[Mini-Post] Sawtelle Mobility Survey

Yes, you heard that right. Sawtelle Neighborhood Council's MOBILITY & ENVIRONMENTAL COMMITTEE [MEC] has a survey going on right now, asking for feedback and ideas on how to improve transportation in the Sawtelle area. It is open to all whether you work, live or play in Sawtelle.

Link to Sawtelle Mobility Survey

There is some interesting news this week.

First up, Metro's daily ridership has risen above million riders, a first in the post pandemic era

"We have some very good ridership news to share now that our most recent numbers are available: we had more than one million average weekday boardings in September for the first time since the pandemic! Specifically, we had 1,023,399 average weekday boardings last month.

A few highlights:

•September was our 22nd consecutive month of year-over-year ridership gains.

•Average weekday bus ridership in September was more than 800,000 — the first time we surpassed 800K since the pandemic.

•Our combined bus and rail ridership in September was 86.4% of September 2019 ridership prior to pandemic.

•Across the U.S. transit agencies are averaging about 76% of what their ridership was pre-pandemic.

•In September, our weekend rail ridership reached 99.4% of pre-pandemic levels. Weekends continue to show strong numbers with more riders using Metro to reach events and leisure activities.

•Our GoPass — which provides a free transit pass to K-14 students at participating schools — had 1.66 million boardings in September. That’s a 3% increase over Sept. ‘23."

I'm glad to see that more people are taking public transportation to go to events and other fun activities. While Metro still isn't feasible for everybody's commute, this trend shows that people are choosing to spend their weekends aboard the metro by ditching their cars and exploring the city. It's been a long time coming for this type of leisure and connects back to my article on 3rd spaces a couple of weeks prior. When you aren't in a rush Metro's a nice way to around.

Metro's revealing more details about the C & K line route changes, more info on the LAX station.

New routes for the C Line and K Line 

When building the K Line, we connected the new tracks to the existing C Line. This gives us the opportunity to reconfigure the routes of the C Line and K Line that we believe will better serve more riders going forward.  

What this means for riders:   

C Line trains will run between the new Aviation/Century Station and Norwalk.  (The pic above shows recent train testing at the station).

K Line trains will – until the LAX/Metro Transit Center opens — run between Redondo Beach and Aviation/Century and between Westchester/Veterans and Expo/Crenshaw. 

Customers riding between the four western stations on the current C Line (Redondo Beach, Douglas, El Segundo and Mariposa) and the rest of the C Line will need to ride the K Line to the new Aviation/Century Station and switch trains to continue their trip. This will add a few minutes to your current trip.  

To transfer between the C Line and the K Line, riders just walk across the platform from one train to the other. We’re working to keep the transfer between trains as quick as possible.  

We understand the reconfiguration of the C Line and K Line is a significant change for riders. The C Line has run on its current route since it opened in 1995.  

The progress happening is exciting to see. Aviation/Century should open up soon, bringing the C line a little bit closer to LAX than before. The C line, unlike many of the other rail lines, had not seen any route changes since opening day in 1995. With how big the Los Angeles region is, it's easy to lament the slow, painstaking progress Metro makes. In reality, we have been the number one city in the US expanding public transportation. We have some breathtaking projects, such as the K line north and Sepulveda line, just waiting to be visualized. Our projects blow away any other expansion plans in the US. We'll probably catch up to NYC in terms of physical track length in the next 3-4 decades. Los Angeles is well on its way to becoming a transit city once again.

I will write an article about the buildup/events leading up to an train connection to LAX, when the LAX station opens.

Until next time stay tuned and stay cool! 🌳