News briefs

Gold Line struggles to meet expectations

PASADENA “”mdash; Ridership on the struggling Gold Line rail
system linking Pasadena and downtown Los Angeles has failed to meet
expectations, drawing only about half the predicted riders. The
Metropolitan Transportation Authority estimated up to 32,000 people
would be taking the train each day by July 2004. Average weekday
boardings in March, however, was 15,226 ““ only the third time
since its 2003 opening that ridership cracked 15,000.

Still, the MTA is optimistic about its least-used rail line.
March ridership was 1,500 higher than February.

“I see this March figure as being significant. We had
hoped for higher ridership, but it takes a while for a line to
mature,” MTA spokesman Ed Scannell said.

The Green Line, from Norwalk to El Segundo, averaged 33,227
riders last month; the Blue Line, from Long Beach to Los Angeles
averaged 75,122; and the Red Line, from Union Station to North
Hollywood, averaged 117,507.

It takes 34 minutes for the train to get from the Sierra Madre
Villa station, the easternmost station, to Union Station in
downtown Los Angeles.

Nursing students on the decline

Nearly a quarter of all students studying to be nurses in Los
Angeles community colleges dropped out in 2003 and 2004. The
dropout rate is more than 35 percent higher than the statewide
average.

Six of the Los Angeles Community College District’s nine
colleges offering nursing programs had a student dropout rate of
23.2 percent, compared with 17.1 percent at community colleges
statewide. College officials say the dropout rate is so high that
it is becoming one of the most significant bottlenecks in a
severely strained system providing two-thirds of the state’s
nurses. The system already has student waiting lists of as long as
three years and students are admitted through a lottery system.
Growing numbers of college officials have begun pushing for tighter
admissions standards to keep unprepared applicants out of the
system.

Compiled from Bruin wire services.

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