Metro Westside Subway Extension – Purple Line -Wilshire Corridor

Pretty reliable, train comes every 5 minutes during rush hours and every 10 –15 minutes on other times.

All the ladies were professional, fast, accurate I have never been so impressed with a line so organized. Even answered calls, everything was clean, stocked up. As needed for the train station they shocked me with the speedily yet accurate, nice service.
This is what all Subway need to be following… I am often annoyed how long it takes for me to get a foot long, not this one!

If you’re planning on taking the Subway to the Sea, as Metro’s Westside Extension of the Wilshire Purple Line was once dreamily called, don’t plan on hanging up the keys to your Lamborghini any time soon.
The Project, funded by Proposition R, does have enough money to make it … chug-​chug … to the VA Hospital, more or less. Or is that to Century City. cough-​cough … Or maybe it’s only as far as Wilshire & La Cienega. grrr.
Well anyhow, it does have the wherewithall, once coupled with Federal Funds, to make it as far as the Tar Pits where it will sink below Mammoths, Saber Tooth Tigers, and Jackson Pollock to surface shiny and un-​blackened at the proposed Wilshire & Fairfax Station; the closest one can come to a sure thing in the far off world of future transportation planning.
Keep your culture hard-​on in your pants art lovers. Although LACMA is highly supportive of this Station, in fact hosting some of Metro’s meetings, don’t think there will be a long escalator ride ascending to a sculpture garden by the time you generously re-​up your expiring museum membership. Let me put this into perspective: as we are just a day into this new decade, don’t expect to disembark here for at least another full decade. Well, 2019 actually, but delays are the one thing in life you can count on.
If you want to get to UCLA, think 2036, and if you want to get to the Pier, think great grandchildren.
Metro held multiple meetings all over the «West» side this Fall. The Westside excluded Santa Monica. A few meetings were held as much as 2 years prior, to discuss various routings and station possibilities. They asked for input from commuters and potential commuters. I attended 2 meetings in October and November, and a previous meeting about 18 months ago. Comments from commuters were severely channeled toward what had already been predetermined. It’s not like Valley riders could just suggest sh*t like they wanted a subway from Encino to Venice.
Translators were provided at each meeting, but for the most part sat idly by. The Latino ridership … the base … did not show up in proportion to their use of public transport. Those few Latinos who did attend were well educated, and actually native speakers of English. Although meetings were well-​attended, Russian and Korean translators stood by, not having to earn their money. I don’t know if the Beverly Hills & Westwood meetings provided Farsi translators as I didn’t attend those. I always find it amusing when translators are provided for people who know how to speak 8 languages fluently, and speak English better than I do myself.
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If you have no interest in public transportation you can stop reading here. Perhaps you already fell asleep at the wheel before you reached this point.
For the detail minded see below:
Here are just some of the points that surfaced at the Metro meetings:
* The Purple Line Extension will be built in what Metro refers to as Minimum Operable Segments. The first segment (MOS 1) west is not sure to include a Crenshaw/​Wilshire stop, but quite sure to have stations at Wilshire/​La Brea & Wilshire/​Fairfax.
* This will be a subway, not light-​rail.
* Federal criteria on ridership levels must be met to receive Federal Funding.
* Environmental Impact Studies are not yet complete.
When finished, it will take about another year to complete engineering design, prepare bid documents & award construction contracts.
* Based on this schedule, construction of the subway could begin in 2013. Notice that it says ‘could’.
* Measure R is the source of funding. It allocates money to a variety of transportation projects throughout the County over that time period. It’s funds are not entirely available for the westbound subway.
* The cost estimates are based on 2008 Dollars.
* Parking at Stations: They are leaning away from providing parking. Land values in the path of the subway are high, and the purpose is to get people out of their cars. In some areas that already have parking, it remains a possibility. Free parking? In your dreams.
* Cyclists will be able to transport their bikes.
* MOS 2 (Year 2026) would extend to Century City. MOS 3 (Year 2036) would extend to Westwood/​I-​405 with stations being evaluated at UCLA & the VA Hospital.
* West Hollywood Connecting Line: A line that would extend the Red Line westward from Hollywood-​Highland, running down Santa Monica Blvd. No money presently exists for this line.
* No money. Zero.. exists to get from the 405 to the Sea.
* As things stand now, a subway to the City of Santa Monica & the City of West Hollywood are way out there in some nebulous future. A future in which Pluto is no longer a planet. Oh wait, that already happened last decade.
info: 213−922−6934.