LACMTA/Fanfare Greets Start of Orange Line BUSES Options

[NickG]

From the Los Angeles Times, 10/29/05:

So many riders jammed the Orange Line busway - the first mass transit line entirely in the San Fernando Valley - today that officials had to add extra buses to pick up and drop off people every three minutes.

The full story is here.

[NickG]

From the Los Angeles Times, 10/25/05:

Busway Test Run Gives Riders a Jolt

As a busload of transportation officials, reporters and camera operators rolled across the San Fernando Valley for a test ride Monday on the soon-to-open Orange Line busway, they got a jolting taste of the safety challenges ahead.

The full story is here.

To visit the MTA's official Orange Line site, click here. Flash player required.

[KevinKorell]

MTA Chief Executive Roger Snoble called the Orange Line "a train on rubber tires."

Don't you just love that mentality?

Only "Metro Liner" buses — extra-long vehicles built to mimic the metallic look and spacious feel of a passenger rail car — are permitted in the transit corridor.

Are they allowed to use the term "Metroliner" now that Amtrak has virtually replaced its Metroliners with Acela?

This is unlike Pittsburgh's busways, where besides routes dedicated to its busways, many other express routes use it to bypass traffic on the freeways. It is probably better than Boston's Silver LIE though, especially the Washington Street portion.

At least Los Angeles' Orange LIE is a dedicated busway, albeit with grade crossings which certainly will have drivers violating them just like they cross in front of trains. As the article says, somebody already proved that point.

Most of the business will probably be transfer passengers from the heavy rail Red Line. The Red Line and Orange Line stations in NoHo are across the street from one another, and no safe provision (such as a pedestrian bridge or tunnel) has been made to help pedestrians safely across the street.

[KevinKorell]

As a side, my brother (who lives in the Valley) attended the festivities in NoHo (North Hollywood) and other locations associated with the Orange LIE grand opening this past Saturday. He tells me that he was treated like royalty when he dropped my name to officials of Southern California Transit Advocates, who had a table at the NoHo station. I know that Ken Ruben is a member of our Forums (Ken R.), but apparently Dana Gabbard also has heard of me by regularly reading our board. I'm also on their e-mail list and of course receive their newsletters each month.

My brother picked up a lot of brochures and handouts at this event, rail related, and I hope that when I receive them, I will be able to learn some new things about Los Angeles railroading as well as plans for the future. Anything new I will of course share here.

Meanwhile, my brother, sister-in-law, and niece took their free rides on the first day of Orange LIE service. He says that it feels very much like a train inside, and that I would enjoy it. Boston said the same thing about Silver LIE Washington, and they let me down. We'll see.....

[KevinKorell]

Well folks, those who said that buses would be safer than trains and advocated this BUSway ought to think again. It's happened already. Three grade crossing crashes have taken place. One was during the test phase of the busway before its grand opening, and one, which happened yesterday, was quite serious.

From Los Angeles, CA Daily News, 11/3/05:

Orange Line chaos

VALLEY GLEN - Fifteen people were injured Wednesday when a 78-year-old woman believed to be talking on a cell phone ran a red light and collided with a Orange Line bus - the first major accident on the new busway, prompting immediate calls for beefed-up safety measures, officials said.

Story is here.


I would venture to say that had it been a train involved in this wreck, fewer people would have been taken to the hospital. Had this been an extension of the heavy rail Red Line, these accidents could not have taken place because the Red Line is entirely underground.

The only good thing about buses over trains is that the buses were able to detour off the busway around the accident, whereas a train needs tracks (and usually catenary power) and thus usually will have a "bus bridge" around the problem.

[KevinKorell]

From KNBC-TV, NBC-4 in Los Angeles, CA, 11/3/05:

Traffic Cops Dispatched To Orange Line Intersections

LOS ANGELES -- Traffic officers were dispatched to Orange Line intersections Thursday morning, after an Orange Line bus was involved in a crash Wednesday with a vehicle at a Valley Glen intersection.

For this story, click here.

So cops have to ride the busway. Imagine if this was light rail -- they would have to equip police cars with high rail shoes.

[NickG]

From the Los Angeles Times, 11/4/05:

Orange Line Model Beset by Crashes

Miami busway cited by the MTA as an example for the Valley transit route had 67 accidents in its first 45 months, including two deaths.

When San Fernando Valley residents and others expressed worries about the potential for accidents on the Orange Line, transit officials repeatedly assured them the busway would be safe — and pointed to a similar transit system in Miami as evidence.

But the Miami busway had in fact been plagued with accidents when it first opened — some similar to those the Orange Line has experienced since opening last week, according to records and interviews.

The full story is here.

[NickG]

From the Los Angeles Times, 11/18/05:

Orange Line Buses May Get Strobe Light Signals

To make the buses on the new Metro Orange Line busway easier for motorists to spot — and thus less vulnerable to accidents — transportation officials have asked for permission to deck them out with white strobe lights.

The full story is here.

[NickG]

From the Simon, 11/18/05:

Meet the Orange Line: The Bus That's Not a Train

It may not be a "cool" form of transportation, but the city's new bus line offers L.A. citizens a fresh way of seeing their metropolis.

My friend Evans Webb, a retired scenic artist who now works in oils, told me once that he was advised by an art dealer never to create a painting with orange in it. The dealer complained that orange didn't sell well.

I think that art dealer should hang out a shingle as a public transportation consultant.

My fair city's latest incarnation of a good idea half a century too late is our Orange Line, a bunch of hybrid-fuel buses that are trying desperately to look cool. They do look cool. They're large yet sleek, shiny and silvery, still so new that the local vatos haven't had time to autograph them yet. They run on their own busway, a freshly graded and paved street devoted entirely to the buses. But they strangely aren't cool. Perhaps the fact that they're buses has something to do with it.

The full article is here.

[NickG]

From the Los Angeles Times, 11/21/05:

MTA Sees Success in Orange Line

Three weeks after the Orange Line opened in the San Fernando Valley, transportation officials are already hailing the busway as a big success: They originally projected 5,000 to 7,000 riders each weekday, but the line is attracting 10,000 to 12,000.

But transit experts said it's far too early for the Los Angeles County Metropolitan Transportation Authority to declare victory.

The full story is here.