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Southern California Transit Advocates is a non-profit organization dedicated to the promotion, development and improvement of public transportation in the Los Angeles metropolitan area.

So.CA.TA is a member of these public transportation advocacy coalitions:
Transportation4America
21st Century Transportation for America
Moving L.A. Forward
Move L.A.
National Alliance of Public Transportation Advocates

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State Appeals Court rules against raid of public transportation funding

The 3rd District Court of Appeals has ruled that annual raids on public transit funding are in violation of state law.

The decision means that continued diversion of voter-mandated transit funding is illegal, which would indicate that approximately $1 billion earmarked for the General Fund as part of current state budget negotiations must remain in the Public Transportation Account (PTA).

Josh Shaw, Executive Director of the California Transit Association (CTA) said the ruling also means that the definition of mass transportation that lawmakers have adopted since then to mask the diversions from the PTA is also illegal.

The Appeals Court claims no authority to order repayment of funds re-routed in past budget deals, and the State Department of Finance has already announced its intent to appeal the ruling to the State Supreme Court.

The full press release from the CTA may be viewed at their website.
Montebello Bus Lines Director to speak at July So.CA.TA meeting

Aurora Jackson, Director of Transportation for the City of Montebello, will speak at the July 11 meeting of Southern California Transit Advocates on her city's municipal transit operations.

Ms. Jackson started as a bus operator with Montebello Bus Lines in 1993, and also served as a planner, dispatch supervisor, training instructor and coordinator, and provisional operations manager during her first years at the agency. She moved to Metro in 2002 as an assistant manager for vehicle operations in the San Gabriel Valley sector, and was later manager of Metro Division 9, and director of Metro's Operations Central Instruction Facility before rejoining the City in April of last year.

Her presentation will begin at 1:00pm, with the So.CA.TA business meeting to follow at 2:15pm. For meeting location and information on access via public transit, click on the "Meetings" button in the left-hand menu.
Metro announces special Gold Line Eastside shuttle

Metro has started running a special Gold Line Eastside shuttle that will serve patrons on an interim basis along the exact route of the soon to open six-mile Metro Gold Line Extension to East Los Angeles. This special bus service will be discontinued when the Gold Line begins service.

The new Line 632 operates between Patsaouras Transit Plaza/Union Station in downtown Los Angeles and the Atlantic Station on the Metro Gold Line Eastside Extension via First Street and Third Street. It will serve all Metro Gold Line Eastside Extension stations (Little Tokyo/Arts District, Pico/Aliso, Mariachi Plaza, Soto, Indiana, Maravilla, East LA Civic Center and Atlantic). Note that these are the only stops; Line 632 will not serve local stops along the route.

Service will be provided on weekdays only from 5:00 a.m. to 9:00 p.m. running every 10 minutes in the peak periods and every 15 minutes in non-peak periods. Cost to ride one-way will be $1.25. Metro passes and Metro day passes also will be accepted.

Information on other Metro service changes that took effect on Sunday, June 28 has been included in our Transit Update section.
So.CA.TA weighs in on service change proposals at Santa Clarita Transit, Foothill Transit, and Culver CityBus

Southern California Transit Advocates has taken support positions for service change proposals by three agencies in the region.
  • Santa Clarita Transit proposes to cancel its Route 8 service to Sylmar Metrolink, its Route 793/798 commuter service to the Van Nuys area, midday Route 747 to downtown Los Angeles, and StationLink routes 503 and 504, and begin operation of a new all-day hourly line to North Hollywood Station. In commenting, So.CA.TA noted that the route configuration in Santa Clarita was overly long and suggested changes; we also suggested a mid-route stop in the vicinity of Brand Blvd. in the northeast San Fernando Valley for easier connections to services in the Sylmar area that were being made from Route 8.
  • Foothill Transit has proposed the cancellation of low-performing Line 189 service. In reviewing the proposal, So.CA.TA agreed that the abandoned route served very few people and noted the presence of general public dial-a-ride service in those areas without other Foothill lines. However, we also expressed concern that the two public hearings held concentrated only on the eastern end of the route, with little opportunity for affected customers in the Glendora area to comment.
  • Culver CityBus is proposing to change the frequency of service on its Line 7 (Culver Blvd.) to match the service level of Metro Line 220, which it connects with in the Cheviot Hills area. So.CA.TA agrees with the proposal, as it will allow a more seamless timed transfer between the Culver City and Metro services.
Culver City has also proposed fare increases to offset state subsidies which have been eliminated; So.CA.TA supports the changes but suggests that the City consider issuing monthly unlimited-use passes for its lines.
The "Transit Update" section from the Transit Advocate newsletter is also available for reading online here.