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ChineseGreen Line Destinations: What an Oxymoron
Anyone picked up that “Green Line Destinations” brochure yet? I grabbed one after work a couple days ago because, sadly, I needed a good laugh. It’s great to know that I can take over an hour to get to a McDonalds or an El Pollo Loco, if I’m ever feeling deprived and in need of a pleasure tour along the Century Freeway.
What do people know of the green line? My understanding is that the travel industry lobby (e.g. taxi drivers, LAX garages, area hotels) advocated for the green line to stay out LAX, in order to keep it from being easy to get out of the area. So that makes that part of the Green Line kind of useless. But my further understanding is that, when it was built, there was a hope that the aerospace industry would be a huge employer on the western edge, and that folks would commute from the eastern edge of it, and thus create independent demand for the line. I’ve also heard rumors that the BRU advocated for the line, which would explain why it’s the runt of the MTA litter.
But instead, the military-industrial complex collapsed under its own weight after the Cold War, and now I have trouble seeing the use for it. It follows the freeway medians, which isn’t exactly the most comfortable way to wait for a train, Hollywood/Vine it ain’t. Frankly, I fail to grasp why we didn’t simply split the blue line into two branches, west and east, so that you could at least get a one-seat ride to LAX and Norwalk. A flying junction at Imperial/Wilmington would be annoying but not impossible, and by the time you’re building a flying junction, you could put in switches that would allow the Norwalk-Redondo service that currently exists. Sort of like the NY/NJ PATH, where at peak hours you can go from almost any station, to almost any station, in a single ride.
So, any thoughts on the green line in its current state?
Photo by Peter Ehrlich, hosted by the NYC Subway fan site.
Discussion
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Ages ago, I worked in El Segundo (not aerospace), and I would drive to Norwalk to take the Green Line the last bit of the drive (my commute started in Claremont). It was a rather pleasant ride, although the walk from the Mariposa stop to my office was not always so good. On a couple rare occasions I did the whole trip by transit (Metrolink-Red-Blue-Green) and one day I decided to go to the beach by transit, taking the green line to its end point and then a Metro bus the rest of the way to the beach.
Freeway median stations aren’t so bad as many Angelenos say they are. Having grown up in Chicago, I’m accustomed to them (three out of five freeways have median rail), and it’s not such a big deal to get in and out of them.
The Green Line does seem pretty useless in the grand scheme of rail lines in this city. Obviously as far as “destinations” go, it’s a joke, there’s nothing I’d call a destination along the route. Doesn’t quite make it to LAX or the beach, so you’re left with El Pollo Loco. I’m sure some people in that area find it useful for their needs, but I also feel the stops are to far apart to really be used effectively by people in that area.
I have to admit though, I recently needed to register my business name which must be done in Norwalk, so I took the the Blue Line to the Green Line and rode it all the way to the Norwalk station… and then took a 15 minute or so Norwalk bus rider to the LA Registrars office in Norwalk. So if you need to register a business or get a marriage license in LA, the Green Line has some use, although you do have to transfer to a bus.
The Green Line was built by consent decree, but it was not built as a result of the BRU. Originally the residents of South Central filed a lawsuit against the freeway for environmental justice reasons. As a result the consent decree signed designated a “transitway” be built in the middle of the freeway, which at first was a busway until it morphed in the 1980 plan to becoming the Green Line.
Right. The history of the Green Line is inextricably tied up with the 105 freeway. But it’s that stupid left turn south, instead of a right turn to LAX that makes the thing a true laughingstock.
I would not go around flinging rumors of “the powerful taxi lobby” keeping the line out of LAX. Yeah right. Powerful taxi lobby? In L.A.? This smacks of urban legend. No, I think it was just a case of poor planning, and thinking that the large aerospace employers were a better bet for carrying more riders. Looks like the planners just backed the wrong horse. But really, let’s get that thing into LAX. Or build the LAX Express.
The right turn was officially explained as catenary reasons to me by MTA Board member John Fasana a decade ago. It does make sense when you figure that some tunneling would be required to get the train underneath the clear zone of the runway.
Some very good comments. However I love it. I work 0.7 Miles from the Aviation station, I get on at the beginning. 25 Minutes even during rush hour. That even makes the 12 minutes of walking worth it.
I would love it if it went all the way to the 57 or even beter through the hills to Chino hills, but that would cost a lot of money. Better than nothing though I would not be able to work were I do without it.