MetroRiderLA

So I wrote a book about the Long Range Transportation Plan and sent it to Metro. Read it in its entirety here:

As Metro CEO Roger Snoble made it clear on the first page of the 2008 Long Range Transportation Plan Draft, mobility is the glue that holds a city together and in Los Angeles that adhesive is rapidly losing its grip. If we fail to properly address the mobility issues our city faces, if we put the glue in the wrong places or put too much glue in one place while letting other areas lose their bond, the outcome will invariably be a rapid fall from prosperity to ruin. The dream that brings so many people to our sun-drenched city – the dream of freedom, success, recreation, and culture – will remain just that, nothing more than a mere figment of an overactive imagination. But that same imagination can be the compound that forms the glue that will save our city – mobility.

Metro asked us to Imagine a mobile future, and that’s just what I’ve done. As a car-free (by choice) Angeleno and creator of the Los Angeles transit blog MetroRiderLA, I’ve got my fair share of ideas on how to improve mobility in this city.

First and foremost there is the cultural issue, more specifically, the car-culture. Although the foundations of Los Angeles were set with rail, the city is known worldwide as the birthplace and stronghold of the global car-culture. Unfortunately, in a county of over 10 million people and growing, a car-culture is simply not sustainable. Cars require too much space, too much infrastructure, too many public resources, and cause to many problems to be effective as the sole mode of transportation in a megalopolis such as ours. In virtually every major population center around the globe, mass transportation is the main form of day-to-day travel, and for good reason. It is a far more efficient, streamlined, and economical way of moving millions of people about densely populated geographical area. Population centers that don’t have ample mass transit infrastructure and ridership suffer accordingly. Unfortunately Los Angeles falls into this group. Although we are the second most populous city in the United States, our transit ridership is #34. Most of the transit riders in our city are lower income people who simply cannot afford a car. I imagine a city where mass transit is not seen as welfare, but viewed as a mode of transportation for everyone.

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This past Saturday, David Markland over at Metroblogging Los Angeles wrote a little post called “10 Ways to Improve L.A.’s Public Transportation System” that sparked big discussion. Among his ideas are the removal of all street parking from major roads, a county-wide $3/gallon gas tax, car pool lanes on surface streets, a ban on using wireless devices in cars, and taxing valets and parking services 50%. Not all of his ideas are quite so militant, others like making wi-fi and cell phone service available to transit users and allowing food and drink on transit are a bit more realistic. Inspired by his post, I have decided to make my own top 10 list, strictly from a transit user’s perspective. I’m not going to attacking funding or car culture or large scale infrastructure issues, just some basic things that I think Metro could do to make the current transit experience a lot friendlier. Feel free to add your own list in the comments.

1. Benches at every bus stop. And not those crappy plastic ones that are made out of garbage can material either. Those things make the city look ugly and aren’t particularly comfortable. Nice, stylish, comfortable benches please. And plenty of them. We know the bus isn’t going to be on time, so please give us a chance to rest our legs while we wait. Bus shelters would be even better, but I’m trying to be somewhat realistic.

The Good. Photo courtesy of Spacing Magazine.

The Bad. Photo courtesy of Fire Monkey Fish.

The Ugly. Photo courtesy of Fred Camino.

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