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Los Angeles: The car capital warming up to mass transit

LOS ANGELES — When the extension of the Expo rail line opened here in May, it was almost as if the city had stepped into another century. Suddenly, it was possible to go from downtown to the Santa Monica beach by train, escaping a drive that could take two hours. The inaugural runs were packed with people, carrying beach chairs and recording the 15-mile (24km), 45-minute long ride with mobile phones.
The US$1.5 billion (S$2 billion), above-ground Expo project is not the only piece of the transit transformation unfolding here. An 11.5-mile extension of the Gold Line, running from Pasadena to Asuza, just north-east of downtown, opened this spring. If not as glamorous as a train to the Pacific Ocean, it was certainly appreciated by people in the San Gabriel Valley, who otherwise have to navigate the traffic of Interstate 210.
And all of that is likely to be dwarfed by an initiative that is expected to go before the voters in November, pending a final vote by the county board of supervisors, that would impose a countywide one-cent transit sales tax, raising US$860 million a year. The tax would finance 40 major transit projects over the next 40 years, including 100 miles of new rail lines and what has been a touchstone for mass transit advocates (and frustrated commuters) for decades: A train tunnel under the Sepulveda Pass, connecting the Los Angeles basin with the San Fernando Valley.
There may be no part of America more identified, for better and for worse, with the automobile than this city. But this burst of activity, and the considerable interest it has stirred here, suggests that a fundamental reconsideration of Los Angeles may be at hand, a shift to an era when mass transit — subways, light rail, buses — could be as central to getting around, and perhaps even to this region’s image, as the car.
“For the car capital of America, if not the world, this is a bold new chapter,” said Mr Eric M Garcetti, the mayor, who has been pushing the sales tax measure. “It doesn’t ignore cars. But it really builds out a mass transit network that gets you from Point A to Point B.”
“New York has opened one new station in the past five years,” said Mr Garcetti, a Democrat. “We opened a dozen. We have a lot of catching up to do. But we are finally saying we are going to do it.”
Mr Brian D Taylor, the director for the Institute of Transportation Studies at the University of California, Los Angeles, noted the attention received by what was in the end a modest expansion: 13 new stations along the Expo and Gold lines. “In incremental terms, these new lines aren’t revolutionary,” he said. “They are more revolutionary in symbolic terms. They are a very public and specific commitment to spending on public transit.”
The obstacles are considerable, starting with the sheer size of Los Angeles County — a collection of 88 cities scattered over 4,000 square miles.
“We want to once and for all solve the transportation infrastructure challenges in Southern California,” said Mr Phillip A Washington, the head of the Los Angeles Metropolitan Transportation Authority. “It’s a big challenge. Los Angeles is the car capital of the county. And it’s getting worse with 2.3 million more people expected in the county in the next 40 years. The roads are not built to accommodate the influx of people.”
There are signs of interest. Downtown is bustling with development, filled with people who make a life without cars, relying on walking, bicycles and mass transit. The city’s last mayor, Mr Antonio R Villaraigosa, also championed mass transit, passing a half-cent transit sales tax increase and pushing for an ambitious housing development now rising along a subway that runs under Hollywood Boulevard.
Mr Dan Goldberg, 46, a film marketing executive who moved from New York a year ago, lives here without a car, commuting from his apartment in downtown to his office on Sunset Boulevard on the Red Line. He did not have a car when he lived in New York and said he does not miss having one here, even given the limitations of the mass transit system.
Under California law, a tax initiative needs the support of two-thirds of voters to win. Mr Garcetti said he would make campaigning for it a top priority this fall; its prospects of passing are enhanced, city officials said, because it will be on the ballot during a high-turnout presidential campaign.
Mr Taylor said the importance of mass transit had long been underestimated here. Ridership here is the second-highest in the nation. And on a per-capita basis, people in Nashville and Houston drive more miles a day than people in Los Angeles. There are now 105 miles of rail, drawing 1.5 million riders a day.
“The thing to understand about public transit in the US is there is metropolitan New York and there is everything else,” he said. “So that influences what everyone thinks the base line is.”
The latest additions to the system are far from perfect. There is hardly any parking at the new station stops for people who want to drive from their homes to the train; part of the reason for that is the idea that development will cluster along the lines, but part was to save money. Because the train runs at grade and has to stop at red lights, again to save money, it can take as long to get from downtown to the beach as making the trip by car.
Mr Washington, who came here from a similar job in Denver, acknowledged the obstacles. But he said he expected that within 20 years, 25 per cent of the population here would be using mass transit, compared with about 7 per cent of the population now. “That’s taking a hell of a lot of cars off the road,” he said.
“It’s going to be a cultural shift out here in the West,” he said. “It will take a while for Denver, Los Angeles, to develop the culture. But that is coming.” THE NEW YORK TIMES

A train car on the Expo Line exten­sion in Los Angel­es, July 8, 2016. Photo: NYT

A train car on the Expo Line exten­sion in Los Angel­es, July 8, 2016. Photo: NYT

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LOS ANGELES — When the extension of the Expo rail line opened here in May, it was almost as if the city had stepped into another century. Suddenly, it was possible to go from downtown to the Santa Monica beach by train, escaping a drive that could take two hours. The inaugural runs were packed with people, carrying beach chairs and recording the 15-mile (24km), 45-minute long ride with mobile phones.
The US$1.5 billion (S$2 billion), above-ground Expo project is not the only piece of the transit transformation unfolding here. An 11.5-mile extension of the Gold Line, running from Pasadena to Asuza, just north-east of downtown, opened this spring. If not as glamorous as a train to the Pacific Ocean, it was certainly appreciated by people in the San Gabriel Valley, who otherwise have to navigate the traffic of Interstate 210.
And all of that is likely to be dwarfed by an initiative that is expected to go before the voters in November, pending a final vote by the county board of supervisors, that would impose a countywide one-cent transit sales tax, raising US$860 million a year. The tax would finance 40 major transit projects over the next 40 years, including 100 miles of new rail lines and what has been a touchstone for mass transit advocates (and frustrated commuters) for decades: A train tunnel under the Sepulveda Pass, connecting the Los Angeles basin with the San Fernando Valley.
There may be no part of America more identified, for better and for worse, with the automobile than this city. But this burst of activity, and the considerable interest it has stirred here, suggests that a fundamental reconsideration of Los Angeles may be at hand, a shift to an era when mass transit — subways, light rail, buses — could be as central to getting around, and perhaps even to this region’s image, as the car.
“For the car capital of America, if not the world, this is a bold new chapter,” said Mr Eric M Garcetti, the mayor, who has been pushing the sales tax measure. “It doesn’t ignore cars. But it really builds out a mass transit network that gets you from Point A to Point B.”
“New York has opened one new station in the past five years,” said Mr Garcetti, a Democrat. “We opened a dozen. We have a lot of catching up to do. But we are finally saying we are going to do it.”
Mr Brian D Taylor, the director for the Institute of Transportation Studies at the University of California, Los Angeles, noted the attention received by what was in the end a modest expansion: 13 new stations along the Expo and Gold lines. “In incremental terms, these new lines aren’t revolutionary,” he said. “They are more revolutionary in symbolic terms. They are a very public and specific commitment to spending on public transit.”
The obstacles are considerable, starting with the sheer size of Los Angeles County — a collection of 88 cities scattered over 4,000 square miles.
“We want to once and for all solve the transportation infrastructure challenges in Southern California,” said Mr Phillip A Washington, the head of the Los Angeles Metropolitan Transportation Authority. “It’s a big challenge. Los Angeles is the car capital of the county. And it’s getting worse with 2.3 million more people expected in the county in the next 40 years. The roads are not built to accommodate the influx of people.”
There are signs of interest. Downtown is bustling with development, filled with people who make a life without cars, relying on walking, bicycles and mass transit. The city’s last mayor, Mr Antonio R Villaraigosa, also championed mass transit, passing a half-cent transit sales tax increase and pushing for an ambitious housing development now rising along a subway that runs under Hollywood Boulevard.
Mr Dan Goldberg, 46, a film marketing executive who moved from New York a year ago, lives here without a car, commuting from his apartment in downtown to his office on Sunset Boulevard on the Red Line. He did not have a car when he lived in New York and said he does not miss having one here, even given the limitations of the mass transit system.
Under California law, a tax initiative needs the support of two-thirds of voters to win. Mr Garcetti said he would make campaigning for it a top priority this fall; its prospects of passing are enhanced, city officials said, because it will be on the ballot during a high-turnout presidential campaign.
Mr Taylor said the importance of mass transit had long been underestimated here. Ridership here is the second-highest in the nation. And on a per-capita basis, people in Nashville and Houston drive more miles a day than people in Los Angeles. There are now 105 miles of rail, drawing 1.5 million riders a day.
“The thing to understand about public transit in the US is there is metropolitan New York and there is everything else,” he said. “So that influences what everyone thinks the base line is.”
The latest additions to the system are far from perfect. There is hardly any parking at the new station stops for people who want to drive from their homes to the train; part of the reason for that is the idea that development will cluster along the lines, but part was to save money. Because the train runs at grade and has to stop at red lights, again to save money, it can take as long to get from downtown to the beach as making the trip by car.
Mr Washington, who came here from a similar job in Denver, acknowledged the obstacles. But he said he expected that within 20 years, 25 per cent of the population here would be using mass transit, compared with about 7 per cent of the population now. “That’s taking a hell of a lot of cars off the road,” he said.
“It’s going to be a cultural shift out here in the West,” he said. “It will take a while for Denver, Los Angeles, to develop the culture. But that is coming.” THE NEW YORK TIMES

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