Save Our Community was founded in the movement to resist Wal-Mart's development in Rosemead, California. Now, it has become a general site for news, information, gossip, talk, and blogging about Rosemead. We also have stories about South San Gabriel, San Gabriel, Montebello, and occasionally about Pico Rivera, El Monte, South El Monte, Alhambra, Temple City, and other nearby communities. Your host is Todd. If you want a blog just sign up, get approved, and start writing. Good posts will be moved onto the home page.
"Which one of us is a
It's nothing to be proud of, but it did get us a short break during that 3.5 hour long city council meeting!
One annoying thing I heard was Gary Taylor bemoan the fact that four recently-approved mixed use projects in Rosemead would bring in 1,000 cars (Oh, my!). He knows full well that the Wal-Mart project was forecasted to bring in 1,000 cars AN HOUR. How can he have been so cavalier about the impact of 1,000 cars an hour in one spot in Rosemead, but so concerned about four relatively small projects scattered around the city that will have far less retail space and generate far less traffic?
"Which one of us is a
If they reduce the shopping express fare to zero, and ran it every 15 minutes, would people abandon their car-driving ways?
If they reduce the shopping express fare. . . .
Probably not, unless they also changed the route to make it quicker to get across town and easier to understand.
We need to reach a critical mass before public transit (or walking) will be seen as a real alternative. The more frequent service would only work if the service went where you needed it, and, for now, the shopper express takes a pretty round-about route to get almost anywhere. I'd rather see a system that ran the grids. For example if I (hypothetically speaking) wanted to get from my house to Wal-Mart, I'd either have to ride that circular route, or I'd have to wait for the once-hourly Montebello 20 route (once hourly north of Garvey), and I'd still have nearly a mile to walk from the corner of San Gabriel and Rush to the store entrance. On the other hand, if they had something that just ran straight down Walnut Grove, I could get there in six or seven minutes.
If I wanted to get to Target, I still don't know how the shopper express would get me there. Probably another round-about trip. But if something just shot down Rosemead with high frequency, I could catch MTA 76 east to Rosemead (or just walk to Rosemead) then cath the shopper's express south. If I have to wait instead for 176 or 266, the wait may approach an hour, and it's not with my while to wait. So I drive. Or, rarely, walk. Again, I'd prefer something that just shot down Rosemead with high frequency.
We already have good east-west frequency for mass transit. MTA 76/376 runs down Valley at least once every fifteen minutes during most daylight hours, and about once every twenty or thirty minutes until late night.
On Garvey, 70/770 gives us east-west travel on Garvey at least once every 8-12 minutes for most of the day, and, again once every 20-30 minutes at least through late night.
But north-south, we only have the once hourly Montebello 20 on San Gabriel, and that's only on weekdays. Service on Walnut Grove is only about once every 45-60 minutes, only on weekdays, and only between Rush and Garvey. Service on Rosemead is only once every 20-45 minutes on weekdays, and once an hour or so on weekends.
If they reduce the shopping express fare. . . .
Oh yeah, I find that I'll get the 70 from LA, and then get off at SG, and wait for the Montebello bus a while. Then, I get impatient and start walking south, and the bus will blow by me north of Graves. Lulz. At that point, there's no reason to take the bus. So I get an extra half mile of walking.
It was like this last week. It was like this ten years ago. It was like this in high school. Some things never change.
I should be nicer, though. I recently took the MTB 20 to the MTB 10, xferred without a wait, and got from there to the 720, and xferred with a short wait. Getting to and across downtown was pretty quick. It was better than driving (for once!)
Rosemead Shopping Express
I'm soooo glad someone brought this up. I was with the kids at (dare I say it) Walmart (I remain neutral, but very understanding to the neighbors it affected), and rather than schlep all the kids in the car to go to Beaches from Walmart (the ones with and w/out car seats), I decided to jump on the Express to Beaches. It was wonderful and only 50 cents! I am also understanding of Todd's dilemma; however, they do have the MTA 287, but it is too runs only every hour.
Since, Walmart is already here, and the impetus for building it was because potential revenue was "seaping out of rather than into" Rosemead, the City should consider ridership of potential shoppers outside the City, like those who live in Montebello on Neil Armstrong. There are also senior housing residences in South San Gabriel and Monterey Park along Potrero Grande Drive.
I wholeheartedly agree with Todd, the Rosemead Express could be more more accommodating to north and south riders, and maybe buying two to three more buses so the wait times goes down from one hour to 15-20 minutes.
And PLEASE, can someone talk to somebody at City Hall about the Express schedule, it has been so copied over, it is barely readable. It is actually very difficult to understand. Also, it would help if the schedule was online, that way riders could print it out themselves. Think of the trees saved.
Rosemead Shopping Express
Oh, my goodness, now I have to agree with Centaur, too. :D
The schedule they have on the counter at City Hall is several generations removed from the original and kind of hard to read.
Now, if I *really* needed to, yes I could figure out the actual flow path of the shuttle van. But the harder it is to figure out, the less I'm willing to study it. Besides, as I noted, it has insufficient frequency and too circuitous a route to be useful to me, given where I live and where I'd like to get. So I rely on MTA and Montebello Buses, or I walk or drive.
The problem is, I am almost certain that this is Prop A money, and needs to be spent on local transit. They probably aren't allowed to spend the money on regularly scheduled transit that crosses city lines. So rather than having a unified system that moves people where they want to go, many cities get small circulators that travel only within El Monte, only within South El Monte, only within Rosemead, only within San Gabriel, etc. Many of these cities (including ours, I suspect) are probably spending $10 - $20 or more for each passenger/trip. But it's Prop A money, so they keep doing it.
Rosemead Shopping Express
Sheesh. What a waste. I think you all outlined the need pretty well - there's not enough north-south mobility. I agree. I'm near the 20 bus, and, while it's convenient if you know the schedule, it's not running that much, and it doesn't go all the way up to Valley half the time. Rosemead could fill the gap by running a loop up Walnut Grove and down San Gabriel. Or down Walnut Grove and up San Gabriel. Either way is okay because the route would be short. Maybe what? 30 minutes to make the loop? The current big loop is almost an hour.
They could run two buses up and down Rosemead and Walnut Grove, to the MTC mall, Wal Mart, and Rosemead Square. Or maybe just avoid the Walnut Grove part and backtrack up Rosemead. (This bus would be pretty cool, because it would stop at Legg Lake.) This circuit would probably take a little more than 30 minutes.
3 buses on these routes would get faster coverage, and a 30 minute wait time max, with under 15 minutes in some situations. Still not great, but, better than what we have now. Can't the cities work together and allow the bus to cross borders?
Here's the schedule for the Shopper Express.
Rosemead Shopper Express
OMG! It's a "trifecta", not only do Todd and I agree on the Express, but I agree w/ Night Reader's last post.
And thanks Night Reader for the online Express schedule :-)
Todd mentioned that the Express could not go outside Rosemead b/c funds are from Prop A, but how do you explain why it goes to the Montebello Towne Center?
And Night Reader or Todd, how ernest would it be to get a third bus?
What Rosemead dept studies public transportation?
Lastly, if Prop A money is already exhausted, could the city realistically count on anchor stores, like Target or Walmart, to contribute to an additional bus and expand its ridership?
Rosemead Shopper Express
In answer to your first question: The Macy's (far eastern anchor store) of the Montebello Town Center is actually located in the city of Rosemead.
I don't know how much another van would cost, but, to be honest, I am skeptical that the Rosemead Shopper is a good utilization of my tax dollars. But, yes, it would make sense if we could get major retailers to kick in some money to supplement our local circulator bus routes.