Category: Primary Resources

Primary Resources

How Much, How Far, How Many: New Online Tool Puts California & Other State Facts And Figures At Your Fingertips

Have you ever needed to quickly put your finger on statewide transportation statistics? What percentage of Californians use public transit when commuting to work?  How many transit fatalities were there in California in 2009?  What percentage of California drivers use of safety belts? …

40 Years Ago This Week: Groundbreaking For El Monte Busway — California’s First Multi-Modal System & The World’s First Bus Rapid Transit Station

January 21st marks the anniversary of groundbreaking for the 11-mile long El Monte Busway and planning for what was billed as the “world’s first bus rapid transit station.” U.S. Transportation Secretary John A. Volpe officiated at ceremonies marking commencement of construction…

100 Years Ago Today: Pacific Electric Railway Reaches Van Nuys, Launching “Wonderful Growth” In The San Fernando Valley

Today marks another auspicious local transportation anniversary – a century ago, the first streetcars rolled into the small outlying town of Van Nuys. On December 16, 1911, Pacific Electric Railway Company launched its service to the San Fernando Valley. Van…

Policy In Motion: Transportation Planning In California After AB 32

While state and federal actions have been taken to set new requirements for vehicle efficiency and fuels, tackling travel behavior policies that reduce vehicle-miles-traveled and improve transportation network management is needed if California is to reduce its transportation sector’s 38%…

90 Years Ago Today: Los Angeles Railway Rolls Out “Information Men” Public Service

The December 5, 1921 issue of the Los Angeles Railway employee newsmagazine posed the question: “How would you like to be an information man?” An article titled “Information Men Help L.A., They’ll Tell The World!” appeared in Two Bells. Ninety…

Our “Grand Concourse”: Historic Images Of Wilshire Boulevard’s Double-Decker Buses & Other Forgotten History

We periodically highlight “Resources To Know” which lead you to important information sources for research, as well as the core collection of classic titles in the study of Los Angeles transit and transportation history. One indisputable work is Kevin Roderick’s Wilshire…

But Have You Seen This One?: Celebrating The Lesser-Known Historic Transit Photos Of Los Angeles

We are celebrating another achievement today: our Flickr online photo gallery has clocked 1.5 million views after just three years since we began offering up our digital images to the public. It was exactly nine months ago that we celebrated hitting the 1,000,000 mark. On…

148 Bike Paths, Trails, Lanes & Shared Routes: The 1975 Los Angeles County Bikeways Plan

This month, the County of Los Angeles released it’s long-awaited Bicycle Master Plan (214p. PDF), along with extensive technical appendices (195p.) This comprehensive approach to accomodating bicycle transportation throughout the County led us to dust off a very early predecessor.…

Researching L.A. 101: Step-By-Step Instructions For Finding Historical Information About The Los Angeles Area

This past weekend, the Metro Transportation Library & Archive participated in the 6th Annual LA as Subject Archives Bazaar. The annual event brings together more than 80 exhibitors showcasing their collections, answering questions, networking amongst each other, and attending educational workshops,…

Los Angeles History Comes Alive All Day, All In One Place: Next Week’s LA As Subject Annual Archives Bazaar Will Be Largest Ever

History comes alive once again on Saturday, October 22, as more than 80 of Southern California’s rare and archival collections come together at the 6th Annual Los Angeles Archives Bazaar. The daylong event is hosted by the USC Libraries and…