Contributed by
Fred Camino on August 7th, 2008 at 7:33 pm
Well over a year ago we featured the now infamous picture of a group of anti-rail B.R.U. members posing and smiling in a Red Line Station. Today, courtesy of a MetroRider with a quick wit and a quicker shutter, we present to you a new picture of B.R.U. members riding that which they hate the most. This time it looks like work instead of fun if the clipboards are any indication, but what could the yellow shirts be telling all these affluent white people on this Red Line train? Best caption wins mad propz from your peers. Let ‘em rip.
Contributed by
calwatch on August 4th, 2008 at 11:37 pm
This Saturday, Pam O’Connor will talk about her year as Chair of the Metro Board, Metro’s future transit plans, and other issues… and take your questions as well, as the Southern California Transit Advocates continue their 2008 Speakers’ Series. Kymberleigh Richards, SO.CA.TA’S Public and Legislative Affairs Director, will be moderating the chat so you’re more likely to get your questions answered than Metro’s Pam chats.
From the link:
Pam O’Connor, member of the Metro Board of Directors, will be the guest speaker at the August 9 meeting.
Ms. O’Connor, who has just completed a one-year term as Chair of the Metro Board, has served on the Santa Monica City Council since 1994 and has served three terms as that city’s mayor.
Southern California Transit Advocates holds general membership meetings at Angelus Plaza, 255 S. Hill St., in the fourth floor meeting room. The meeting begins at 1:00pm and Ms. O’Connor will speak at 2:15pm. The general public is welcome to attend.
The location is transit accessible by about 50 bus lines and the Red/Purple Line, or if you insist on driving, parking is $5.00.
Contributed by
tykejohnson on July 17th, 2008 at 3:40 pm
Image courtesy of Pragmagraphr.
I went and rode the bus.
In an attempt to resuscitate the winter flu season in the SoCal heat of July, Metro has amped up the A/Cs to Day After Tomorrow levels. I’m usually a prepared traveler and have my back pack with zip up in tow at all times, however last night was laundry day and I forgot to restock my day pack.
Now I shouldn’t complain too much, I’m sure peeps about to get their houses burned out because of fires would love an over productive A/C right about now (though perhaps all those over productive A/Cs caused these fires in the first place-eeeek). But even they probably stop blowing the A/C on full when it reaches slow-the-blood-circulation levels. No I didn’t get frostbite but the tingle in the throat and mega cough were evident by trips end.
Then again, perhaps it was the top volume Transit TV that was sending my immune system into a tailspin, throwing me to the mercy of American Latino TV. The conspiracy theorist in me says that the busses are pumping up the A/C in cooperation with the drug companies whose advertisements are blaring at top volume from the plastic bound TVs, but my theory holds no water after failing to log a single cold/flu advertisement while riding. Though whose to say it’s not the debt consolidation people behind it all. Wasn’t there a study by the New England Journal of Medicine that proved sick people are 5 times more likely to screw themselves into high interest loans? Had something to do with slowed neuron reactions. Which means it’s not entirely unfounded to believe it was Metro and other transit agencies that caused the mortgage bubble in the first place and they’re now paying Libertarian think tanks to spew such “radical” ideas that it’s the Federal Reserve’s fault.
Or perhaps I’m just freezing and annoyed by the loud TV and wish I hadn’t forgot my damn sweatshirt. In either case, I’m coughing again and I haven’t a single drug commercial to tell me what to do. Thanks for nothing, Metro.
Contributed by
Fred Camino on July 16th, 2008 at 10:01 am
I know I just said I was officially on hiatus, but then I logged on to Metro.net today…
OMG. WTF.
I’ve known for a while that Metro was in the process of revamping their website. From what I hear they hired an outside web firm to help them out. Well, I hope they didn’t pay too much. (Update 12:13pm 7/16/08 - I just got word that this new homepage was done in house, not through an outside firm.)
The homepage has been completely redesigned visually, and for the worse, yet the functionality remains largely the same. The most noticible difference is that the content area is significantly larger, in fact everything seems to be bigger and bolder. This is not neccessarily a bad thing, but it certainly looks less sophisticated than the previous design. Some absolutely hideous gradients and drop shadows are thrown in with the effect of not only making it look less sophisticated, but making me want to close my browser window immediately. Metro also took a cue from MetroRiderLA by changing the header color randomly with each reload of the page.
Continue Reading…
Contributed by
Fred Camino on July 15th, 2008 at 10:09 am
This post is to confirm what you already know, I’m taking a hiatus from blogging.
This wild foray into transit blogging in the car capital of the world has kept me occupied for a little over two years now. It’s been great fun, and attracted more readers than I ever imagined, and in many ways a real community formed from these silly postings. The fact that even the most mundane posting of a few news links can garner 60 comment flame wars is a testament to that.
I started this blog two years ago because there weren’t really any sites devoted to promoting, discussing, and informing people about the mass transit system of the second largest city in the United States. Well, things have changed in the last two years, and I’d like to think that MetroRider helped in some small way spur that change. Today there’s no shortage of people online talking about Metro, and there are in fact two blogs devoted to Los Angeles specific transportation issues that are run by full-time professional journalists and updated daily. If Streetsblog LA and (the new and improved) Bottleneck Blog were around two years ago, it’s likely MetroRiderLA never would have been born.
Other essential L.A. transit blogs that have appeared since MetroRiderLA came on to the scene include John von Kerczek’s collection of fantasy maps and insightful commentary on “Ditch the Car, Take the Metro” and the ever critical, vulgar, and often hilarious “Bus Bench“.
So the reason I’ve decided to take a break from MetroRiderLA for an indefinite amount of time is that, for one, I’m really busy with my work that I get money for, and in a sagging economy it’s important that I concentrate on making dat money. Also, I’ve been finding it hard to compete with the full-time bloggers (and full fledged journalists) over at The Bottleneck Blog and Streetsblog LA. I simply do not have the luxury of time or the journalistic skillz (to say nothing of the monetary incentive) that those platinum playboys do to offer that kind of in-depth, compelling coverage of “the transit oriented lifestyle”. Also, for whatever reason, I’m just kind of sick of blogs in general right now. I used to check the LA blogs and transit blogs daily, but for the last month or so I haven’t felt compelled to read or comment on them. Blog burnout.
The time for hiatus has come because of all of this, and I can’t be sure how long it will last. Ideally I’d like to find a way to reorient the blog in a way that will address a niche that the other two major L.A. transit blogs don’t cover. My vision for MetroRiderLA has always been to focus on the “lifestyle” of being a transit rider in Los Angeles as opposed to the politics of the mess. But unfortunately, to truly cover the lifestyle in the way that I have imagined would require a lot of time and energy that I don’t currently have. If you have any ideas for the future of MetroRiderLA, feel free to comment, I’ll take anything and everything into consideration. Until I return, enjoy the forum and all the other great L.A. transit blogs.
Hopefully this break will lead to a new and improved MetroRiderLA upon my return. Thanks for the support for these last two years!
Contributed by
Fred Camino on July 2nd, 2008 at 9:41 am
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