Carmageddon II: Off the rails

Hot off of last week's incredibly overhyped "Carmageddon," the Los Angeles County Metropolitan Transportation Authority's (MTA) Blue Line light rail system will not be running in my city this weekend because some trees along the line need to be trimmed.

The MTA has assured riders stops along the line will be opened as the work is complete and that buses will be running along the line to transport passengers. The lack of hype surrounding this shutdown made me chuckle. Granted, I know that this is not as big a deal as "CARMAGEDDONNNNNNNN!!!" but it is significant to those in the area who need to get to Los Angeles for work. Seems more important to me that public transit is shut down for a weekend than some area of the freeway, but maybe I'm being irrational.

I also wondered how often public transportation systems have to shut down for similar reasons? How come these shutdowns don't touch off an outcry like we saw here in Southern California last week? (The Northeast Corridor is excluded from that statement, of course.)

So, what does your public transportation system do in the event of a major shutdown? Are they well-publicized? And, does it ever cause a public outcry as great as we experienced here last weekend?

In case you missed it...

Read our METRO blog, "Transit to rescue city from 'Carmageddon'" here.