History, Opinion

Returning to a Public Transit Lifestyle

Contributed by ScottMercer on June 10th, 2006 at 11:37 pm

This blog is about the “public transit lifestyle.” So where better to talk about such a thing than in Los Angeles?

Huh? Isn’t that utterly wrong? Isn’t L.A. where the car is king? Where you roll unemcumbered at 65 mph down endless empty freeways in your 1960’s convertible, your hair blowing in breeze, as you ride into the sunset with The Beach Boys playing on your AM radio? No. It isn’t. You’ve been watching too many Frankie and Annette movies, my friend.

That entire archetype is a myth. Always has been. Look, we’ve always had bus service here. And there was only a narrow period of time in which we didn’t have train service: 1963-1990. At some point prior to 1963, we had the largest mass transit rail system in the ENTIRE WORLD.

We had over 1000 miles of passenger rail service, extending over three counties and hundreds of communities. I’m talking about the Pacific Electric Railway, of course. But let’s not forget the “yellow cars” of the Los Angeles Railway as well. Some of those ran on our streets until 1963. My point is that mass transit in the form of rail transit here in Los Angeles is not anything new; it is merely a matter of us returning to a long and glorious hertiage that served our area extremely well in the past, and will do so again in the future. Why this rail system was dismantled is a discussion for another time. But let everyone realize that rail works, and it works here. History says so.

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There are One Response to “Returning to a Public Transit Lifestyle”:

  1. Nice post Scott. It’s pretty amazing to think that all that rail infrastructure was erased to make way for a “car culture” that urban planners should have known would have run its course in the short time that it did. Here we are 40 years later and the “dream” you talk about (the one with empty freeways and 65 miles per hour) is just that, and the reality is crammed freeways with speeds projected to be average of 37 mph (best case scenario) in 6 years and 15 mph or less in 25 years. An alternative to single occupancy automobiles needs to be found, be it rail, busway, or other mass tranist.

    Oh yeah, thanks for participating in MetroRiderLA!  We look forward to more of your insight.

    Comment by FredCamino on June 10th, 2006 at 11:53 pm »Reply« resta suma