Transit Briefs: CTA, LACMTA, NYCT

Written by Marybeth Luczak, Executive Editor
LACMTA officials on July 23 were joined by L.A. Mayor and LACMTA Board Member Eric Garcetti; LACMTA First Chair Jacquelyn Dupont-Walker; Assemblymember Isaac Bryan; and Crenshaw community leaders, supporters and residents to celebrate the memory of civil rights activist Martin Luther King Jr. at the dedication of the Martin Luther King K Line Station in South Los Angeles. (Photograph Courtesy of LACMTA)

LACMTA officials on July 23 were joined by L.A. Mayor and LACMTA Board Member Eric Garcetti; LACMTA First Chair Jacquelyn Dupont-Walker; Assemblymember Isaac Bryan; and Crenshaw community leaders, supporters and residents to celebrate the memory of civil rights activist Martin Luther King Jr. at the dedication of the Martin Luther King K Line Station in South Los Angeles. (Photograph Courtesy of LACMTA)

The Chicago Transit Authority (CTA) is seeking applicants to join its ADA Advisory Committee. Also, the Los Angeles County Metropolitan Transportation Authority (LACMTA) on July 23 dedicated the Martin Luther King Station, which will open this fall as part of the 8.5-mile K Line light rail project; and MTA New York City Transit (NYCT) will begin a monthly ridership survey.

Established in 1993, CTA’s ADA (Americans with Disabilities Act) Advisory Committee comprises up to 12 members from across the transit agency’s service area of Chicago and 35 suburbs. It includes riders who reflect a “broad cross-section of the region’s disability community, and who share a commitment to representing the interests of persons with a wide range of disabilities, according to CTA.

Meeting four times per year, the Committee discusses and provides input on accessibility issues—from infrastructure maintenance and investments to long-range planning and guidance on current services, policies and practices. The Committee is also “a vital asset in facilitating dialogue between the CTA and the disability community and finding ways to further improve the accessibility of public transit services,” the transit agency said.

The application deadline is Sept. 19, 2022.

LACMTA K Line Map

LACMTA officials were joined by state and local leaders to celebrate the memory of civil rights activist Martin Luther King Jr. at the dedication of the Martin Luther King (MLK) K Line Station in South Los Angeles (see map, left).

It is part of the $2 billion K Line—or Crenshaw/LAX Transit—project, which will connect the existing Metro E Line (Expo) at Crenshaw and Exposition boulevards to the C Line (Green) in El Segundo, providing an alternative to the I-10, I-405 and I-105 freeways.

MLK Station, like the seven others along the K Line that is slated to open this fall, is “properly placed for the new north-south rail service to link a large number of transit-dependent residents to both residential and commercial areas along the Crenshaw Corridor,” LACMTA said.

It is said to be located in the most heavily developed area of the entire K Line and will serve the nearby Kaiser Permanente medical facility at Marlton Square. According to the transit agency, the station is adjacent to the Baldwin Hills Crenshaw Plaza, which is considered “a major economic and cultural hub of the local African American community.”

The K Line will eventually connect to the Los Angeles International Airport in 2024.

“The Martin L. King Jr. station represents a new opportunity to provide much-needed transit to the Crenshaw community,” said Glendale City Council Member and LACMTA Board Chair Ara Najarian. “The station is appropriately named after Dr. King, who fought hard to improve access to opportunity during the civil rights era, as it will help connect local Crenshaw residents to jobs, housing and community resources when the K Line opens later this year.”

LACMTA awarded the project’s design-build contract to Walsh-Shea Corridor Constructors, with HNTB Corp. as lead designer, in 2013, and construction began in 2014. The Federal Transit Administration issued final approval of LACMTA’s line plan in 2012. LACMTA on March 30, 2022, marked “substantial completion” of the bulk of project.

NYCT President Richard Davey (Photograph Courtesy of New York MTA)

How can NYCT increase satisfaction and encourage customers to ride more frequently? “For the first time in the history of the agency, NYCT will undertake a monthly customer satisfaction survey to keep a ‘pulse’ on our customers while continuing our deeper, bi-annual customer survey,” wrote President Richard Davey in Metropolitan Transportation Authority (MTA) Board documents, according to a July 24 AMNY report.

“The combination of direct customer feedback and operational performance data is a goldmine of insight that allows for increased satisfaction and in our case particularly attracting more riders back onto our subways, buses and paratransit vehicles,” wrote Davey. “Our goal is to make NYCT the best, most reliable way to get around NYC.”

Davey’s comments were published on July 23, ahead of MTA’s monthly meetings, according to AMNY.

The media outlet reported that “[a]ccording to results from the agency’s most recent questionnaire in June, subway riders were more worried about people with mental health issues in the system and safety, while bus commuters mostly wanted better service.

“When asked what would encourage straphangers to take more subway trips, the top response was ‘fewer people behaving erratically,’ followed by a ‘more visible police and security presence,’ and ‘shorter wait times on weekends.’”

“There are many factors affecting ridership that fall outside the direct control of NYCT to change, most notably, the popularity of remote work policies,” wrote Davey, according to AMNY. “Although NYCT ridership recovery trends above the North American average, it is below that of our international peers.”

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