Thursday, March 26, 2009

Expo Line comments due tomorrow

Friends 4 Expo Transit reports that tomorrow is the deadline for comments on the Expo Line light rail phase 2 (Culver City to Santa Monica) Draft EIR, and the Expo Board will vote Thursday, April 2 on what options are picked. See their News for more and to email the Expo Authority.

Good stuff: actually moving forward with an alternative to Westside traffic!

40 comments:

Anonymous said...

My friends in Pasadena told me that the light rail there has been spectacular - really speeds the commute.

We need this for SM

Anonymous said...

Gloria Breslin is a violent strung out vagrant - routinely on meth -

she moved here from skid row due to the easy public transit from skid row to Ocean Park.

she is a menace to our kids.

And you want to build more public transit to help the skid row crowd settle in Ocean Park - what the heck do you have against our neighborhood?

Google Gloria Breslin and skid Row to see the truth

Anonymous said...

Unfortunately, the rich folks/attorneys in Cheviot Hills will sue and derail the Expo Phase 2 project. They don't want vagrants jumping off the light rail train and invading their neighorhood.

Anonymous said...

Anonymous 5:37, the "truth" is that anyone from skid row can already get here. A train would make it a realistic alternative for those who want transportation options that aren't stuck in same traffic and maybe read a book instead of pulling my hair out and watching for a**holes (probably anon 5:37) God, how I would love to take the train to my job downtown.

Anonymous said...

Anon @ March 26, 2009 5:37 PM:

You are such a moron.

How about building a big fence around SM to limit access? After all, vagrants and lunatics could also use their car, or perhaps walk, into SM to cause havoc. Oh, oops- we overlooked a possibility: there could be psychos among us, too. Spooky.

Get a life.

Anonymous said...

God, how I would love to take the train to my job downtown.
__________

Santa Monica already runs an express bus right to downtown.

This express bus today will get you downtown just as fast as the proposed train will

Why don't you take the bus today?

Anonymous said...

No, it really won't. It's stuck in traffic.

Anonymous said...

Dan Neil- Today Solution to Oil, SOlution to Traffic?

The 2010 Toyota Prius is EPA-rated at 50 miles per gallon, combined city and highway driving -- a number that's really useful only for comparison's sake, as some drivers will get less and some will get more. Members of the press at an event I attended notched more than 70 mpg without too much trouble.

Now then, the U.S. Department of Energy budgetary request for fiscal 2010 is $65 billion, including nearly $40 billion from the National Economic Recovery Act. The 2010 Toyota Prius will probably come in around $23,000 when prices are announced later this spring. Since we've got the federal checkbook open, what if we took $46 billion and bought everybody Priuses? Would that help?

Why yes, yes it would.

By my calculations, $46 billion would buy about 2 million Priuses. Assuming we use them to replace cars that get 15 mpg and assuming an average driving year of 15,000 miles -- and assuming the junkers are retired out of the fleet -- these 2 million Priuses would save about 700 gallons of gas per car, or 1.4 billion gallons a year.

That's about 17 days worth of OPEC oil. Doesn't sound like much, does it? But what if we were to continue allocating $46 billion annually to the U.S. Department of Prius? In 10 years, we would be saving 14 billion gallons a year, or 170 days' worth of OPEC oil. That will give Hugo Chavez insomnia like a case of Red Bull.

Other advantages would include a significant reduction in vehicle-related greenhouse gas emissions. Such a scheme wouldn't really hurt our balance of trade, either, since Toyota would have to subcontract Prius assembly to U.S facilities to meet demand.

Crazy? Really? I would like to hear of another plan that in 10 years and at a cost of $400 billion (probably high, since we'd be buying in such bulk) could achieve such bankable savings in foreign oil, trade and carbon.

Public transportation? Please. We could hire Las Vegas showgirls as conductors and people still wouldn't take light rail. As for the objection that such a thought experiment constitutes wild, stark-staring collectivism, let's offer a free Prius to a few hundred thousand Texans and see if they decline out of free-market principle.

Ah, but I don't mean to bait that bear. I only mean to observe that the federal government often goes through an agonizing and inefficient accommodation of private enterprise when direct action would be cheaper and more effective. I also mean to note just how remarkable the Toyota Prius is. Very few cars can claim the power to change the world. Prius can.


dan.neil@latimes.com

Anonymous said...

I used to take the 10 Blue Bus (that's the SM express line that used to go downtown--I don't know if it's still the 10). It was a great service but the bus could only go as fast as traffic.

The 10 traffic now is much worst that it was 15 years ago when I took the bus. The Expo Line will definitely be an improvement.

Lots of people take the Blue Bus express and the other MTA lines that go downtown from the Westside. You'd be surprised at the mix of people--working class and professionals alike commuted on the bus.

The Expo Line will be a great addition to our transit system. Light rail is the way to go since it is the cheapest form of rail mass transit.

Anonymous said...

The Prius is a waste of time since you would do a lot better just buying a conventional powered high gas mileage car like a Honda Fit.

Most people don't just do all city driving--this is the only place the Fit is outdone by the Prius.

On the highway the Fit can easily get 40 mpg vs the Prius' 50. I should know about the Fit because I own one.

If I bought a Prius I would've had to drive it over 70,000 miles (depending on the cost of gas) to break even (compared to buying a Fit) and then I would have to buy a new battery. Then I would be behind the Fit again.

In other words, hybrids are just status symbols for those who want to advertise their stupid "green" credentials.

Anonymous said...

who doesn't want public transportation? what is wrong with you people? I think the sun has fried your brians. Look I know you like to think you are different, but you are not. They have trains in every major city in this country. Including the "nice neighborhoods." Why should LA be different? You've got the worst air quality in the country, no public transportation, and rich people live in crappy houses.

Anonymous said...

yeah but most people who are in favor of building light rail are in favor since they hope it will get OTHER people out of their cars and decrease the traffic

90% of light rail advocates won't take it most of the time.

other cities have built light rail. It has NOT made a big difference to traffic

google light rail and SWPL - it is a scam

Anonymous said...

"90% of light rail advocates won't take it most of the time.

other cities have built light rail. It has NOT made a big difference to traffic"

These are completely unsubstantiated claims. Do you know how SF or NYC would look like without the reasonable public transport systems that they have?

Just about every other major city has a better traffic situation than LA- that's undebatable.

What's your suggestion to improve traffic in LA? Add another lane to the 405? Pleeaase!

Anonymous said...

Google this - this is the result of an impartial think tank that studied light rail

Light rail will have negligible impact on traffic congestion because it attracts few automobile drivers from their cars.
Demographic trends will make light rail much less effective than predicted by planners.
Light rail is expensive. The most cost-effective, federally funded systems have required subsidies of $5,000 and more per new ride. New rides are those riders brought out of their cars and into the transit system.
Light rail is inflexible once in place. The OCTA's bus system routes are adjusted three times a year.
Light rail cost and ridership forecasts will be erroneous and biased in favor of light rail.
Light rail will not spur development. Development along light rail corridors is spurred by tax subsidies, not light rail.
Light rail will not improve commuter travel times, energy conservation and safety.

Anonymous said...

A number of world renowned experts have studied light rail and concluded that it will not help with traffic congestion.

Light rail is aggressively touted by
(1) real estate owners who will get paid for the right of way (paid out of our taxes)

(2) unions that want the construction jobs

(3) "stuff white people like" type people (google them) who like the romance of light rail

(4) people stuck in traffic who hope that light rail will get other people off the highway so they can drive to where they want to go free from traffic jams


Please talk to anyone you know trying to raise a family in Portland, or Salt Lake City or Dallas or any other city with the density of Los Angeles that put in light rail. It is an expensive distraction that enriched the local elites while doing nothing at all for traffic. In fact all the systems - every single one of the systems in a city with Los Angeles' density failed to reduce traffic in a meaningful way.

Light rail is a scam and has been proven to be a scam.

Bus Rapid Transit (google it) works better and can be implemented right now for one quarter the cost of light rail.

It is being ignored since it offers less opportunity for skimming money than light rail does

http://tinyurl.com/90402lightrail

Anonymous said...

Light rail hater: Who are you kidding? Have you ever taken any of L.A. County's light rail lines (i.e., Blue Line, Green Line, Gold Line)? Have you ever taken the Santa Monica 10 to downtown?

Have you ever taken the Red Line?

No, you've never been on any of these rail or bus lines.

If you did ride them you would find that thousands of people use them everyday. Yes, real Americans actually ride these rail lines every day and depend on them to get to work.

Some of these people may not fit your idea of acceptable folks, and I know that you treat these people like dog poo on the sidewalk, but we don't all value the importance of public transportation systems based on socioeconomic status.

Oh wait, I'm on the "Westside Bubble" blog where it's okay to be a bigoted, racist idiot.

And no, I don't support or encourage homeless people to migrate to Santa Monica.

I bet 80% of the housekeepers in Cheviot Hills use the SM bus system and they'd appreciate the new light rail system since it will make their commute so much easier!

Anonymous said...

Light rail is for the benefit of the "Stuff White People Like" crowd


not for the house keepers

Anonymous said...

"Google this - this is the result of an impartial think tank that studied light rail" ... "A number of world renowned experts have studied light rail and concluded that it will not help with traffic congestion."

No, I am not going to "google this." If you make these claims, it is up to you to substantiate them with data. This is the day and age of the internet. Provide a link to back up your claims, otherwise shut up. I'd like to read the report of these "renowned experts" not your spin of it.

"Light rail is a scam and has been proven to be a scam. ... or any other city with the density of Los Angeles that put in light rail."

You might not be aware of this, but in the 1920s and 30s, LA county had one of the most extensive light rail systems on the planet. It worked back then (when the area was even less settled than now), why not now? Your thinking is just stuck in traffic, together with your car.

"Please talk to anyone you know trying to raise a family in Portland ..."

Actually, my friends in Portland (with a family!) can't stop raving about the public transport system there.

Anonymous said...

Los Angeles had light rail in the 1920's and 1930's in fact the light rail tracks extended all the way to Santa Monica - why do you think there is that beautiful median in the center of san vicente in Santa Monica - that median used to have light rail

it was just like the St Charles Avenue Streetcar in New Orleans

Truly beautiful

As soon as Los Angelinos could afford automobiles, they bought automobiles and stopped using the light rail. Ridership fell so hard in the 1920's that the light rail lines started losing tons of money. They couldn't keep operating light rail since people preferred cars to light rail

Anyway, follow this link to an article on "Light Rail does not work"

http://www.cato.org/pub_display.php?pub_id=8655


http://tinyurl.com/honestyrail

Anonymous said...

4. Light rail increases congestion.

Most light-rail lines operate on streets for at least part of their length, and transit planners time traffic signals to favour trains over automobiles. The delays that result greatly exceed the benefit of getting a handful of people out of their cars.

A new light-rail line in Minneapolis so disrupted traffic signals that people using a parallel highway found they were spending an added 20 minutes or more sitting in traffic. Internal documents revealed that the government knew this would happen, but the state says it can never be completely fixed because federal rules require that signals favour the light rail.

Anonymous said...

Read that again - light rail slows down auto traffic

Anonymous said...

>>>>"Light rail is for the benefit of the "Stuff White People Like" crowd


not for the house keepers

March 27, 2009 4:58 PM"<<<<

You obviously haven't used any of the light rail lines in L.A. or the Red Line. I used to ride the Red Line from Union Station to my office. I used Metrolink to get to Union Station.

I've also used both the Blue Line and Green Line. I can tell you that there aren't a whole lot of "stuff white people" types on the Blue Line.

On another topic, I'm going to turn on every light, applicance and other electricity consuming gadget that I have tomorrow in honor of "Earth Hour".

Global Warming is the biggest and most destructive hoax in human history.

Light rail lines just make sense because they are efficient and public transportation is needed for a large city like L.A.

Have any of your snobby snots here ever looked at the bus stops on the Westside at 5 pm? What do you see? These are the people who will benefit from the new light rail line.

Lots of commuters who work downtown will also benefit.

This has got to be one of most snobbish blogs on the web.

Anonymous said...

what kind of a doofus are you ?

you are saying that global warming is a hoax and so you will deliberately waste energy?

what a troll.


the respected scientists agree that global warming is real. the 90402 is safe since the 90402 is elevated far above sea level - however other parts of santa monica are going to be flooded by the rising water level - for example, the sea colony will be underwater

global warming is real and it is coming


light rail is the "big lie" it slows down traffic and diverts money away from the bus system. Bus system is where the money is needed

Anonymous said...

---"global warming is real and it is coming"---

LOL!!!!!!!

You're one of the kool-aid drinkers. You voted for "The One" obviously.

If global warming is real, then there's nothing we can do about it since humans are causing it.

It would be far CHEAPER to adapt to the changes brought by warming than it would be to stop it.

The reality is that the 3rd world nations will be increasing greenhouse gas emissions significantly over the next 100 years. Any decrease made in the USA and developed nations will not do a thing to halt the net increase in greenhouse gases produced.

So relax and just enjoy the sun. It's our friend.

And I will do my best to burn as much fossil fuels tomorrow in your honor!

Anonymous said...

edit: replace "are" with "aren't"

Actually, it really doesn't matter either way!

Anonymous said...

Global warming is not relevant to the 90402 - look at a topo map -we are way way above sea level

other parts of the west side are phucked -

show some honesty

Anonymous said...

for the portion in santa monica - the consultants orriginal choice of a route down olympic and grade separated (elevated) over 11th down to 4th is the best alternative. This will prevent accidents and traffic jams on Lincoln, 11th, 4th etc. The original red car rails lines got stuck in traffic and interferred with cars that is one of the reasons the orignal street cars were removed in LA. We havent learned anything in the last 100 years! The at grade route on Colorado will be a traffic night mare - jamming traffic on all north south streets from 17th street to 4th. make a comment to the expo EIR at their site and tell em you want the grade separated alternative on Olympic!

Anonymous said...

You are correct - but the earthquakes will cause the elevated tracks to plummet down
that is why they are not allowed to build elevated

the choices on the table are an at grade light rail that will phuck up traffic for the rest of our lifetimes or expanded rapid bus service

Anonymous said...

---"but the earthquakes will cause the elevated tracks to plummet down
that is why they are not allowed to build elevated"---

Huh? Are you saying that engineers don't know how to build earthquake resistent elevated tracks?

Wow. You ARE a troll.

According to your logic, we won't have to worry about the tracks falling down since every single freeway bridge, building, factor, oil refinery, ect in California will collapse in the next big earthquake.

This blog has gone to hell.

Anonymous said...

Global warming is not relevant to the 90402 - look at a topo map -we are way way above sea level

You would like water to drink and food to eat, too? Global warming impacts are a lot more than just rising sea level.

The original red car rails lines got stuck in traffic

Big difference: the original Red Car tracks were in traffic lanes with cars, which none of L.A.'s new light rail lines are. Trains will cross intersections on Colorado on green lights, no big deal.

Anonymous said...

the portion on colorado will run in mixed traffic with cars resulting in blocking left turns on colorad and there is no way signal synchronization will relieve the traffic impacts. just try driving on lincoln mid day north from south of the 10 and where it is already jammed. add a new signal phase to allow the train to go thru and it will just add to the delay. the route on colorado is not only bad for cars its bad for the light rail too because it will be stuck in traffic. whats the point of building a $1.5billion light rail if it gets stuck in traffic - a bus will be just as fast at a fraction of the cost. if light rail is to improve traffic and get people out of their cars it needs to be faster than the alternative. the best way to do this is grade separate the rail - dont make the trains get stuck in traffic!

Anonymous said...

agreed - light rail will not be much faster than bus

but it will line the pockets of the sc*mbags in local government

Anonymous said...

Thank you westside fools. I am now in favor of light rail, and looking for a likeminded organization to support financially.

Anonymous said...

the portion on colorado will run in mixed traffic with cars resulting in blocking left turns on colorad and there is no way signal synchronization will relieve the traffic impacts. ... add a new signal phase to allow the train to go thru and it will just add to the delay.

Tracks will be in a dedicated median, not mixed with traffic. No left turns will be allowed from that part of Colorado.

There will be no new signal phases, trains go on the through green light with cars. They may need to wait at Lincoln, but should get priority at other intersections.

Anonymous said...

the portion on colorado will run in mixed traffic with cars resulting in blocking left turns on colorad and there is no way signal synchronization will relieve the traffic impacts. ... add a new signal phase to allow the train to go thru and it will just add to the delay.

Tracks will be in a dedicated median, not mixed with traffic. No left turns will be allowed from that part of Colorado.

There will be no new signal phases, trains go on the through green light with cars. They may need to wait at Lincoln, but should get priority at other intersections.

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