We recently discovered a fascinating 1922 PhD. dissertation from University of California, Berkeley that is a treasure-trove of various maps and charts. J.M. Terrass wrote his Study and Plan of Relief of the Street Traffic Congestion in the City of…
Author: Metro Digital Resources Librarian
Subway Wraps: Innovative Transit Revenue Streams (Not Sandwiches)…
We’ve written before about the financial crunch facing most transit operators in the current economy, but many agencies are countering difficult decisions with new ways to supplement revenue beyond the usual raising of fares and cutting staff and service. Last…
Sustainability In Transportation: A New International Exhibit And Metro Library’s Up-To-The-Minute Resources
An international exhibit on sustainable transportation opens today in New York titled “Our Cities Ourselves,” a joint program of the Institute for Transportation and Development policy and the AIA Center for Architecture. Sustainability has become a wide-ranging term inclusive of…
Lost Parkways Of Los Angeles: The 1946 Proposed Interregional, Regional And Metropolitan Plan
In the long history of transit planning in Los Angeles, early documents focused on relieving congestion with new street plans. Shortly after phenomenal growth in both area and population before World War II, various studies and reports outlined ambitious plans…
Who Let The Data Out?: Comparing Transit Systems’ Open Data Elements
Washington D.C. is the latest transit agency of note to open its data to the public – and they are going all out to take the lead in this area in order to improve service. The agency is creating a…
Transit Agency Cooperation In Mid-Century L.A. (Or Lack Thereof)…
How do we increase the appeal of public transit ridership in Los Angeles? Recent Los Angeles Times columns (here, here, and here) suggest that streamlining transfers and passes within and across agencies could go a long way to make transit…
Hand-Held Museums: Is The Future Of History On Your Phone?
Contemporary street scene with 1953 image of soldier in Piccadilly Circus In addition to transit and transportation news and research, we are also periodically highlighting innovations in libraries and archives which will shape the way we search for and find…
The “Original Downtown Regional Connector?”: The 1954 Underground Bus Network Maps
Click on the map to open it, and again to enlarge it. We wanted to follow up on yesterday’s post about the proposed underground express bus network from the 1954 Supplemental Study Of Mass Transportation: Express Busses In Subways. The…
The 1954 Plan For Los Angeles’ Underground Bus Network (Yes, Underground!)
As we proposed in our inaugural welcome post, our goal is to provide context for current transportation issues as well as to share the rich resources in our collections. Our ability to digitize items and share them online provides access…
How We Commute: Moving Into The "State Of Metropolitan America"
Earlier this month, The Brookings Institution disseminated State Of Metropolitan America: On The Front Lines Of Demographic Transformation. This landmark 172-page report details the demographic and social trends shaping the nation’s essential economic and societal units—its large metropolitan areas—and discusses…