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Post by Gokhan on Jun 25, 2012 13:49:04 GMT -8
Currently there are no signs at Venice/Robertson saying that the station is now open and arrows pointing to the station. There is only a fence covered with a green tarp and a construction zone blocking the station. For those who don't follow the line, the line is still not operational as far as they can see. It looks like this will sadly be the case until the Venice Blvd. bridge is constructed. The whole area will be a war zone for anywhere from several months to maybe a year or two. It's doubtful that anyone, aside from those with full knowledge of the line, will see it as a fully-functioning, operational station. Then again, once people get used to seeing trains pulling in and out, it shouldn't be difficult to put two and two together and realize that it's working. I did see some signs yesterday for "Robertson Transit Hub" that were pointing in the general direction of the station, but is that actually referring to the Culver City station? If anything, I think that will confuse people even more. Robertson Transit Hub is the Blue Bus transfer point a couple of yards south on Robertson. A big sign saying that Expo Line is now open and arrows pointing to the station are really necessary. Such jokers are these guys that they don't even bother to think about it. When it comes to an opening ceremony, all is luxuriously in place though, with banners, pyrotechnics, and confetti.
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Post by pithecanthropus on Jun 25, 2012 19:25:43 GMT -8
The ridership is still very low. Most of La Cienega ridership, including the park-and-ride, has shifted to Culver City but the overall ridership has increased little. I don't understand how this is possible. The first couple of times I rode the line, first back in early may and then another time in the middle of the month, the passenger load was quite light, at that. But when I rode on the 20th and 23rd of this month, there were a lot of people on those trains. For the most part, it's been on weekday afternoons, though, so I don't know what it looks like during typical commuting hours.
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Post by Gokhan on Jun 25, 2012 22:11:38 GMT -8
The ridership is still very low. Most of La Cienega ridership, including the park-and-ride, has shifted to Culver City but the overall ridership has increased little. I don't understand how this is possible. The first couple of times I rode the line, first back in early may and then another time in the middle of the month, the passenger load was quite light, at that. But when I rode on the 20th and 23rd of this month, there were a lot of people on those trains. For the most part, it's been on weekday afternoons, though, so I don't know what it looks like during typical commuting hours. 20th was special -- opening day and free rides. I think it's a little too early to say about the effect of Culver City. But so far it hasn't added much from my observations. This evening at rush hour, I rode a train with some empty seats and other seats with only one person -- typical of the Expo Line right now. La Cienega parking occupancy has definitely dropped significantly after the Culver City opening. B1, B2, 4, and 5 are empty, and 3 is less than half full now. I am repeating: Culver City Station needs a big banner over the tarp on the construction fence at Venice/Robertson. It doesn't look like an operational line right now. It would help boost the ridership.
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Post by wad on Jun 26, 2012 3:27:15 GMT -8
Know what will also help? Buses.
Not acquiring the Culver City Station parcel was a huge mistake. (The current land is unfit for a bus transit center because each bus would need to make at least one sharp turn.) Replacing the "West L.A. Transit Center" (read: surplus land beneath a freeway) would have helped greatly.
However, Culver City can still be a transfer point. Just have all the buses make a loop to Culver City and deadhead to the freeway lot. Metro has done this for decades in downtown L.A., where most buses running north-south lay over under the 10 Freeway between Grand and Broadway.
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Post by transitfan on Jun 26, 2012 5:00:01 GMT -8
Know what will also help? Buses. Not acquiring the Culver City Station parcel was a huge mistake. (The current land is unfit for a bus transit center because each bus would need to make at least one sharp turn.) Replacing the "West L.A. Transit Center" (read: surplus land beneath a freeway) would have helped greatly. However, Culver City can still be a transfer point. Just have all the buses make a loop to Culver City and deadhead to the freeway lot. Metro has done this for decades in downtown L.A., where most buses running north-south lay over under the 10 Freeway between Grand and Broadway. Yes, the famous Terminal 28. One difference there--most of those MTA routes that use T28 terminate at Grand/Venice or Hill/Venice or Broadway/Venice (Main/Venice?), from those points it's only a drive of a block or so to the terminal. At Culver City, it's at least a mile drive from the station to West L. A. Transit Center (I forget the offcial MTA terminal number for this location). Not sure MTA would want that much non-revenue driving in the course of a revenue run (all that has to be factored into the run times).
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Post by Gokhan on Jun 26, 2012 7:41:20 GMT -8
Not acquiring the Culver City Station parcel was a huge mistake. Which parcel? I think everything there is owned by Metro or Culver City. There is a huge surface park-and-ride lot, which will become TOD once the underground parking structure is built.
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Post by Gokhan on Jun 26, 2012 11:28:22 GMT -8
I should note that the Expo Line has increased the pedestrian activity at the Culver Junction (Venice/Robertson Boulevards) a lot. Drivers need to get used to the people crossing the streets there.
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Post by wad on Jun 27, 2012 3:25:48 GMT -8
Which parcel? I think everything there is owned by Metro or Culver City. There is a huge surface park-and-ride lot, which will become TOD once the underground parking structure is built. The Robertson/Venice/Washington/National trapezoid. I had asked why the lot couldn't be a bus transit center. Art Ida, the Culver CityBus director who was at the Expo opening last week, said it was because the land and the odd street configuration meant that buses would have to make at least one obtuse turn to get in or out. It would have been possible if the buildings along Robertson or facing Venice were razed.
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Post by wad on Jun 27, 2012 3:35:24 GMT -8
Not sure MTA would want that much non-revenue driving in the course of a revenue run (all that has to be factored into the run times). It would only be a one-way loop, FWIW. The only one that would have to move its layover to Culver City would be 780. Lines 217 and 534 could lay over at La Cienega/Jefferson. The lines that would make a one-way loop are 35, 37 and 38. They would arrive west and lay over. They would then make a one-way loop from the freeway to Culver City and then head east. (Logic is that there might be bus riders from CC and SM that would want to transfer there.) Also, 35 and 38 are much shorter lines now, since Washington was decoupled from Line 68 and 38 is no longer interlined with 71.
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Post by Gokhan on Jun 30, 2012 9:34:17 GMT -8
Since Phase 1 has been completed, it's probably a good time to discontinue this thread for good.
It would be good to post your observations in Expo Line operations, thoughts on bus connections on Expo Line bus connections, and news on the Expo Line news.
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Post by Alexis Kasperavičius on Aug 23, 2012 13:26:57 GMT -8
Ok - one last post, here's a guy who took a picture of the Expo line bridge construction in Culver City every couple of days for two years.
Here's the result:
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Post by masonite on Dec 21, 2013 15:24:21 GMT -8
Now that Farmdale is in, what is the running time for phase 1? Here are my best (and worst) case estimates. To Culver City in 24 minutes and to Santa Monica in 40 minutes seem quite likely. Adding the Farmdale station should only cost one minute. Flower & 7th Flower & Pico -- 2 minutes (= existing Blue Line) Flower & 23rd -- 3 (") Flower & Jefferson -- 2 Expo & Vermont -- 3 (4) Expo & Western -- 3 (4) Expo & Crenshaw -- 3 Expo & La Brea -- 3 Jefferson & La Cienega -- 2 Venice & Robertson -- 2 Phase 1 subtotal -- 23 (25)National & Palms -- 2 Expo & Westwood -- 3 Expo & Sepulveda -- 1 (2) Expo & Bundy -- 2 Olympic & 26th -- 2 Colorado & 17th -- 2 (3) Colorado & 4th -- 3 (4) Phase 2 subtotal -- 15 (18) Total -- 38 (43)I wonder why we are so far off on the time estimates? This was way way off (by over 20%), and sometimes it takes nearly 38 minutes just from Culver City to Downtown, when that was estimated to be the time for the entire line.
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Post by Gokhan on Dec 21, 2013 18:26:56 GMT -8
Darrell and I incorrectly estimated the time cost of Farmdale as 1 minute because we didn't realize that they would put the speed limit in such a long section of tracks and it would be such a low limit (10 MPH). Darrell and I also forgot to estimate that at the end-of-line, trains need to switch tracks, which adds another minute Darrell also forgot the Expo Park / USC station. After these corrections:
Darrell's Phase 1 worst-case estimate + 2 min for Farmdale + 1 min for Expo Park / USC + 1 min for track switching in Culver City = 25 + 2 + 1 + 1 = 29 minutes = right on the Expo Phase 1 official timetable!
Expo Phase 2 is expected to be 44 minutes or perhaps a little more. Darrell's best- and worst-case estimates are 41 and 47 minutes (adding the Expo Park / USC and Farmdale Stations and track switching in Santa Monica). Therefore, Darrell's average estimate is 44 minutes. So, Expo Phase 2 estimate is also right on!
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Post by Gokhan on Jan 13, 2015 11:18:12 GMT -8
So, when will the Expo Phase 1 be completed? We are impatiently waiting for the construction of the western plaza of the Culver City Station. Currently it's serving as a junk yard for Venice Blvd construction activities.
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Post by Gokhan on Apr 17, 2015 9:47:38 GMT -8
So, when will the Expo Phase 1 be completed? We are impatiently waiting for the construction of the western plaza of the Culver City Station. Currently it's serving as a junk yard for Venice Blvd construction activities. They have now cleared the Culver City Station west plaza, which has been used as a construction-staging area. Hopefully Culver City Station will be completed some day soon.
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Post by thanks4goingmetro on Apr 17, 2015 21:54:16 GMT -8
So, when will the Expo Phase 1 be completed? We are impatiently waiting for the construction of the western plaza of the Culver City Station. Currently it's serving as a junk yard for Venice Blvd construction activities. They have now cleared the Culver City Station west plaza, which has been used as a construction-staging area. Hopefully Culver City Station will be completed some day soon. Is it open to pedestrians from the street or are they still waiting to build the fabled "clean mobility center"?
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Post by Gokhan on Apr 18, 2015 9:05:13 GMT -8
They have now cleared the Culver City Station west plaza, which has been used as a construction-staging area. Hopefully Culver City Station will be completed some day soon. Is it open to pedestrians from the street or are they still waiting to build the fabled "clean mobility center"? Oh, no, it's going to be closed for the unforeseeable future until they build something there, probably the public bathhouse you mentioned.
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Post by Gokhan on Apr 20, 2015 14:03:25 GMT -8
Location of the future Culver City Station public bathhouse, with the area now cleared:
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Post by johanragle on Apr 20, 2015 15:10:05 GMT -8
Is that the proof of concept bathhouse I see at the center of the photo?
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Post by Gokhan on Apr 20, 2015 15:31:41 GMT -8
Is that the proof of concept bathhouse I see at the center of the photo? Who knows; perhaps it will be an array of individual portable units like that (test unit?).
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Post by Gokhan on Apr 21, 2015 12:00:17 GMT -8
The portable unit is now gone.
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Post by warrenbowman on May 4, 2015 17:02:10 GMT -8
Pardon me for being asleep for awhile. Does anyone actually know what is planned for that little triangle of dirt at the Culver City station? I read up on the "Clean Mobility Center", but I find it hard to believe that the NIMBYs will sit still for what they might perceive as an attractive nuisance.
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andop2
Junior Member
Posts: 70
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Post by andop2 on May 5, 2015 8:07:23 GMT -8
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andop2
Junior Member
Posts: 70
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Post by andop2 on May 5, 2015 8:26:44 GMT -8
Speaking with Culver City councilmember and former mayor Meghan Sahli-Wells, the Culver City Council is intent on pursuing this project and is still in negotiation with Expo Authority (Sahli-Wells sits on the Authority). There were apparently no bids for the attached proposal (XP8901-854) when it was put up a year ago. The maps indicate that the facility will mostly be under the station/bridge, and not occupy the entire triangle. Also it doesn't look like there will be showers--just restrooms and "changing" rooms. Most of the facility is designed to be a bike rental/repair station with an attendant.
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Post by Gokhan on May 7, 2015 10:15:44 GMT -8
According to the plans from last year, there will be no showers. Only two restrooms, bike storage, a bike-repair shop, and a Metro office for staff and drivers. It will be a small structure located under the bridge. The triangular area that is currently empty will become car parking and will not be part of it.
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Post by johanragle on May 7, 2015 16:08:36 GMT -8
Yay, more parking. Just what we need.
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Post by joshuanickel on May 7, 2015 22:21:00 GMT -8
Yay, more parking. Just what we need. I can't remember where but I read somewhere that those spaces are suppose to be reserved for Motorcycles and Clean Air Vehicles.
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Post by Gokhan on May 8, 2015 9:13:27 GMT -8
Yay, more parking. Just what we need. I can't remember where but I read somewhere that those spaces are suppose to be reserved for Motorcycles and Clean Air Vehicles. That's more than likely, along with handicapped spaces. Also, most of the Culver City Station parking will be gone soon when they start building the major TOD in the large parking lot.
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Post by joshuanickel on May 29, 2015 19:56:15 GMT -8
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Post by Gokhan on May 30, 2015 10:23:45 GMT -8
Good, so, perhaps Phase 1 will be finished before Phase 2 opens.
As far as the restroom barracks (Clean Mobility Center) is concerned, they would have to finish everything except for it and provide utility entry points. I am surprised that it's not included now. However, they could bring the prefabricated barracks on a truck and install it when it's fabricated by Metro later, as long as the utility entry points are made beforehand.
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