Los Angeles County Metropolitan Transportation Authority

Metropolitan Transportation Authority officials Thursday said that after looking at all the options, they would like to build a four-mile busway along Canoga Avenue in the San Fernando Valley to connect the Orange Line busway and the Chatsworth Metrolink station. Officials had been looking at options for mass transit along Canoga and decided that a busway, built atop an old rail right-of-way, was the best and most affordable option. The project would include an adjacent bike lane.

On the far eastern side of Pasadena, the Gold Line tracks run in the middle of the 210 Freeway and then, at Madre Street, they just stop. The old rail right of way continues up the middle of the freeway and extends across the width of the Valley, roughly paralleling the 210. Hardly any freight trains use the corridor, and it's been decades since passengers rode those rails. Public officials from across the San Gabriel Valley are hoping to change that soon.

Waiting for the bus at Normandie and Slauson avenues late one night, Betrona Casileo was getting nervous. Thirty minutes. Forty minutes. Still no bus. "At night, it's very dangerous," said Casileo, who is 52 and has been riding Metro buses for 15 years. "I was just hoping the bus would come." It did -- eventually. Casileo isn't the only frustrated passenger.

With gas prices soaring and mass transit ridership on the upswing, local transportation officials Thursday took a key step toward asking voters in November to approve a half-cent sales tax increase to fund at least $30 billion in road and mass transit projects. Here's a quick guide to what happened -- and what may happen in the months ahead: -- What did the MTA decide? The board of the Metropolitan Transportation Authority voted 9 to 2 to draft a sales tax proposal.

The Metropolitan Transportation Authority board on Thursday voted overwhelmingly to seek a half-cent-on-the-dollar sales tax increase that could raise $30 billion to $40 billion for transit and highway projects, including the first link of a long-awaited subway to the sea. The 13-member board's action, approving a ballot measure for the Nov. 4 election, is a major step that could lead to construction of several dozen transportation projects in the county over the next three decades.

The commuter rail service known as Metrolink -- Southern California's only true regional mass transit carrier -- gets little money and even less political respect. It is guided by a board weighted with officials from small cities across five counties, which chip in to cover Metrolink's expenses and connect their local transit networks.

Metrolink should add a second engineer to its locomotives, install anti-collision technology and place an additional video camera in the cab of its engines to monitor train drivers, according to a motion supported by several Los Angeles city and county officials. The improvements, however, are not being sought by Metrolink.

The next potential victims of the nation's credit crunch: nearly 1.5 million people who ride buses and trains each weekday in Los Angeles County. Transit officials say riders could soon be facing serious service cuts. That's because the Los Angeles County Metropolitan Transportation Authority might have to quickly come up with hundreds of millions of dollars to pay investors under terms of deals it made involving American International Group, the troubled financial and insurance giant.

Attendees at Thursday's board meeting of the Metropolitan Transportation Authority got a treat: a public spat between Los Angeles County Supervisors Gloria Molina and Zev Yaroslavsky that ended when Yaroslavsky walked out. His exit came after he had earlier described Molina's words as "selfish nonsense." At the root of the dispute were two items: rail safety and Measure R, the proposal to raise the sales tax by half a cent in Los Angeles County to pay for transit and freeway projects.

Covering transportation is kind of like watching fossils form, but for the fact that fossils form faster than transit projects get built. But after an election in which voters committed billions of dollars to improving traffic, here are a few things to watch for: Gold Line The Foothill Extension's goose is cooked if Measure R doesn't pass. Measure R was the half-cent sales tax hike on the ballot last week. The tax increase is holding a slim lead and is likely to pass, but as of Monday ballots were still being counted.