Here in my neck-o-the-woods (Berkeley) the city parents are talking about putting in a Rapid Bus Transit System.
The say it’s much cheaper and quicker to implement than light rail.
The busses run in their own lane in the center of the street, and have a ‘magic button’ to change all the traffic lights to their favor.
The MTD folks claim the system in LA is great, and rider acceptance is very good. I can see the possibility of a lot of pissed-off drivers, though. Some will be a little annoyed that they have to stop so a bunch of bus riders can go sailing by.
Any of you Awsome Angelinos have an opinion on the nonstop “Metro Rapid”, I think it’s called?
Peace,
mangeorge
I’ve never heard of any drivers getting pissed off about the buses. There aren’t that many of them.
But Angelenos tend not to want to wait for the Blue Line trains to pass by and they are three cars long and force you to wait for about 10 seconds. Yet, people still run the gates.
If you asked the Average Angeleno about the “Rapid” bus service, you would be met with a blank stare.
Once they got the horn on the blue line trains toned down so they didn’t wake up all the folks within a 10 mile radius of the crossings :eek:, they were not too bad. I hear the trains are great if they go someplace you actually need to go. For me the lines never went anywhere I was going. Pretty sad considering I worked across the street from an airport. (Ontario International).
[blank stare] Rapid Bus Service? [/blank stare] Now I know the before the Metro, the bus service used to be called Rapid Transit District (RTD) But it was just a name, until the buslane/carpool lane on the 10 opened up and a few offramps were bus only access.
Here it is, maps and all;
http://www.mta.net/corporate/depts/marketing/rapid_bus/rapid_menu.htm
I’m for just about anything that get’s other people’s cars off the streets. 
Peace,
mangeorge
Whoever says that any bus system in Los Angeles is good, much less something to emulate, is smoking red-hot caramel Drano. I’m willing to bet good money that not a single administrative higher-up in charce of public transportation in Los Angeles county takes any form of bus, train, or shuttle to work.
Can’t say that I have anything to cite here, other than having lived in the LA area for 17 years and being unable to drive. LA Public transportation is terrible, trains and “rapids” included.
Dragonblink the Disgruntled
Los Angeles really needs a comprehensive above-ground light rail system. Subways are too expensive, and busways are just a half-assed bandage on the issue.
Like mangeorge said, anything that gets others people’s cars off the road is fine by me! 
I’m torn. Part of me wants to say that every little bit helps, but another part can’t help but notice that these new buses don’t serve the airport or any part of L.A. north of Hollywood. So as rjung says, it’s just a band-aid solution.
It would be nice if they hurried up and finished the Blue line already…
Math Geek say’s;
Hah!
Who say’s hurry up is even in ‘their’ vocabulary. In any city bureaucracy. :rolleyes:
Peace,
mangeorge
and it is faster that the regular bus, and nicer too.
But it is hardly non-stop! They do not have their own lanes! They simply go faster and have fewer stops. The regular bus stops at every intersection with a traffic light, the Rapid does not.
The Metro Rapid does serve the Valley, which is north of Hollywood.
Whoops! You’re right, spooje: I was confusing Hollywood Blvd with Ventura Blvd.
spooje laments ;);
Well bummer! That defeats the whole purpose of the system, doesn’t it?
Up here they plan to build an extra lane down the middle of the street for the bus, with an eye toward eventually converting to light rail. Or so they say.
Peace,
mangeorge