Absolutey! Thanks for your continued support @lexa_power! I may swing by LA again. In the immediate future, though, I have plans to do videos focusing on Boston and Detroit
Great take. If the problem is a bureaucratic soup that steps on each other's toes, then work needs to be done to streamline these things. We need leadership, and we have none.
Seriously, where’s mayor Bass on this one? She says she cares so much about homeless people - improve the form of transit they rely on the most to get to work and access services!!!!!!!
I'm glad at least that LA was working on something for bus stops, and am hoping that the feedback on this will prompt more bus stop improvements. Also, these things don't even protect from rain!
This video touched on the major obstacle to good public transit and more livable cities, car-centric urban planning. There is a mindset that switching to electric cars is the answer. While electric cars are better than gas cars in many ways, they are still cars. They still require massive amounts of energy and resource intensive infrastructure. Even fully self driving electric cars will not reduce the number of cars on the road at any given time. More cars means more and wider roads. Conversely, other forms of public transit can easily add passenger capacity with much less infrastructure. As a bonus, it makes it easier for people that do need to drive. If we change our towns and cities to be more walkable and bicycle friendly, cities become quieter, calmer, safer, and generally more sociable. We need more parks - not parking lots. The following list is not exhaustive, it does not include every travel option, or address every scenario, some options will not be viable or available in your area. However, it forms a framework for choosing better travel options, and infrastructure goals. Walk = short distance Bicycle = moderate/longer distance Buss/Tram/Subway = longer distance High Speed Train = up to 500mls (800km) Airplane = over 1-1/2hrs (consider a train) Car = only when needed and preferably electric (consider renting)
Thank you for the video. Yes, regional planning is so important. The BART metro system in the San Francisco Bay Area does not circle the bay due to the lack of longterm regional planning. BART only recently connected to the most populous city - San Jose. The result is an amalgam of transit systems up the San Francisco Peninsula between San Jose and San Francisco. ABAG (Association of Bay Area Governments) formed during the early sixties, but has often been weak and ineffective.
@@timwalks BART only goes to Berryessa/North San Jose. There are plans to extend to Santa Clara. Imagine if it had been a loop on one system connecting all the major populations, all the major universities, all the major pro sports venues, all three major airports, etc. At the time of planning, San Jose was much smaller than San Francisco. Political interests in San Jose were concerned that easy access to good paying jobs in San Francisco would hinder their development - not unfounded. The mistake was not planning BART for the San Jose that they wanted in the future. It quickly shed its agricultural roots to become the largest city in the Bay Area, and high tech powerhouse. Agreements could have been struck to accomplish short-term and longterm goals.
Here's a simple solution: put a small roof above the whole section of sidewalk, no walls just a roof with bars to support it. Pedestrians can walk just right through it
That's a great idea! Unfortunately the issue isn't a lack of solutions. The issue is that Depart of Transport cannot actually install such shelters without the exclusive permission of each municipality in Los Angeles. I assume such a roof would require at least 3 more poles (in addition to the existing one), the municipality that they are building in would have to approve those three additional poles.
@@timwalks This is an excellent design idea. Please encourage people to get involved and get organized. Even one well designed bus shelter can set a precedent. Perhaps a local architecture student can draw a basic design in CAD that can be presented at a city council meeting. Get creative! I am only one person, but I am in the process of getting a street light safety issue addressed in my area.
Ive thought about this a lot and it feels to like this is why NYC metro is much more successful and same for other countries. Theres much less red tape to go through due to centralized governance. Perhaps a video idea for the future
@@timwalks would love to see that video pan out. i think it applies to a nation-wide scale as well. probably not much red tape for chinese transit agencies to go through for example since everything is so standardized and pre-approved.
Couldn’t agree more. These pathetic “shelters “ are an embarrassment. It got me to thinking about the Santa Monica bus system. How inexpensive and reliable it is. And yet , last time I checked, they don’t have shelters for the most part. Perhaps the need is not as great there, since the weather is so much more tolerable and the bus frequency is greater. Btw, 15 minutes between buses in Los Angeles would be considered light speed frequency. ;) I’m so glad I discovered your channel. It gives me hope for the future. Carry on. ;)
Thanks for the kind words. Its interesting you bring up the Blue Bus system. I always found it strange that a bus system so close to metro la was so vastly different in quality. I havent investigated their historic differences. Perhaps a topic for a future video. In regards to frequency, I have been dissapointed to learn since starting this channel that 15min is shockingly good in the US. Its not awful, but I hope we strive for a better bar
Thanks for the feedback! Yeah im still furnishing the new apartment. Actually tried to improve the audio in this video but realize its not 100%. Let me know if you have any other technical feedback. Definitely still working on polishing these videos
Unsolicited from a 3rd part I know, but if you can get your hands on some nice thick blankets and some blocks of foam, hang the blankets on the walls behind the camera and put the foam up like room dividers that would probably help a ton. Also could look at maybe a lav mic or an sm57 if you're ok with an "onscreen" mic, I think I've heard those do really well to filter out reflections opposite to the speaker
That what happens when you have a bunch of go along to get along people and no one critically thinking. They got a job and get paid no matter what bs they put out there.
I agree when i saw this twitter post originally, I was like "Comments are gonna explode!" They really need to remove some authority from local municipals to streamline projects and stop the half measures that do nothing and waste real money. I mean, they just announced on May 11th that (only) the LA City Council is gonna take 90 days to discuss/rethink the OLD OUTDATED policy of rush hour lanes (that share with parking) on the major streets (they have 6 lanes + 1 central turn lane.) This would be huge, for a future of EV clean permanent bus lanes that could share with bikes and alt transports, as well as, the occasional need to emergency vehicles during dense traffic times. We need to rethink the policy first to get these things done, otherwise we are gonna keep seeing BS proposes and wasteful projects.
Like many Twitter-outrages de jours, this one vented chronic exasperation at long inadequate public services via misunderstanding and thus misrepresenting what had actually been “announced” and by whom. Reflecting a remnant of decades of previously far worse LA area transportation decentralization, the La Sombritas were a small, grant-funded pilot, not of LA (County) “Metro” but of the LA (City) DOT, a “local” agency that, among other roles, operates (via a private contract) a modest fleet of shuttle-sized buses (15 Commuter Express, 31 DASH routes) that provide short hop circular rides of a few miles between neighborhoods, entirely separate from LA Metro’s 140+ long route county-spanning buses, 5 light rail lines, and 2 subways. The LA DOT shuttles share some bus stops with LA Metro but just as often do not, while their budget, fleet, and functional role are all minuscule in comparison. But all agencies have to be on Twitter, so this sound-alike agency crowed about their La Sombrita pilot, yet only they knew that 1) LA Metro is the primary (minimal) provider of bus shelters (whose new ones are just as nice as those in NYC, etc, there’s just too few installed yet) and 2) they were simply piloting replacing their supplemental agency’s hard to see pole+signposts with a 2.0 version. They were so proud of their sincere effort to “address” their (relatively small number of) riders’ “needs” they failed to identify themselves as the meek David compared to LA Metro’s Goliath, i.e., that they’re not the area’s major transport player: even within the City of LA, the LA (County) Metro does all the heavy lifting of transportation provision. You are right to expect far more from LA public transportation. But the La Sombritas are literally a bystander to the major problems at hand, from a subordinate agency that’s only trying to fill neighborhood route gaps left open by LA Metro.
Thanks for the detailed input. I totally agree that a lot of the outrage is due to miscommunication. But everything you outlined would have actually been the appropriate thing for the LADOT to express. Instead of the weird excuses that were made, agencies should strive to be honest with what their goals and challenges are. Otherwise the public, and Im sure other agencies maybe left totally ignorant of why results are rare and programs appear dysfunctional
@@timwalks Indeed. LA Metro, the main agency, generally does a better job with such responses, but then they’re getting the lion share of Prop M, Prop R, and other funding. That said, I agree the LADOT responder was tone deaf to be reading off talking points, however accurate re: their rationale and the study they commissioned, as was the LA City Councilperson who’d held an earlier press conference about it. Rather than contextually address the criticism, LADOT seemed intent on ignoring it, thus as you correctly point out, undermining their public credibility. As a fully Orange-pilled advocate of improved US/CDN/MX transportation, the tardiness of LA’s infrastructure development remains deeply frustrating yet the trend seems positive (eg Regional Connector open next month, D line extensions next year, LAX access, proposed Crenshaw line northern extensions). Thus, while still nowhere near the levels needed and long provided elsewhere, out of context dunking on La Sombritas as “symptoms” (per a portion of urban Twitter and the linked Substack) might minimize the tangible improvements made thus far (and those planned), though hopefully gets more people engaged in the overall goal🙂 (Correction: per a later LATimes opinion piece, the bus shelters in LA are actually the purview of the City council, whose prior contractor only managed to deliver “660 out of 2185 promised shelters in two decades,” and thus your and others advocacy can only help engage riders to demand better from those responsible).
Im learning from diving deep into the public transit world that most problems in public transit are a result of poor compromises and not poor design. Like good designs exist, there just no telling whether the public will like them.
Interesting, do you think this is rooted from California's Republican roots? The decentralization and needing to get individual municipalities permission for something that's bigger than any single city. Need to read more into it but it's so interesting
Thanks for covering this! As a disabled woman who takes transit in Los Angeles, this is embarrassing. Miss your videos about LA!
Absolutey! Thanks for your continued support @lexa_power! I may swing by LA again. In the immediate future, though, I have plans to do videos focusing on Boston and Detroit
In the UK we have really small sidewalks and still find space for bus shelters.
I got to check these out
Great take. If the problem is a bureaucratic soup that steps on each other's toes, then work needs to be done to streamline these things. We need leadership, and we have none.
Seriously, where’s mayor Bass on this one? She says she cares so much about homeless people - improve the form of transit they rely on the most to get to work and access services!!!!!!!
I'm glad at least that LA was working on something for bus stops, and am hoping that the feedback on this will prompt more bus stop improvements.
Also, these things don't even protect from rain!
On the rain front, I think LA is hoping this year was the exception and not the rule haha
This video touched on the major obstacle to good public transit and more livable cities, car-centric urban planning. There is a mindset that switching to electric cars is the answer. While electric cars are better than gas cars in many ways, they are still cars.
They still require massive amounts of energy and resource intensive infrastructure. Even fully self driving electric cars will not reduce the number of cars on the road at any given time. More cars means more and wider roads. Conversely, other forms of public transit can easily add passenger capacity with much less infrastructure. As a bonus, it makes it easier for people that do need to drive.
If we change our towns and cities to be more walkable and bicycle friendly, cities become quieter, calmer, safer, and generally more sociable. We need more parks - not parking lots.
The following list is not exhaustive, it does not include every travel option, or address every scenario, some options will not be viable or available in your area. However, it forms a framework for choosing better travel options, and infrastructure goals.
Walk = short distance
Bicycle = moderate/longer distance
Buss/Tram/Subway = longer distance
High Speed Train = up to 500mls (800km)
Airplane = over 1-1/2hrs (consider a train)
Car = only when needed and preferably electric (consider renting)
Learned a lot! Thanks for making me appreciate my NYC bus shelters
The NYC bus shelters are great. I wish there were more! Especially places with no shelter nearby.
Thank you for the video. Yes, regional planning is so important. The BART metro system in the San Francisco Bay Area does not circle the bay due to the lack of longterm regional planning. BART only recently connected to the most populous city - San Jose.
The result is an amalgam of transit systems up the San Francisco Peninsula between San Jose and San Francisco.
ABAG (Association of Bay Area Governments) formed during the early sixties, but has often been weak and ineffective.
oh did Bart complete that extension? It was honestly so difficult to get from Fremont to the otherside of the bay without a car
@@timwalks BART only goes to Berryessa/North San Jose. There are plans to extend to Santa Clara.
Imagine if it had been a loop on one system connecting all the major populations, all the major universities, all the major pro sports venues, all three major airports, etc.
At the time of planning, San Jose was much smaller than San Francisco. Political interests in San Jose were concerned that easy access to good paying jobs in San Francisco would hinder their development - not unfounded.
The mistake was not planning BART for the San Jose that they wanted in the future. It quickly shed its agricultural roots to become the largest city in the Bay Area, and high tech powerhouse. Agreements could have been struck to accomplish short-term and longterm goals.
Here's a simple solution: put a small roof above the whole section of sidewalk, no walls just a roof with bars to support it. Pedestrians can walk just right through it
That's a great idea! Unfortunately the issue isn't a lack of solutions. The issue is that Depart of Transport cannot actually install such shelters without the exclusive permission of each municipality in Los Angeles. I assume such a roof would require at least 3 more poles (in addition to the existing one), the municipality that they are building in would have to approve those three additional poles.
@@timwalks This is an excellent design idea. Please encourage people to get involved and get organized. Even one well designed bus shelter can set a precedent. Perhaps a local architecture student can draw a basic design in CAD that can be presented at a city council meeting. Get creative!
I am only one person, but I am in the process of getting a street light safety issue addressed in my area.
@-s-24 You have a great idea! Please see my other comment and consider getting involved if this is an issue in your area.
I see what you did there, changed the lighting at the end (from yellow to natural) to show seeing things in another light. Good talk!
Haha, I wish I was that clever. I had to make some last minute edits that were not as seamless as I had hoped 😅
great video. i especially like the point about how LA won’t be able to get anything substantial done without a more centralized form of governance.
Ive thought about this a lot and it feels to like this is why NYC metro is much more successful and same for other countries. Theres much less red tape to go through due to centralized governance. Perhaps a video idea for the future
@@timwalks would love to see that video pan out. i think it applies to a nation-wide scale as well. probably not much red tape for chinese transit agencies to go through for example since everything is so standardized and pre-approved.
Couldn’t agree more. These pathetic “shelters “ are an embarrassment. It got me to thinking about the Santa Monica bus system. How inexpensive and reliable it is. And yet , last time I checked, they don’t have shelters for the most part. Perhaps the need is not as great there, since the weather is so much more tolerable and the bus frequency is greater. Btw, 15 minutes between buses in Los Angeles would be considered light speed frequency. ;) I’m so glad I discovered your channel. It gives me hope for the future. Carry on. ;)
Thanks for the kind words. Its interesting you bring up the Blue Bus system. I always found it strange that a bus system so close to metro la was so vastly different in quality. I havent investigated their historic differences. Perhaps a topic for a future video.
In regards to frequency, I have been dissapointed to learn since starting this channel that 15min is shockingly good in the US. Its not awful, but I hope we strive for a better bar
Love getting more videos, Tim! Maybe consider improving audio quality to reduce echos-maybe due to your recent move/empty apartment?
Thanks for the feedback! Yeah im still furnishing the new apartment. Actually tried to improve the audio in this video but realize its not 100%. Let me know if you have any other technical feedback. Definitely still working on polishing these videos
Unsolicited from a 3rd part I know, but if you can get your hands on some nice thick blankets and some blocks of foam, hang the blankets on the walls behind the camera and put the foam up like room dividers that would probably help a ton.
Also could look at maybe a lav mic or an sm57 if you're ok with an "onscreen" mic, I think I've heard those do really well to filter out reflections opposite to the speaker
I wouldn't know that was an but stop My mind was thinking it was an street lamp what was design to reduce light pollution at night
yeah it would be helpful if they put a giant "Bus" icon or logo on it
That what happens when you have a bunch of go along to get along people and no one critically thinking. They got a job and get paid no matter what bs they put out there.
I agree when i saw this twitter post originally, I was like "Comments are gonna explode!" They really need to remove some authority from local municipals to streamline projects and stop the half measures that do nothing and waste real money. I mean, they just announced on May 11th that (only) the LA City Council is gonna take 90 days to discuss/rethink the OLD OUTDATED policy of rush hour lanes (that share with parking) on the major streets (they have 6 lanes + 1 central turn lane.) This would be huge, for a future of EV clean permanent bus lanes that could share with bikes and alt transports, as well as, the occasional need to emergency vehicles during dense traffic times. We need to rethink the policy first to get these things done, otherwise we are gonna keep seeing BS proposes and wasteful projects.
You are 100% right
Like many Twitter-outrages de jours, this one vented chronic exasperation at long inadequate public services via misunderstanding and thus misrepresenting what had actually been “announced” and by whom. Reflecting a remnant of decades of previously far worse LA area transportation decentralization, the La Sombritas were a small, grant-funded pilot, not of LA (County) “Metro” but of the LA (City) DOT, a “local” agency that, among other roles, operates (via a private contract) a modest fleet of shuttle-sized buses (15 Commuter Express, 31 DASH routes) that provide short hop circular rides of a few miles between neighborhoods, entirely separate from LA Metro’s 140+ long route county-spanning buses, 5 light rail lines, and 2 subways. The LA DOT shuttles share some bus stops with LA Metro but just as often do not, while their budget, fleet, and functional role are all minuscule in comparison. But all agencies have to be on Twitter, so this sound-alike agency crowed about their La Sombrita pilot, yet only they knew that 1) LA Metro is the primary (minimal) provider of bus shelters (whose new ones are just as nice as those in NYC, etc, there’s just too few installed yet) and 2) they were simply piloting replacing their supplemental agency’s hard to see pole+signposts with a 2.0 version. They were so proud of their sincere effort to “address” their (relatively small number of) riders’ “needs” they failed to identify themselves as the meek David compared to LA Metro’s Goliath, i.e., that they’re not the area’s major transport player: even within the City of LA, the LA (County) Metro does all the heavy lifting of transportation provision. You are right to expect far more from LA public transportation. But the La Sombritas are literally a bystander to the major problems at hand, from a subordinate agency that’s only trying to fill neighborhood route gaps left open by LA Metro.
Thanks for the detailed input. I totally agree that a lot of the outrage is due to miscommunication. But everything you outlined would have actually been the appropriate thing for the LADOT to express. Instead of the weird excuses that were made, agencies should strive to be honest with what their goals and challenges are. Otherwise the public, and Im sure other agencies maybe left totally ignorant of why results are rare and programs appear dysfunctional
@@timwalks Indeed. LA Metro, the main agency, generally does a better job with such responses, but then they’re getting the lion share of Prop M, Prop R, and other funding. That said, I agree the LADOT responder was tone deaf to be reading off talking points, however accurate re: their rationale and the study they commissioned, as was the LA City Councilperson who’d held an earlier press conference about it. Rather than contextually address the criticism, LADOT seemed intent on ignoring it, thus as you correctly point out, undermining their public credibility. As a fully Orange-pilled advocate of improved US/CDN/MX transportation, the tardiness of LA’s infrastructure development remains deeply frustrating yet the trend seems positive (eg Regional Connector open next month, D line extensions next year, LAX access, proposed Crenshaw line northern extensions). Thus, while still nowhere near the levels needed and long provided elsewhere, out of context dunking on La Sombritas as “symptoms” (per a portion of urban Twitter and the linked Substack) might minimize the tangible improvements made thus far (and those planned), though hopefully gets more people engaged in the overall goal🙂 (Correction: per a later LATimes opinion piece, the bus shelters in LA are actually the purview of the City council, whose prior contractor only managed to deliver “660 out of 2185 promised shelters in two decades,” and thus your and others advocacy can only help engage riders to demand better from those responsible).
CA in general and L.A. in particular are just so embarassingly poorly governed.
Im learning from diving deep into the public transit world that most problems in public transit are a result of poor compromises and not poor design. Like good designs exist, there just no telling whether the public will like them.
It is blatantly obviuos that this is for nothing else but money appropriating. Soneone just stole some money.
What a joke
Interesting, do you think this is rooted from California's Republican roots? The decentralization and needing to get individual municipalities permission for something that's bigger than any single city. Need to read more into it but it's so interesting
NOW I KNOW WHERE MY TAXES ARE GOING. NOW SHOW US WHERE THE ONE BILLION DOLLAR FOR THE HOMELESS IS GOING??????
gender studies... lmao
🤡🌎