Passengers

A year has come and gone, and Karol Potter is dreading another long, hot summer. A loyal Metrolink rider, she complained last year that the bustling, sun-baked east platform of the Santa Ana train station lacked basic human comforts, such as shade, drinking water and restrooms.

Commuter rail ridership broke an all-time record this week, and Caltrans reported a dip in freeway traffic as commuters across California struggled with record gasoline prices. Metrolink recorded its highest number of riders in a single day Tuesday -- 50,232 -- a 15.6% increase over the volume on the Tuesday of the same week last year. Metro Rail ridership has also risen, shooting up 6% last month over May 2007, with the downtown L.A.

Sleep hasn't come easy to freelance music agent Joseph Egan since that Halloween bus ride on the lonely rural highways of western Canada. Three months after a sleeping passenger had been beheaded by his seatmate on the same prairies west of Winnipeg, Egan was confronted by a drunken woman behind him. He rose and started walking toward the driver. "I got three steps, and she goes, 'You go to the driver, I'm going to cut your . . . head off,' " he recalled. "I started wondering: copycat?

Questions about the airline industry's ability to be its own customer watchdog have been raised anew after hundreds of passengers were kept for hours aboard JetBlue Airways' and other airliners' planes grounded at John F. Kennedy International Airport in New York by this week's storm. The airline industry, Congress and representatives of consumer groups have been arguing about the matter since 1999, when Northwest Airlines jets were grounded at Detroit Metro Airport for about nine hours.

Muslim cabdrivers at Minnesota's biggest airport will face new penalties, including a two-year revocation of their taxi permits, if they refuse to give rides to travelers carrying liquor or accompanied by dogs, the board overseeing operations ruled Monday. The Metropolitan Airports Commission, which was responding to complaints about the liquor issue, voted unanimously to impose the penalties, which take effect in May. A large number of taxi drivers in the area of the Minneapolis-St.

Are the passengers in a car that has been stopped by the police "seized" by the authorities, or are they free to walk away? The Supreme Court took up that question Monday in a California case that could decide whether passengers are protected from "unreasonable searches and seizures" when officers pull over the vehicle in which they are riding.

Organizers of a weekend fete commemorating the Yosemite Valley Railroad have put out the call for an elusive artifact -- folks who actually rode the train before it shut down in 1945. The event Saturday in El Portal will feature memorabilia from the days of the railroad, which made its first journey across 78 mountainous miles on May 15, 1907, providing a link to the park before the era of highways. Former passengers can contact event organizer Sunshine Goodmorning at (209) 379-2577.

A day after disgruntled passengers rioted in a historic train station, officials pointed fingers Wednesday while acknowledging that urgent action was needed to correct this capital's antiquated public transport system. "We're going to respond with a swift kick where it's needed," vowed Argentine President Nestor Kirchner, labeling as "shameless" government-subsidized private rail operators who fail to provide adequate service. "Our only obligation is to the public."

Passengers in cars that are stopped by the police are "seized," the U.S. Supreme Court said Monday, and therefore have a right to contest the legality of the stop if they are searched and arrested. The 9-0 ruling clarifies the law on traffic stops, and it overturns the view of the California Supreme Court.