LA County’s Metro Cited as Nation’s 2006 Outstanding Public Transportation System
LA Metro has earned the 2006 Outstanding Public Transportation System award for large transit properties given annually by the American Public Transportation Association (APTA).

The award -- which some refer to as the Pulitzer Prize for transit -- is given to public transportation systems that have demonstrated achievement in efficiency and effectiveness. It was the first such award for Metro.

We’re honored to have received this award -- an award that was richly earned by the hard-working and dedicated Metro staff,” said Roger Snoble, Metro CEO. “We see it as national recognition of our goal which was, and remains, building the best possible transportation network for Los Angeles County. This isn’t the time, however, to rest on our laurels. We have big challenges ahead but we’re up to it.”

Among the achievements that earned Metro the award:

• The overwhelming success of the Metro Orange Line in the San Fernando Valley. Since opening last fall, ridership has soared to 18,700 average weekday boardings, about triple the number of passengers projected for the first year of service

• Commencement of tunneling for the underground portion of the Eastside Extension light-rail project that will link the Metro Gold Line between Pasadena and downtown Los Angeles with Little Tokyo, the Arts District, Boyle Heights and East Los Angeles

• Expansion of the Metro Rapid system, which operates about 25 percent faster than local bus service. Metro is at the halfway point in creating the most extensive such network in the country, with the goal of 28 Metro Rapid lines with more than 700 vehicles by 2008.

• The Metro fleet of clean-air Compressed Natural Gas (CNG) buses. Metro now operates 2,000 CNG buses and plans to have a 100 percent CNG fleet by 2008.

• The Metro Blue Line light rail line between downtown Los Angeles and Long Beach reached record ridership with more than 80,000 average weekday boardings, making it the second most successful light rail line in the nation.

• Planning continued for the Exposition light rail line, which will break ground later this year and by 2010 link downtown Los Angeles with Culver City. A planned extension will continue the line west to Santa Monica.

• Customer satisfaction is at an all-time high. The latest survey showed that 84 percent of customers were satisfied with Metro service and 83 percent believed service has improved over the previous year.

Snoble also cited a number of other factors that he said helped Metro qualify for the APTA award for 2006. Among them were service innovations, technological advances, customer-focused initiatives and improved public recognition and acceptance of Metro services.

The award will be presented to Metro at the APTA annual convention in San Jose, California in October.

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Let's give a hearty congratulations to Roger Snoble, the whole MTA board (including Mayor Tony, come on now!) and all the staff for this! The Pulitzer of transit! Wow!

My ardent hope is that this award is yet more support for the expiration of the consent decree with the Bus Riders Union. It's going to expire this fall unless a federal judge decides to extend it. I think this is another nail in the BRU's coffin.

sweet sweet sweet!

Glad to finally hear some good news about the system. I was astounded to hear that they are only half way through implementing Rapid buses throughout the city, it's going to be great once they have them all in place. Congrats boys and girls!

As someone who uses both buses and trains daily, I think its a fine system. Of course there is much room for improvment but its going in a good direction. I think the Rapid makes a difference and will make more of a difference when it supports more rail extentions in town. I take the lines down Vermont, Hollywood-Pasadena, and Hollywood- Fairfax, often and they are pretty convient and not badly crowded. I will say the Rapid line down Wilshire is one I do avoid due to overcrowding. A redline extention down the length is the way to go really, especially being that its ones of the most populated corridors in the States outside of New York. I beielve if Red Line is extended and the Expo completed to Santa Monica, Rail Usage will jump significantly in LA and could change the image of Public Transit in LA.

All in all I give the system a conservative B+ with driver etiquette being a necessary change. Some are plain rude and drive too recklessly.

Isnt the orange line the "bus that acts as a subway"? So it's doing pretty well?

The Orange line was, has and/or never will be compared to a subway in this life and/or all future lives that we hopefully experience. Now, where did you get that silly idea?

And all this talk on SSC about L.A. having one of the worst PT system; anyways good for L.A.

Well, SSC seems to have a cynicism fetish. Other than that, people who actually take pt regularly and those who use it as their chosen transport alternative like "Frangelino", myself and others all acknowledge areas of much needed improvement with Metro, as in the likes of extensions and added lines mainly. But excluding rail, its bus service is second to none, especially when you take into consideration the overly ambitious feat(imo)of covering the entire county and working in accordance with other municipal transit agencies there within.

While the extent of the subway and light rail system is primitive for a city of LA's size, the quality of the lines that DO exist is in good condition.

Is that man kissing a goat? And on the alternative picture, what's on that woman's nose?

[QUOTE=klamedia]The Orange line was, has and/or never will be compared to a subway in this life and/or all future lives that we hopefully experience.


^ True it will never be a subway or even compare to one. But I guarantee that in a near future it will become light Rail train. This is the reason of neighboring hoods on the busway were so against it. They knew it would become a train, again!!!!!!