Only About 1 In 100 Metro Employees Ride MTA Trains And Buses

• Metro employees simply find themselves in the same situation as the entire population of Los Angeles County finds!

• I tried to go to work by bus, I could not do it because they cut bus service so much that was impossible for me to be home before 10:30 pm when I ended working at 8:26 pm, no connections, no service, go to artesia transit center and you have to wait 30 minutes for the next bus and if you missed it you do not have any more buses after. 

• They are located in industrial areas away from roads with transit. Also as mentioned transit workers starting and quitting times are in the middle of the night or early morning when there is no Metro service.

• If there are lot of people riding public transportation out of MTA headquarters, fine, but MTA headquarters is not the place where all MTA employees work, so it's a way of spinning the facts, not stating them completely.

• I thoughtthe thesis of the BRU, et al, was that Metro is essential to help very low-income workers get to work.

• Totally agree that the employees there do not have the option to commute by transit.

• Its true,This issue is far more nuanced than "no one at Metro takes Metro" and the standards of journalism..Thanks for the information on blog.

• LA County spans 4,000 square miles. How do you propose they "fix" a system that has to cover that territory and that has limited funds?

• The Metro can't get it's own employees into its system, how successful will it be at filling those billion dollar trains?

• Look, no matter where you are or how great the system, riding public transit is not like driving a car. It’s called public transportation for a reason – you’re sharing the space and the trip with other people. So you can’t blast your favorite radio station, you can’t choose your speed and you can’t stop and go whenever you please.

• The Metrorail, however, moves much faster than traffic during rush hour and is a much more civilized way to travel. However, Metrorail only accesses a tiny portion of LA county. It needs to grow.

• Well that's nice to know about this the Metro officials appeared to try to cover the fact up after revealing it on Facebook...Thanks for sharing with us..

• Well This is an eye-opener, especially because Metro has shifted its transportation plan from buses,Thanks for the information on blog. This information made my study easier.

• This issue is far more nuanced than "no one at Metro takes Metro" and the standards of journalism -- as opposed to activism -- require far more than a single email and some creative deductions.

• LA Weekly doesn't actually do some fact checking and instead pulls information off Facebook and a blog is beyond me.

• We’d like to know what you think. Have you given up your car? Would you consider doing so? Is there anything you feel I left off the list?

• Hmmm, I thought that rehearsal dinners were for the wedding party and immediate family - 200 people at $1,000 each?

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• If you are new, or relatively new to blogging then you are likely to be facing a few problems and issues.

• @Browne, Aug 13 8:25am: I didn't mean to imply that you were with BRU; that's why I said "et al." It's clear, however, that you share their odd tactic of promoting transit from the perspective of criticizing Metro. I'd also say that the bus _should_ be for poor people first and foremost, because poor people have no other option. Why do the habits of Metro workers imply that Metro is a "crappy system"? LA County spans 4,000 square miles. How do you propose we "fix" a system that has to cover that territory and that has limited funds? I ask that question in all sincerity. That's a system, BTW, that has something like 1 million boardings per day. Why do any of those boardings have to be Metro employees? How many subway stations do you know that don't smell like urine? Ever been to New York?

• Why does my super fabulous IPhone camera function suck? And not in the good way either!

• John and ro blairf: The MTA has not refuted the fact that slightly more than 1 percent of its employees ride buses and trains. Period. So there's no "bad information" being picked up. And if there are a lot of people riding public transportation out of MTA headquarters, fine, but MTA headquarters is not the place where all MTA employees work, so it's a way of spinning the facts, not stating them completely. -Dennis

• Oops I live in Lincoln Heights. I used to live in downtown. I'm an Eastsider now. Browne

• I'm not with the BRU. I am not affiliated with anyone, but me. That blog, the design, the website, the person who pays (yep i pay people) who send me stuff that I put on my blog is all me. I'm for the rail, everything with bus in it isn't related to the BRU. My point is this, if Metro is so great then why don't you take it? It's not great, that's what I want Metro to admit. It's not great and they should fix it so that it won't just be something just poor people take. I'm a cyclist, public transit user, and pedestrian. I live in downtown, I go for cocktails every night. I'm a pedestrian social ecologist. I don't believe in this the bus is just for poor people. The bus is for poor people and everyone else too. The bus is for everyone and that's never going to happen if we don't admit it sucks. Hey when 30/10 passes and the rails get built more people will need busses to get to the rail to make a complete system. Metro needs to admit their system is crappy and fix it, I would hate for all the money on the rails to be wasted simply because Metro doesn't get the simple concept that the busses and rails are interrelated and the Civic Center Red Line station smells like urine. I'm trying to give Metro a middle class respective, so that LA can be sustainable and not gridlocked. Browne

• Browne, I understand that you have an agenda and you're entitled to interpret facts accordingly. My comment was directly at the Weekly, which often pretends to be a legitimate news source. This issue is far more nuanced than "no one at Metro takes Metro" and the standards of journalism -- as opposed to activism -- require far more than a single email and some creative deductions. And can we please get off the charges of hypocrisy? I thought the thesis of the BRU, et al, was that Metro is essential to help very low-income workers get to work. Why do you care if people such as well paid bus drivers and Metro managers use the system? Wouldn't they be clogging it up and taking seats from the very people who need them most?

• this is pretty funny. Somebody comes out with bad information and everyone jumps on it. The truth is that at the MTA headquarters 87% (yes 87%) are regular transit users and 64% are transit commuters. Why do people not check the facts. Information is in the EIR for MTA Headquarters

• Do they have stats about how many managers take Metro? That's what really matters.

• That AQMD story has been on my blog for six months. The AQMD report is public record and it's for all employees. According to that report 155 took the Metro, at least when it was taken. AND the question was how many of you take Metro, not Metrolink, other lines And that was written really slick. This is what Metro's response says: "764 of them � more than 50 percent � do use public transportation including Metro, Metrolink and the municipal bus operators." Now that doesn't say they take it to work, it says they take it, so that's totally different than taking it to work. Again the proof is in the AQMD report. That report asks employees how do you get to work and on that report on 155 said Metro. So why would they lie and lower their AQMD score when they could have told the truth and bragged about that admission. I know why because they are misleading the public now. I showed them that trick in regards to the what bus do you take not get to work question with <a href="http://www.thebusbench.com/2010/03/you-work-for-metro-why-is-it-wrong-for-me-to-assume-you-have-a-regular-bus.html ">Steve Hymon</a> when I asked that question to him it was what random bus do you take, but the AQMD report answers what bus do you take or do you take one at all TO WORK question. That response from Metro was vague. Ask them do those 764 people regularly use the Metro to get to work and I bet you a million dollars that answer would be different OR they'll just lie. Ask them why did all those people lie on their AQMD report? Any employer who has over 250 has to do it. And it's not like just the lower level employees, suits and janitors, it counts everyone. It's the law. It's Rule AQMD 2202 The purpose of this Rule is to provide employers with a menu of options to reduce mobile source emissions generated from employee commutes, to comply with federal and state Clean Air Act requirements, Health & Safety Code Section 40458, and Section 182(d)(1)(B) of the federal Clean Air Act. Why would lie and underestimate their numbers on that report? Browne Molyneux

• To add to Tracy�s comments none of the rail and many of the bus divisions are not served by Metro. They are located in industrial areas away from roads with transit. Also as mentioned transit workers starting and quitting times are in the middle of the night or early morning when there is no Metro service.

• BTW if you're looking for the real facts and not sensationalism, here's the source: http://thesource.metro.net/2010/08/11/a-statement-on-metro-employees-taking-mass-transit/ Let's say if we only counted just the people in the HQ who take transit, which is 763, then divide that by 9000, that's still over 8% (this doesn't account for employees outside of HQ who actually do take transit). So the 1.6% claim is pretty dubious and again, it's a shame nobody bothered to check the facts.

• Too bad Metro just put an end to all of your misleading statements that over 50% of employees working the at their HQ do in fact take public transit, with a chunk more who vanpool, carpool, bike, and walk. As to why the LA Weekly doesn't actually do some fact checking and instead pulls information off Facebook and a blog is beyond me. Whatever happened to fact checking in journalism?

• The facts to support all of these claims are at www.TheBusBench.com The Bus Bench has the original comment and the deleted screen shot and has the AQMD email from Metro's PR Department which breaks down the riders, cyclists and various other way Metro employees commute. Click on my prior comment. Neon Tommy supports are in my post, which gives Dennis support for his post. I'd like to thank the LA Weekly and Neon Tommy for jumping on this and breaking the story to a less transit oriented audience. Browne Molyneux, Publisher The Bus Bench

• Would the Weekly care to substantiate these claims - or spend even a moment to consider Metro's explanation - before treating them like Gospel? Since when is something posted on Facebook considered a fact?

• Metro employees are not hypocritical? Metro employees simply find themselves in the same situation as the entire population of Los Angeles County? ROTFLMAO!!!!!!! How many Metro employees work at the Taj Mahal, Metro Headquarters (One Gateway Plaza)? What's One Gateway Plaza next to? Union Station. What's at Union Station? A Red Line Station. A Gold Line Station. The main Metrolink depot with trains going to all points of Southern California. The big busway plaza. Everything ends at One Gateway Plaza. Look at the map: http://www.metro.net/media/uploads/directions.gif Looks like Metrorail was build for One Gateway Plaza. If they aren't going to ride Metrorail, who will?

• This is a testament to how much the Metro still needs to grow, not how hypocritical Metro employees are. The LA Metro system is the most underdeveloped of almost any major city in the world, and her highways among the most clogged. The ONLY solution is to get people out of their cars and off the street. The ONLY way to do that is RAIL. Buses are just more traffic. Why would anyone who owns a car, ride a bus? They are stuck in the same traffic. The Metrorail, however, moves much faster than traffic during rush hour and is a much more civilized way to travel. However, Metrorail only accesses a tiny portion of LA county. It needs to grow. Metro's plan is right on track. At the moment, however, their employees simply find themselves in the same situation as the entire population of Los Angeles County.

• So sorry I voted for the bond measure, the first two results were a fare increase and the re-alignment of the 444/446/447 system with the "silver line" out of Artesia Transit Station that makes my trips downtown even more expensive and more time consuming. The South Bay gets hosed by Metro for any sort of evening or weekend travel.

• Sort of like finding out the employees at a fast food restaurant chain don't eat the **** they make. However a fast food restaurant chain can lose customers and go bankrupt. Bad Food and bad service = no customers = no revenues = bankruptcy. LACMTA is a public agency financed by taxes and run by politicians, it is not a private business. Market economics don't apply to LACMTA. Tax dollars keep it alive.

• And LA County idiots voted a 30 years sales tax increase on themselves.

• Buses and the subway never run late enough; so if that is the true reason I find it highly ironic. I've been stranded after missing the last bus to Hollywood at midnight and having to wait till 7am to get home in the valley. The buses are nasty stinky s*it holes full of scary people and the occasional cracked out hobo. I've been riding for a few months since my car died I once I get my new car in September I vow to not only never ride the da*n rails again but to throw eggs at any bus I see. There is just NO way these things are practical or useful in LA. And if they ever become such it will still take a lot of scrubbing before they can take my car willingly from my hands (it will NEVER happen!)

• Add Diego Cardoso, City Planning Commissioner and an MTA employee who commutes to work in a private auto to the list of hypocrites. He along with the other hypocrite Mike Woo, who also never uses public transit, keep reducing parking in every project in front of them, so the hapless masses will be forced into transit.

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