Anti-Metro bus ride?
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blackout_blacklung at 07.4.07 - 2:12 am
Well I'm new to this page and to alot of bike culture.I'm not sure if this is the place to post this but hope others are feeling me.I have come to realise that if your going to try to survive in L.A. with a bike you have to take a bus now and then,now I know some of you ride your bike and drive but I know also there are many of you who do not drive.The MTA , as just upped the price of a day pass from 3 to 5 bucks and the bigger problem is at the same time they have limited and cut back on service and routes while increasing the price of there fair.This goes beond my needs or yours and makes me have to look at the well being of others.I was in downtown today and sat next to an 80 year old women waiting in 90 degree heat for a bus that used to come every 15 mins but now comes every 30 to 45 mins.THIS IS NOT FAIR!They can not charge more and give you less!!it is bad for buisness.I have never organised a ride but I would really like to and could use the help of others who understand this is wrong.we can gather and show them our two wheels and not cool with the greedy dirty ways of there four wheels,I want to put togther a protest ride.but I need help who's in?
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Welcome to Ridazz! There was a big discussion on the fare hike issue here:
http://midnightridazz.com/forums.php?searchType=body&showThreads=1&keyword=bru&topicId=696
I, myself would be willing to do a protest ride in favor of rail projects, as I pretty much think buses are a lost cause at this point...
angle07.4.07 - 2:56 am
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There must be some public action against this fare hike. I am perpetually frustrated with the BRU because they are so Anti-Rail and always frame every MTA problem as racist without necessarily offering a context for that accusation.
Regardless ... I think we should try and see if any kind of colliation is forming so we can have a mass demonstration against the fare hikes.
It is unfair to balance the buget on the backs of working people effectivly almost tripiling people's travel expenses over the period of a few years ... I can assure you ... if they tried to raise the gas taxes so that gas went from $3-$8 a gallon over a few years there would be a bloody revolution.
trickmilla07.4.07 - 10:54 am
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I'm in. The fare hikes are so under my skin right now. This is actually motivating me to become a stronger rider, so I don't ever feel the need to use there overpriced service. Lets raise awareness on this issue. We always bring this up to people waiting for the bus on the Spoken'Dissent ride. Why don't they have money for better funding for public transportation. The fed gov't has a bigger priority right now. Invading and occupying foreign countries.
No Naysayer, this ride won't be bring the fares back down, but every little action moves the policy in that direction.
Don't be surprised at the turn out of this ride. I have found folks on this board will have something to say, but when it comes to action, they also like to say "I don't mix my bike with my politics"
BRU use's "Transit Racism" term due to the fact that they can't sue a government agency on class i.e. income level to change their way of doing thing (policy), but under title IV of civil rights legislation, you can sue to change policy due to racial discrimination. That is why the BRU uses Transit Racism constantly.
Yes for the thousand of people in LA county that depend on the buses, the buses are a lose case. Only those that are taking rail are being served. Think about that. That why you have so many people waiting at the bus stop and so many people on the buses. Why? because they are a lose cause, except that thousands of people are dependent on them, and they use them for there daily transportation needs.
sexy07.4.07 - 12:57 pm
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Go to Europe.
Most European countries have their public transportation down to an art. There is really no need to have a car while visiting or living there.
It leaves a lot to be desired in America, but it is also to be expected in a country whos sole purpose is no longer the people, but rather the profit.
I guess Europe having a superior system should not be a suprise, since they also have better bicycles, cars, sports culture and (most importantly) style.
Stay sexy,
Enzo Gucci
Team Bearclaw07.5.07 - 3:58 pm
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On the "transit racisim" issue.
I appreciate the clairification Sexy
Its always what i suspected. But I still think it its very short-sighted (Just like the BRU's staunch anti-rail position).
The important win that the BRU got in the 90's almost gaurentee's that the BRU will inseet the word "racisim" in place of "classisim" in any complaint they make, but I still find it a bit counter-productive personally. And while real institutional discrimination/ opression is still in place it feels a little oportunistic and trite to me for them to constantly make this argument no matter the case.
I love the BRU but at the same time they drive me a little crazy.
But I digress ...
Dont go Metro ...
Build it and they will come.
Is there a date set for the fare increse?
we should work around that maybe for a ride date.
Also, there must be other organizations thinking the same thing.
It woudl be great if we could organize with them.
A few people on bikes mean nothing, as a part of a bigger bloc we will have a bit more relevance.
trickmilla07.5.07 - 8:18 pm
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If you have or your have not, I would really take the time to understand something, before being so quick to judge it.
I can tell you the story about one of my friend's daughter talkin trash about Critical Mass six months ago , then just recently defending the bike rides we do(because her parent is part of all this), against someone who said the bike scene was stupid. The funny thing about all of that, was that neither one knew what they where talking about. One went on hear-say and the other went on pictures they saw from this site photo gallery. Great basis to come a conclusion on. Oh to be young.
Not saying you don't know about the BRU. I will say I do know a little.
I was a member when it first started. I had an opportunity to go into the BRU's office and read the complaint they filed in court againist the MTA. It gave LA transit history, cost of building the blue line and how that money could of better served (moved) more people. They felt, (and there facts and figuers backed their argument up) that it was more important to use the money to build rail project, use that money right now to move people that where transit dependent by providing more buses. On the other thread Tmaxx6 said that the BRU didn't want the orange line because it would move fewer people. I know from past BRU arguements, that they feel, all the money put into a bus only lane, could of been used to serve more people. MTA, could be running those same buses on Victory and didn't need to spend all that over head on the bus only route.
BRU, as I remember are not againist rail. They just feel all the money should be spend right now on those that need to be moved, instead of investing billions into infrustructure that will move people only on a specific route in the future.
I will say this about BRU, they are the most democractic organization, that I was ever part of. There campaign where based on what the rank and file membership wanted to do. Not what the paid staff said would be "the campaign". The logo, the demands, the slogans all came from the membership.
People may not like this or that, of what the BRU is doing. The important things is, they are doing. They are out there everyday fight the MTA and they haven't stop. Yes, the directors of the Stragety Center secure thereselve a comfortable salary, is there something wrong with getting paid for the work you do?
I know alot of members of the BRU, from the activist community. They are long time activist, fine people, who have put years and years of work, trying to better the community in which they live. I'm proud to call them my Comrades, just as I'am those in the anti-war, and social justice community. They seem to be all the same people.
Determined, thoughtful, dedicated, and not worried about how they look to those that don't want to take the time to understand what is going on in the world, or have a understanding, but feel they would look silly to those that don't understand.
sexy07.5.07 - 10:37 pm
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I know that the members of the BRU are good people. And I know very well that most arguments made publicly against the BRU consist either of red-baiting, or ad hominem attacks on the leadership ("well, Eric Mann makes $XXXX a year, blah blah fuckity blah snivel").
But I maintain that some of the public positions the BRU takes are not only wrong, but jaw-droppingly stupid. The anti-rail position (and let's not pretend that it's anything but) is one of them. Whatever good these positions may do them in court, they only serve to alienate a lot of potential allies.
Trickmilla: the fare increases are being implemented in steps, over the next few months/years. No vaseline, in other words, but they're only sticking in one finger at a time. The first round (base fare stays the same; day pass goes from $3 to $5, monthly pass goes up to $62, no more night-owl discount, etc.) started this past Sunday, July 1.
PC07.5.07 - 11:43 pm
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I agree with PC about the anti rail thing, while it is all well and good to serve people now, the problem with this type of thinking is that it's exactly what got LA into the mess it's in right now.
"Oh people are getting stuck in traffic on the freeway, let's add another lane"
and 5 years later the same problem has arisen.
"people can't get where they need to go on buses"
partly because they are waiting for a bus that is stuck in traffic. Part of the reason the Orange line has been over capacity most of the day since it opened (which metro is dealing with the state on to allow them to have even bigger 85 foot double articulated (3 section) buses), it's a bus line that not only runs on time and doesnt get stuck in traffic, it's not interacting too much with traffic, reducing the amount of incidents of insane bus drivery.
As to the fact that rail doesnt cover enough of the city to serve the areas buses do, well, the problem with that is that you need to put the infrastructure in place for it to do so.
5 bus lines over hundreds of square miles wouldn't serve many people either, but the more you add the more people can use them, and hey, eventually they pay for them selves, sure it might take longer, but in the end it is actually worth it.
Many cities have complex networks of both rail/subway systems which the buses serve, however these networks took time to build, Boston has the second oldest int he world and they're still expanding it. Same with London (the oldest).
LA has only had any sort of rail service for 17 years since the closure of the red and yellow cars, it will take time to rebuild such a system, unfortunately at a larger cost. However, I have a feeling that at sometime int he future people will look back and think "more buses? what were they thinking?".
The buses were part of what destroyed LA's public transit in the first place.
The fare hike is total BS, and what's worse, not only is it going to affect the metro, it's going to affect all the municipal bus lines as well, as metro has pretty much said to any of them that recieve part of their funding (most do, foothill transit being probably the largest) that unless they raise their rates, metro will cut their funding.
FuzzBeast07.6.07 - 2:34 am
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Who do you think owned the red and yellow lines and all those lines, they weren't gov't agency, they where private companies. Does the name Pacific Railroad ring a bell. Why where they built? to serve developers, that built house, they wanted to sell to potential buyers, the trains where a selling point to get to a new community. That why the original rails where built. What replaced them, private and public bus companies, where there was no such things, as transfer, from one bus company to another. New fare from this line to another bus company. It would be so costly to go from one end of the county to the other, that why the county started a rapid transit district or whatever it was called at it insception, in the late 60's. This was realized by the ? commission after the Watts riots. "McCone" or "Kerner". So that, those with less income wouldn't feel alienated or not have the funds, to go from one side of LA county to the other. That why there transfers where created.
Thanks MTA for elimating those transfers.
Orange line is over capacity because they don't run enough buses. I know you don't live here. That line, like alot of MTA's lines work great M-F, but as the weekend comes, so it does, for most of MTA's operators. The lines are full of it's usual clients that need the bus, the bus aren't there. It isn't unusual now to see "next bus 23 minutes". When it opened that wasn't the case. They ran enough bus, spread out, so you wouldn't have to wait so long.
Do you notice how crowded the red line is on the weekend, do you notice how few less train cars they run on the weekend. The schedule hasn't changed, the amount of cars on each train, has.
sexy07.6.07 - 10:01 am
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Ok this is the second time i'm typing this, stupid thing logged me out. This version is going to be much less eloquent and shorter
Yes I hav enoticed the crowding, I don't know what's up with the whole "weekend schedule" crap, all the companies do it.
THe thing with the light rail infrastructure, and what I was trying to say about the red cars is that it is going to be much more costly to revive the infrastructure that was destroyed due to a lack of oversight/foresight/whatever. I'm not against buses, hell we need em, but what I AM saying is that they need to be part of a whole comprehensive network of public transit, not the ONLY part of the network, as the position the BRU seems to take.
Many of our current transit options are private, so called "public benefit corporations" metrolink and foothill transit are two of these, and getting across the county still takes extra expense, several transfers and, now, through several different companies some which accept the other's transfers, some need a new ticket to board due to price or whatever.
When the PE rail (and the buses it was operating) went under, the MTA wasnt the ones who bought them, it was a private bus company Metropolitan Coach Lines, it was then later sold to the MTA when their powers were expanded so they could operate lines.
FuzzBeast07.6.07 - 10:56 am
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I guess I need to rehash a little more of my first, lost post.
It was the McKern commision i think.
The MTA also started operating lines in 58 not the late 60's, anyway, yes the private companies were losing money, part of the reason they are now heavily government subsidized. Metrolink (previously part of amtrack, now a seperate entity) recieves a large portion of such subsidies, so does amtrack, and both are private companies. PE was suffering from all kinds of finiancal problems regarding the red cars, but then again so were almost all the other private transportation systems across the country, a major part of the reason systems like the mta were created, so that when companies found it to be unprofitable to offer such service, they couldn't just stop running them (like PE tried to do when they were in the process of collapsing, the government stepped in and forbade them to shut down the santa monica line).
FuzzBeast07.6.07 - 11:06 am
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claps and cheers
sexy07.6.07 - 12:17 pm
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I feel a little better now, after that.
Lets get back on point..................................................................
Most importantly blacklung, when you going to do this?
Why not think about when they are having a meeting. (unfortunately during the week) people got work and go to school.
Or when they are having some sort of celebratory opening, or just celebration where the board members are, especailly the ones who voted on the fair increase. This usually happens during the weekend.
Do your homework on this one.
We got a secret weapon, It's called a PA, and its loud.
Or maybe you just want to raise awareness, then you got even more homework. What are the transit dependent or transit advocacy organizations doing.
This will be fun either way..
p.s. I'am rocking Nightranger right now, and loving it.
sexy07.6.07 - 3:05 pm
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Your right I need to hit the books and really work at this.II'll see what I can do.
blackout_blacklung07.6.07 - 5:29 pm
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