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…
Keeping Up With Public Transportation Research From TRB: Finding Publications, Conferences, Hearings, And RSS Feeds
The Transportation Research Board’s Public Transportation Research website is a treasure-trove of great resources for what’s happening in transportation innovation and progress. This site highlights recently released TRB reports, meeting announcements, requests for proposals, and other announcements related to public…
50 Years Ago This Week: The Launch Of Freeway Flyer Service
Years before the El Monte Busway became the first dedicated freeway lanes for buses and decades before the Metro Silver Line began running, the Freeway Flyer service was created in response to increasing traffic congestion. The exodus of Los Angeles’…
The Key To Transportation Research: Harnessing The Wealth Of Information In The TRB Databases
The Transportation Research Board (TRB) recently conducted a webinar that explored practical tips for searching the Transportation Research Information Services (TRIS), Research In Progress (RIP), and Research Needs Statements (RNS) databases. This 90-minute session, titled “Knowledge Is Power: How TRB’s…
Go Play On The Freeway! Cap Park Proposals And A Look Back At The Highway Relationship To Park Planning In Los Angeles
Over the past few years, large cities have sought to increase the availability recreational space in crowded urban environments. The success of Chicago’s Millennium Park and New York’s High Line show imaginative planning and construction of new places to meet…
From Bad To Worse: Mapping The Transit Funding Crisis
Last summer, Transportation For America published Stranded At The Station: The Impact Of The Financial Crisis In Public Transportation. It reviewed the recent growth in ridership and outlined the numerous benefits of public transit in terms of mobility, economic issues,…
The Beauty Of “Crowdsourcing” From Social Media
Photo credit: James Cridland via Flickr We want to let you know about a correction to a previous post showing a photograph of the Los Angeles Railway W Line in front of the Southwest Museum, dated 1914. Very shortly after…
Hooray For Hollywood: Your Streetcar Is Here, But Your Subway Doesn’t Arrive For Almost 50 Years
Northbound Highland Avenue just south of Hollywood Boulevard, looking northwest. The Hotel Hollywood is at the northwest corner of the intersection which is the current site of the Hollywood & Highland Entertainment Complex and Metro’s Red Line Hollywood/Highland station. Note…