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ChineseThe Case For Rail: Guest Posting at L.A. Times Emerald City
Added on Wednesday, January 16th, 2008
Siel over at the L.A. Times Emerald City blog asked me to offer my opinion on a recent anti-rail op-ed piece printed in the L.A. Times entitled “The MTA’s Train Wreck“. In classic style, I did just that… for paragraphs and paragraphs. Here’s a little sample:
…Herein lies my problem with the article by Mr. Moore and Mr. Rubin: they still see transit as little more than a welfare program for those who can’t afford cars (aka, “the poor”). I see transit as the solution to The Traffic Problem. Transit ridership increases or decreases don’t matter in regards to The Traffic Problem if the only riders are those can’t afford cars in the first place. And in Los Angeles, because of The Traffic Problem, transit can no longer be seen as a welfare program. In other cities, perhaps, but in Los Angeles traffic is The Problem, and if The Problem isn’t solved it’s likely we’ll all end up needing some sort of welfare. But this is the beauty of public transit: it doesn’t discriminate. I can’t just go pick up some food stamps, but I’m free to hop on any bus or train. So transit has the potential to be a both a way to help give mobility to those who can’t afford a car AND solve The Traffic Problem by getting those who can afford cars out of them. The big issue, of course, is how to get those people out of their cars.
I can tell you right now: buses ain’t gonna cut it…
Go check out the post on Emerald City for the whole shebang.
