Congress has shown a decided lack of interest in raising or indexing the federal gas tax to pay for a federal transportation bill that now gets 30% of its funding from sources other than the gas-tax-funded Highway Trust Fund, which has been on the verge of insolvency every year. Meanwhile, voters across the country considered 16 ballot measures for transit, passing 11 of them, and another 2 are too close to call. Read more in these good stories on the Transportation For America blog and the Center for Transportation Excellence blog. One of the most notable victories, reports T4America, was in Seattle, where voters approved the extension of a property tax levy to fund 7 new bus rapid transit (BRT) corridors, three new light rail access points, 150 miles of new sidewalks, at least 16 bridge seismic retrofits, and the repaving of 180 miles of arterial streets. 

Isela Gracian from East LA Community Corporation and Sandra McNeill of TRUST South LA write on NRDC's Switchboard blog that while low-income residents in East and South LA report using transit for most planned trips, owning a car is still necessary for last-minute trips. But with 1 out of 5 Angelenos making less than $25,000 a year, and the cost of owning a car in SoCal averaging at about $9,000/year, this means spending 40% of their household income. That's why, they write, low-income communities are increasingly interested in bikeshare and in the city's new low-income electric carshare program, coming soon to Koreatown, Westlake, Pico-Union, and to neighborhoods north of USC and near Hollywood and Vermont. Move LA sits on the Steering Committee. Read more on Fernando Cazares' Switchboard blog.

The Eco-Rapid Transit joint powers authority was created to link economic development and transportation along a 40-mile corridor from Artesia in southeast LA County northwest to the Bob Hope Airport in Burbank, and to be a catalyst for transportation improvements including a 20-mile light rail line from Artesia to Union Station in downtown LA. This project, the West Santa Ana Branch Corridor, would stop in nearly a dozen cities and is projected to carry 70,000 riders—about the same as the Blue Line, the second-busiest light rail line in the US. Studies of the line were funded by Measure R. Eco-Rapid Transit is staging a Transportation Summit on Nov. 18 in Artesia at the Portuguese Hall. More information here.  

We won't know which 10 projects win until later. But we were pleased that LA County Supervisor Mark Ridley Thomas retweeted our student transit pass video, which was part of our LA2050 proposal. He retweeted AFTER the voting was over, but we interpret it as a sign that he supports creating a universal student transit pass program at Metro! (He introduced a motion last September that directed staff to study the feasibility of such a program, and his motion passed unanimously.)

Spoiler Alert: Things are no better than you would have expected. The House version of the bill, which is being debated on the floor, is more or less in line with the Senate version passed last summer. The real disappointments in the House bill are: 1) The TIFIA low-interest loan program--from which LA County has benefited, and which had been hailed as a major victory because it leverages local investment--would be slashed by 80%; 2) While preserving transit’s historic share of funding the bill lowers the federal share provided for transit projects to 50% of the total cost, compared to 80% for highway projects. 3) There’s a new freight program, but 90% of the funding is for highways. 4) The much-loved TIGER program—that provided funding for the Crenshaw Line and the Rail-to-River project, for example--was not made a permanent program in the bill, as was hoped.

The LA County Board of Supervisors took a bold step in addressing our crushing housing crisis last week: They approved a motion by Supervisors Mark Ridley-Thomas and Sheila Kuehl directing county staff to identify a permanent local source of county funding to build new apartments with affordable rents and to fund other ways of helping homeless and precariously housed residents. The goal is to immediately dedicate $20 million in new county funding, and increase the amount to $100 million each year within five years. More than 120 organizations — including business, health, religious, environmental, services, community and housing organizations — sent in 1,700 letters and postcards in support of this motion. (Photo: LA Times.)

We are expanding LA County's transit system exponentially. Vote for Move LA's student transit pass proposal in the LA2050 Grants Challenge BEFORE NOON TUESDAY (11/3)—when the polls close—to dramatically expand student transit ridership by providing an "any line, any time" universal student transit pass program. UCLA researchers including Don Shoup have found these programs increase ridership 71%-200%. First we propose working with LA Metro and LA County's 21 community colleges and 400,000 students, then the CSUs, and then the UCs and private schools—to create the biggest student transit pass program in the US. Metro is studying the feasibility now and returns to the board with a report on Dec. 3! If you didn't vote above, vote here! Thank you so much!!

Guest blog from NRDC's Fernando Cazares: Growing up in South Central LA, I flashback to memories of taking the school bus at 6 a.m. for my 35-mile cross town ride and later walking to take the bus to my first post-college job. I was lucky that the 51 bus took me from my house to my job, all within a 5 minute walk. But I also remember my parents juggling to make a 2 hour cross town, 3 bus trip to and from their job. When we had the money, my father bought a used family van that gave us the chance to spend a Saturday or Sunday in Santa Monica or Venice beach or Griffith park. This greater access to recreation and job opportunities was also paired with hefty repair expenses and gas tabs given the gas guzzler van.

When I look at the LA 2050 Challenge, I am so inspired by all the great work people are doing to make Los Angeles a better place. There are lots of great ideas that deserve support—check out the 300 proposals on view online!

We ask you to consider, of course, our proposal for "Universal Students Transit Passes" in the LEARN category. But don't stop there because you still have 4 more votes in other categories: CREATE, PLAY, LIVE, and CONNECT. Please check out the submissions from some of the organizations dedicated to making LA better.

CONNECT: LA Trade Tech's "South LA Transit Empowerment Zone: Slate Z"; LA Voice's "Turning Out Voters Through Local Relationships"; Live Ride Share's "Share South LA: Bringing Transportation Innovation to the Neighborhood"; CicLAvia's "The Route to LA's Future."

CREATE: LA Southwest College's "Innov-8: South LA's Silicon Valley"; LAANE's "Manufacturing Opportunities for Modern Day Rosies"; Local Initiatives Support Corporation's "Creating Culturally Vibrant Commercial Corridors in LA's Diverse Neighborhoods"; the Downtown Women's Center's "She's Got Skills: From Homelessness to Jobs."

LIVE: Climate Resolve's "Climate Ready Roofs"; SCOPE's "Communities Building Resilience: South LA"; Tree People's "Models of Mobilization;" Water LA's "Blue/Green Jobs for a Climate Resilient LA"; Climate Cents; Heal the Bay's "Dropping Knowledge Project: Building a Water-Literate Los Angeles."

PLAY: Los Angeles Neighborhood Land Trust's "Transforming Vacant Lots Into Neighborhood Assets"; Mayor Garcetti's "LA Great Streets Challenge: Making Streets Playful Public Places." Have fun getting inspired as you decide how to cast your 5 votes.

Voting ends Tues., Nov. 3 at noon. THANK YOU for considering Move LA in the LEARN category.

Streetsblog’s Damien Newton and Joe Linton write an interesting blog on a recent USC study suggesting that when gas prices fall so does transit ridership. They quote LA Metro blogger Steve Hymon who writes that despite this finding, which is echoed by other studies, the American Public Transportation Association has been making the case that in places (like LA) that are expanding their transit systems this is no longer true. Newton and Linton point out that, nonetheless, ridership is dropping in LA County, and that some say this is because of new laws allowing undocumented residents to obtain drivers licenses. (We would add it has to do with the Great Recession and loss of jobs.) All in all an interesting read HERE.