METRO Subway and what it could have been?

[HarryKerry]

I didn't know that Bradley used Toronto as a model, but now it makes PERFECT sense. After we blew our chance at transit money in the 1960's through the 1970's, there just wasn't that kind of Federal money anymore in the 80's for LA to plan a SYSTEM (Ronnie Reagan even spent an entire Radio Chat decrying the huge waste of money it was how such "pork" represented what was wrong with how things get done in Washington: if he wanted his druthers, he had to accept the BILLIONS and BILLIONS for LA's subway). Instead, the SCRTD planned ONE subway route as a "backbone" line, with buses feeding it. This backbone subway was to run under Wilshire nearly the entire length. It was felt we (SCRTD) could get the funding for one line, and that was pretty much it.

The Blue Line was NEVER planned to intersect with the subway. It was to terminate at Pico, as LACTC had always planned it. So, even up to the last hours of planning and construction it was still a "backbone" line, and this is why the SCRTD had always projected Pershing Square to be the busiest station on the line due to its location one block from Broadway and its many buses.

Then the Blue Line extended to subway as an OOPS moment out of public embarrassment from a prominent Times article about how the 2 long feuding transit agencies (SCRTD and LACTC) had reached an abdominal height by building separate rail lines a mere 6 blocks short of connecting. A quintessential "what's wrong with transit in LA" moment. Money found to extend Blue to subway and added expense to change already approved design for 7th Street station (cut and cover already begun?), so rushed that they forget to build drains from original plans, but successfully construct poorest designed station in "system" with the Mezzanine cut in half with trains running through it. Good luck getting to the other side efficiently or just trample people as you run through the already crowded Red/Purple Line subway platform to get to the other side. They really do trample through like the rushing herds of Wilder-beast across the plains of the Great Continent. SCRTD and LACTC merged as one agency as final "punishment" and death blow: our LACMTA of today with board members made up of elected office holders. Hey, Blue line connects to subway? Is that the start of a system?

Then Green Line has a completely unplanned birth of its own as a consequence of a lawsuit over the 105 Fwy. But modern, truly FAST, less expensive to operate providing more service driver-less trains made in----GASP! JAPAN? Major Asia and Japan bashing because politicians say we should be buying "American" in this 1990's recession. Morrison Knudson cited by now dead Council President John Ferraro as USA company that "can do." Same Morrison Knudsen who delivered brand-new rail cars to Cal-trans with CRACKED FRAMES. Cal-trans won't accept. Morrison has to fix. All fixed, but later floor supporting second level of same rail cars are sagging. USA! USA! USA! Plans change to build a diminished Green line to the same specs as the Blue line and even with the same type of cars used on the Blue line manufactured by---GASP! Japan's Kinky Sharyo. I thought we wanted USA! So what was point of all the Japan bashing? Oh, well. Hurt feelings. Hey, it connects with the Blue. Hmm, something like a real system now?

Then Blue Line to Pasadena cut, but reborn as Gold Line. Hey, it connects to subway. Now it looks much more like a system, but we just don't have the big bucks for the long wanted Regional Connector.

Hey, Zev (and to a lesser degree Mayor Riordon) say we are gonna build something on the Chandler right of way because we paid for it and original planned subway extension too expensive and putting it in a trench (Mayor Riordon really pushes that idea) just aint gonna fly with the residents and is still too expensive, so let's build a crappy bus line that under serves riders and creates a huge time wasting transfer to subway. Zev LOVES it! "An LA Solution," he call it. But with the Orange Line designation, it sure looks part of the rail "system."

Gloria and the good folks of the Eastside are really angry with us because the eastside subway extension that was promised is more dead than rotting beached whales. They are calling us racist and point to the countless freeway intersections in their eastside. What are we to do? Hey, let's extend the Gold Line that was supposed to continue into the Regional Connector at "some future point," and, instead, have it take a slow and circuitous and almost exclusively street running route to the east side serving the sleepy neighborhoods along East 1st and East 3rd (still very low ridership) instead of the promised Whittier Blvd (the heart of East L.A.) subway. WOW! Now it really does "Look" like a system. To this day Gloria still says, "it should have been all subway." And she is correct, but no money bags from Washington, no subway.

Hey, we HAVE to do something with that Expo Right-of-Way. It's been sitting there way too long, and we paid for it, so we build the Expo Line and have it share tracks with Blue at Flower. But still no money to eliminate huge portions of that dreaded Disneyland speed crawl: Street Running. We have so little money left, we can't even afford to build an over or under pass at Farmdale to appease the very angry public school who think we hate kids. We do a "cheapo" solution that still costs serious money: we ADD another station to the already far too long at grade line, but we design it so that the 2 platforms are at opposite corners of the street so trains MUST stop, then proceed slowly out. Farmdale still hates our guts and says we hate kids even more, but the PUC approves our costly and inefficient solution, and we say "tough cookies, Farmdale; we gots the PUC imprimatur. Ha, ha, ha!" Hey, what a growing system that really looks like a "planned" system.

In truth, a "system" planned as an ad lib when ever funds from stingy economies and governments would allow. There were real plans for a system, but the times just couldn't get it built. So, we stumbled our way, almost accidentally to the system we have today.

Measure R will provide at least 2 things that will truly take the original lone "backbone" line and make it all a real system: Regional Connector and Westside subway extension.

If the economy of the 1990's hadn't tanked, we really would have a lot more subway (eastside under Whittier Blvd., under current Orange Line, all the way to Santa Monica) better planned and more efficient light rail, and Trolly Bus for at least the east-west bus lines (with mature trees to hide the wires), if you all like Trolley Bus. Yes, Fed legislation forbidding even studying subway west of Western would have still occurred and Zev's bullet to the head of all subway "line" construction using ONE of the then two sales tax revenue, but we would have had the money to provide the incentive to get those two things removed and get back on track. But with no real $$$, there was no urgency until just very recently with Mayor Villaraigosa and the subsequent Measure R to fund it.

That was a LONG ride!