Just gotta say it again: Traffic Relief! Measure M would dramatically improve our transportation system and redefine commutes for residents in every corner of LA County to get all of us where we want to go, when we want to get there, however we choose to travel—train, bus, car, bike or on foot.

Metro's 2016 Quality of Life Report is full of interesting statistic/graphics about the public transportation system! Check this: 80% of the population of LA County lives near Metro's 15,000 bus stops and if you include the 20 smaller transit agencies in LA County that partner with Metro 99% of the population lives near a stop. We are more transit-oriented than we think!

How much would the Measure M sales tax cost each of us in LA County??? On average less than 9 cents/person/day—just $2.70/month— to create the second largest public transportation (rail and bus) system (after New York) in the U.S. Here's Measure M on the November ballot.

Paid for by Campaign to Move LA, in Support of Transportation Ballot Measure M, Major Funding by Aaron Sosnick, HDR Engineering, Inc. & Jacobs Engineering Group, Inc.

More Mobility, Movement, Motion, Maintenance: The Los Angeles County Registrar–Recorder Office has officially designated the Los Angeles County Traffic Improvement Plan as Measure M the November 8, 2016 ballot.

The bad news: AB 2222 was not taken off suspense in the Appropriations Committee Thursday, which means the bill has reached the end of its course unless—and this is the good news—there is a lame duck session after the Nov. 8 election and the language from AB 2222 is included in a transportation funding bill that does move forward. It's a long shot, as Democrats and Republicans have been trying to reach agreement on a transportation funding bill—and have not been able to—since Governor Brown called for a Special Session on Transportation last summer. But again, the broad bipartisan support that AB 2222 received suggests that it is a possibility, and Assemblymember Chris Holden, the author, has continued to make student passes a top priority.

Transit is more people-oriented than the single-occupancy automobile.

Directed by Carlyn Hudson for Move LA, with Aman Mehra and Mark Foti, thanks to the Goldhirsh Foundation and LA2050.

Despite the enormous difficulty Democrats and Republicans in the California Legislature have had reaching agreement on how to fund transportation and which projects to fund, they have agreed on AB 2222, which would create a statewide discounted student transit pass program for low-income K-12 and public college and university students! Proof is in the votes (starting with the most recent and counting backwards): Senate Environmental Quality 6-0; Senate Transportation and Housing 7-0; Assembly Floor 72-7; Assembly Appropriations 18-2; Assembly Transportation 18-0. The organizations above are just some of the supporters of AB 2222.

Tentatively called Measure M, it is “LA County’s Traffic Improvement Plan” that has been placed on the November 2016 ballot by LA Metro to ease congestion across the county. If Measure M wins a 2/3 majority vote in November it would provide approximately $120 billion over 40 years to significantly expand the rail transit system and support the bus system all over LA County, as well as provide first and last mile connections to stations for people on foot and on bike and users of all ages and abilities.

This profile reminds us that we lost the Measure J ballot measure by .57% in 2012--just 15,000 votes--in a campaign that got off the ground barely 2 months before the vote. There's been much more prep done for the so-called Measure M (name is still not official) sales tax measure campaign to raise in excess of $120 billion for transportation: The Center for Transportation Excellence profile says Metro has provided information to 2.9 million people via social media and that 48,000 people participated in telephone town halls and other outreach events in May. More than 560 people went to public meetings about the measure and 73 percent said they'd vote for it. So we'll see. The profile is here and it references Move LA.

Paid for by Campaign to Move LA, in Support of Transportation Ballot Measure M, Major Funding by Aaron Sosnick, HDR Engineering, Inc. & Jacobs Engineering Group, Inc.

Gary Toebben, president and CEO of the LA Area Chamber of Commerce, writes on his Business Perspective Blog: In 2008, Los Angeles County residents took a leap of faith and voted to raise our county-wide sales taxes to fund the construction and maintenance of our transportation infrastructure. Seven years later, Metro conducted a quality of life report to study the impact of that decision on the region. The results are impressive. New rail and bus rapid transit now provides access to more than 300,000 jobs in the region. Nearly 500,000 residents now live within a half mile of projects that opened after passage of Measure R. (Italics are mine!) What’s impressive is that this data was tallied prior to the 2016 openings of the Gold Line extension and Expo Phase II.