • Get to know local transit (pg. 5) — Andrew Novak Photo • Public/Legislative Affairs (pg. 6) • Metro Service Changes (pg. 8) • OCTA Service Changes (pg. 10) • Photos of the month (pg. 11) Bulletin Board / Members in Action Photos of the Month Bulletin Board: comments at Los Angeles city council meet- We have undertaken a realignment of our ing on May 24th. He also had a chance to Executive Board, matching preferences and speak with his councilmember, Tom opportunities with the members enduring LaBonge, who is a big supporter of the the changes at our May meeting: project. Treasurer - Dave Snowden Alek Friedman attended the May 17th meet- Recording Secretary and Archivist - Edmund ing on the downtown Streetcar project. A San Diego Vintage Buckley comment of his on the meeting was quoted Trolley 529 on Corresponding Secretary - Dana Gabbard in the L.A. Downtown News article Commercial Street in Director - Joe Dunn "Speaking Out on the Streetcar". San Diego. (Ron Sutch Photo/ Our thanks to Stephen Box for a stimulat- Ken Ruben attended the California High via Andy Goddard) ing dialogue on advocacy and policy making Speed Rail Authority Open House held in the at our May 14th meeting. Metro headquarters Lobby on June 1st. He also attended the Westside Governance Upcoming speakers include Stephen Council meeting on May 11th. Villavaso of the Los Angeles County Bicycle Coalition on June 11th and Jack Gabig Nick Matonak was voted in as a Pacific Rail- Transportation Director for the city of road Society member at the PRS Board June Gardena on July 9th. 4th meeting. At Noon before the July general membership Are you buried in paper? meeting the By-laws Committee will meet in our usual meeting place to begin reviewing Are you interested in getting your SO.CA.TA our By-laws for possible revision. newsletter in PDF? Save the date: The 2011 California Rail We are now offering the SO.CA.TA newslet- UC Irvine Anteater 2020 Conference will be held in Los Angeles ter in PDF format to our members. The PDF Express El Dorado on November 4-6. newsletters will be available a week before EZ-Rider 257 near the meeting and will be in full color. If you Members in Action: UCI in May 2011. would like to get the PDF newsletter instead Joe Dunn spoke on our behalf at the May This is one of the of the printed version email us at: 17th Press conference and rally in support of former OCTA [email protected] the full Wilshire Boulevard Bus-Only Lanes EZ-Riders. project. This received coverage in L.A. Streetsblog ("Today’s BRU Presser: All (Mark Strickert Hands on Deck for Westside Bus Only Photo) Lanes") and linking YouTube post of Dunn's comments. Dunn also advocated for the lanes at the May 18th Metro Board Planning & Program- ming Committee meeting and made public Page 2 The TRANSIT Advocate www.socata.net Page 11 OCTA June Changes Transit Updates On June 12th, the Orange County Transpor- OCTA will also be making a variety of Long Beach Transit unlimited rides on OCTA buses and Metrolink tation Authority (OCTA) will make a variety changes to their fare policy on June 12th. On June 2nd, Long Beach Transit celebrated trains in Orange County, Monday thru Fri- of service changes. Below is a summary of day. These new passes will be available at The eligible age for senior fare is lowered to the completion of the newly remodeled Long those changes. Metrolink ticket vending machines in Orange age 60. New Senior passes will be available Beach Transit Mall. A special ceremony was held in the afternoon at Promenade Park, off County, at the OCTA store in Santa Ana, and Minor schedule changes will be made to the for sale starting in June. Upon boarding with First St., between Long Beach Boulevard at Orange County Ralphs Markets. For more following routes: 1, 25, 26, 29, 38, 43, 47, a Senior Bus Pass, passengers need to be and Pine Street). information visit: www.octa.net/OCLink 50, 54, 56, 57, 59, 60, 64, 70, 71, 82, 83, prepared to show proof of age identification 91, 129, 143, 153, 167, 188, 191, 482, 490, with valid driver’s license, California DMV ID Metrolink Fare Changes and 701. card, Medicare card or OCTA senior reduced Effective July 1st, Metrolink will be making fare ID card. the following changes to their fare policy: Route 1: Summer schedule will be implemented on weekdays by adjusting trip The age for children to ride free is lowered to -Weekend Pass: unlimited Metrolink train times to start earlier and end later to age 5 and under, and must be accompanied rides for only $10. The unlimited weekend accommodate additional traffic along Pacific by a fare-paying passenger. Up to 3 children passes will be valid system-wide between Coast Highway during the summer months. may ride free with a fare-paying passenger. Friday at 7 PM and Sunday at midnight and Thousand Oaks Transit The fee for a reduced fare ID card is also include connections to bus and rail Thousand Oaks Transit is now on Facebook. Route 25: Beginning July 1st, four morning across the region, except Amtrak, at no You can visit them at: and four afternoon round-trips between the increased from $2.00 to $4.00. additional charge. Monthly pass holders will http://www.facebook.com/pages/Thousand- Fullerton Park-and-Ride and the Buena Park College passes: the number of units per also be unlimited Metrolink train rides at no Oaks-Transit/156220921106323 Metrolink Station on weekdays to replace quarter/semester a student is required to at- additional charge. the discontinued Buena Park Metrolink Shut- tend school is reduced from 12 units to -10-Trip Tickets: The 10-trip tickets will be tle. These added trips are in addition to the 9 units. discontinued and a new 7-day pass will be existing trips to and from Huntington Beach. ACCESS ADA Personal Care Attendant (PCA): introduced. The new 7-day pass will be good Route 60: Westbound buses will be on de- PCA’s assisting an ACCESS eligible passenger for seven consecutive days from purchase tour to bypass the 7th Street Bridge in Long learning to ride fixed route are now offered the between a set origination and destination. Beach. This detour will be in effect for ap- ACCESS eligible fixed route local fare of 25¢. -Student Discount: a new 10 percent proximately one year. Mobility Trainers: The current photo ID cards student discount added to one-way and Select trips on Saturday and Sunday morn- Mobility Trainers are required to show when roundtrip tickets. Students will continue to ings will be converted to full-length trips riding an OCTA bus when teaching persons receive discounts on 7-Day and the monthly from short-turn trips. with disabilities to use public transit does not pass. LADOT Route 153: On Saturdays and Sundays, bus contain a magnetic strip. In order to better OCLink In early May, the Los Angeles Department of monitor use, the current photo ID cards must will operate every 60 minutes instead of Effective July 1st, new Metrolink service be- Transportation (LADOT) signed a contract be replaced with cards containing a magnetic every 80 minutes. gins in Orange County operating between with Motor Coach Industries’ (MCI) for 84, strip. Free ride must be exclusively restricted the Fullerton Station and the Laguna Niguel/ 40-foot, CNG buses.