Spring and Main Get Their New Stripes
Eric Richardson
[Flickr]
DOWNTOWN LOS ANGELES — I don't know when they did the painting, but a day or two ago I noticed that Spring Street has a brand new stripe running down the right-hand side from 1st to 9th. That space will soon become the peak hour bus lane that will run down Spring in the direction of traffic. During non-peak hours the lane will continue to be parking.
Main Street also got restriped recently in preparation for the June 18th changeover. It too will have a bus lane running up its right-hand side.
If you want to catch up with previous coverage of the contraflow removal, check out this post, with links to past stories.
MTA's press release gives the breakdown for its service changes. Northbound service for the 83/84/85 lines will move to Hill, with southbound 28 service staying on Spring. The 70/370 will move to Olive (northbound) and Grand (southbound). Lines 90/91 and 94/394 move both directions to Hill. The 38/71 pair will follow the DASH D and existing 92 with southbound service on Spring and northbound on Main.
So what will this do to the number of buses using Main and Spring? If you remember back to the op-ed I wrote for the Downtown News I sat outside my apartment on Spring last year and counted 46 buses heading south in a single half-hour. Roughly, I think this moves 15 - 17 of those buses off Spring per hour (plus, obviously all of the buses heading north) and adds 18 to Main (a dozen of which are DASH).
Scott Mercer on June 11, 2006, at 03:33PM – #1
I am disappointed that only the 38/71 will be rerouted to Main Street. I was hoping for more service on Main. At least we are getting the DASH.
I wish the 90,91 and 94 would have been rerouted to Main, as I use those sometimes. I never use the 70, 370, and rarely use the 83, 84 or 85. So, I guess it could have been worse.
I did notice on the MTA press release that they state 12 bus routes are being rerouted, but I only count 10. If you include the DASH D, then it's 11. Where's the missing route?
Scott Mercer on June 11, 2006, at 03:39PM – #2
Also, perhaps a count of how many unaware parkers get towed on the first day of the new Spring Street bus lane might be interesting. Anyone want to volunteer for that?
Eric Richardson (@blogdowntown) on June 11, 2006, at 04:37PM – #3
Scott: If I count the lines in the press release I get 12. Perhaps just recount? Spring already has been "No Stopping 7-9 & 4-6", so if people do get towed that's not them forgetting new rules.
ed on June 12, 2006, at 06:40AM – #4
If anyone thought of this, it's you. Has there ever been talk of keeping the D Dash line on until 9pm on the nights of the Downtown Arts Walk?
Scott Mercer on June 12, 2006, at 05:27PM – #5
Yes, I missed the 94 and 394 as it was buried in the middle of the line.
Silly me.
Old Bank DVD on June 14, 2006, at 05:08PM – #6
Does anyone know what is happening to the parking on the east side of main? Are the parking meters going away? or will there only be a dedicated buslane for 7-9 am and 4-6 pm like they are doing on Spring. If we lost our street parking down here it would serious drag on our business as well as the other establishments on 4th. The signs they just posted say no parking - buses only 7-9, 4-6 but we are very worried that they'll come for our parking next. Oh yeah, for all your video rental needs Old Bank DVD on 4th and Main is here to serve 7 days a week Noon til 11:00 (12:00 fri. and sat.)
Eric Richardson (@blogdowntown) on June 14, 2006, at 06:26PM – #7
The bus lane on Main will be the same as Spring. 7am - 9am and 4pm - 6pm no stopping, otherwise the same as it is right now. Don't worry too much -- the push right now is to add parking, not take it away. DOT has promised to look again at the traffic numbers in six months and see if it's really necessary to have peak hour restrictions on the non-bus curbs (west side on Main, east on Spring).
Old Bank DVD on June 25, 2006, at 12:08PM – #8
Thanks, things are as described above. and tobe honest we haven't really noticed too much of an increase in the bus traffic. All is well down here on main. New movies comming in all the time - stop on by. O.B. DVD