Will Los Angeles ever get a public transit system like this? (San Francisco: taxes, bus)

[Chatteress]

Originally Posted by Peppermintstix

First thing that really needs to happen is for LA to stop being so anti-pedestrian. Yikes why did the sidewalk just disappear? How does the mailman deliver people's mail with no sidewalk? Is he just walking in the street at the mercy of drivers? I've been told by several people that the town i work in (Glendale) is really great for striking and killing pedestrians. That has got to stop. When the city becomes more friendly towards pedestrians it will be easier for public transportation.

Honestly I'm surprised that the car-owners in this city haven't revolted yet. It's like they force you to have a car and then punish you for it. Smells like a racket to me. I can appreciate it being from a corrupt city but something needs to be done.

By the way I do like LA and I'm happy to be here. The sunshine is fabulous.

Amen! Too many areas without adequate sidewalks and cars that want to cut you off when your walk signal finally comes on at the intersection.

[Chatteress]

Originally Posted by munchitup

Yeah frequencies need to be improved. But reverse commuting on almost any commuter rail system is a nightmare - I attempted to do it in Boston, I had to get up at 5 AM to catch the appropriate train (for my shift which started at 8 and wouldn't get home until 9-10PM). You can see why it only lasted a week

Yeah ... I can imagine that reverse commuting isn't ideal in lots of areas. I do recall that the CalTrain in the Bay Area and the BART had frequent service in both directions. Besides, only a small fraction of Southern Californians work in Downtown LA compared to residents of other major Metros such as Boston, NYC, Chicago, Philly, DC ... LA County isn't centered around it's downtown like many other metros so the transit should reflect this fact.

[PDF]

Originally Posted by Chatteress

Amen! Too many areas without adequate sidewalks and cars that want to cut you off when your walk signal finally comes on at the intersection.

Drivers here are so quick to do that. I've never encountered this elsewhere.

[Chatteress]

Originally Posted by PDF

Drivers here are so quick to do that. I've never encountered this elsewhere.

It's sad as it only takes the average pedestrian a few seconds to clear your path before you turn at most intersections.

[HaemophilusAphrophilus]

very true, and if they made most parts of metrolink (antelope valley until sylmar/san bernadino/ventura until chatsworth/orange county within LA county at least) more like parts of the metro line, and added some stations along the route but kept the original as some sort of express route that would be very nice as well

[Chatteress]

I also feel that Metro should have more express buses serving other corridors ... For example, it can take 2.5 hours to get from DTLA to Disneyland on the 460 as it only uses the freeways from DTLA to Norwalk then surface streets to Fullerton then freeways to Disneyland .... Although I use this route often and grateful for some of the stops in between, I think there should be a fully express version of this line. Maybe a local line from Norwalk to Disneyland and an express route from DTLA - Norwalk - Disneyland.

[Marv101]

Our late Mayor Tom Bradley, who engineered the building of the Red Line to begin with, made several treks to Toronto back in the day; their public transit system is the finest and safest in North America.

We'll never have what they have due to the fact that the city and state are both broke, so a 'decent' public transit system is the best that we can hope for, although having a car will always be a necessity out here.

Even if you live in an upscale suburb and ride Metrolink into downtown LA, you're not about to give up your car; survey after suvey has irrefutably proven that even folks who move into the heart of downtown in cities such as Pasadena or Glendale aren't about to give up their cars either, much to the consternation and disbelief of the so called 'liberal elites' who run things out here.

[Chatteress]

Originally Posted by Marv101

Our late Mayor Tom Bradley, who engineered the building of the Red Line to begin with, made several treks to Toronto back in the day; their public transit system is the finest and safest in North America.

We'll never have what they have due to the fact that the city and state are both broke, so a 'decent' public transit system is the best that we can hope for, although having a car will always be a necessity out here.

Even if you live in an upscale suburb and ride Metrolink into downtown LA, you're not about to give up your car; survey after suvey has irrefutably proven that even folks who move into the heart of downtown in cities such as Pasadena or Glendale aren't about to give up their cars either, much to the consternation and disbelief of the so called 'liberal elites' who run things out here.

I can understand why folks don't give up their cars completely as they often want to venture outside of their own neighborhood .... But a viable mass transit can decrease our dependence upon the almighty vehicle with the insane gas prices. Unfortunately, due to the short-sightedness of our local and state government, Angelenos are forced to drive as transit isn't a viable option for many.

BTW: I really did enjoy Toronto's mass transit but golly gee! It's $10 for a day pass out there!

[munchitup]

Originally Posted by Marv101

Our late Mayor Tom Bradley, who engineered the building of the Red Line to begin with, made several treks to Toronto back in the day; their public transit system is the finest and safest in North America.

We'll never have what they have due to the fact that the city and state are both broke, so a 'decent' public transit system is the best that we can hope for, although having a car will always be a necessity out here.

Even if you live in an upscale suburb and ride Metrolink into downtown LA, you're not about to give up your car; survey after suvey has irrefutably proven that even folks who move into the heart of downtown in cities such as Pasadena or Glendale aren't about to give up their cars either, much to the consternation and disbelief of the so called 'liberal elites' who run things out here.

Sounds like Toronto has plenty of their own transit problems. Have never heard it called the best in the continent by anyone, ever.

[munchitup]

Originally Posted by Chatteress

I can understand why folks don't give up their cars completely as they often want to venture outside of their own neighborhood .... But a viable mass transit can decrease our dependence upon the almighty vehicle with the insane gas prices. Unfortunately, due to the short-sightedness of our local and state government, Angelenos are forced to drive as transit isn't a viable option for many.

BTW: I really did enjoy Toronto's mass transit but golly gee! It's $10 for a day pass out there!

yes, the point of transit expansion is not to get a ton of people to give up their cars. It is to give more options and to lower the amount of trips that are taken by car. Two of the biggest fallacies when it comes to transit expansion is that it will allow people to completely give up their car and that it will cut down on traffic congestion. Typically these are raised as straw-men by anti-transit proponents as reasons to not expand transit.