4 ms·
Mmmm I think you're being overly and ineffectively critical. LA is a gigantic sprawl, digging is complicated by things like, say, the La Brea Tar pits and NIMBY
by RangerScience 7y ago
Mmmm I think you're being overly and ineffectively critical. LA is a gigantic sprawl, digging is complicated by things like, say, the La Brea Tar pits and NIMBY-like stuff, and most of the new rail IS on a grade-seperated medium. San Fernando Valley has dedicated streets for busses, the LAX connector is a serious and immediate part of the plan, and if memory serves the connection to Santa Monica was ultimately finished years ahead of schedule.
Yes, the lack of express lines is a serious issue.
Quite frankly, the LA metro system is admirable failing at a nearly impossible task. It's just too spread out here for the usual set ups to work.
Ironically, part of the spread comes from the original LA transit system. You should look up a map sometime, it's really illuminating.
- selectodude 7y agoDecentralization is a good thing for a comprehensive transit system. One major issue that most cities have is that everybody goes to the same place every morning and leaves in the evening. That means you have incredible amounts of crowding for four hours per day in only one direction. It leads to an immense amount of overcapacity. If you have multiple job centers, it allows better use of existing stock. Additionally, LA is the densest metro area in the US.
- AnimalMuppet 7y agoWhat's your definition of "densest" here? What's the actual metric? Also, what's the definition of "LA metro area"? Los Angeles County? Ignoring, say, Orange County, and the parts of San Bernardino County and Riverside County that are relevant to solving the actual commuter problems of the LA basin?
- dtwest 7y agoLA is not the densest metro area in the US. It is New York City by far. But this comment got me curious, maybe I'm missing something. This article shows that LA is pretty close to NYC in terms of average density. But NYC is still more dense. https://www.citylab.com/equity/2012/10/americas-truly-densest-metros/3450/ https://www.citylab.com/equity/2012/10/americas-truly-denses...
- sroussey 7y agoEven that analysis is flawed as they base things on distance from city hall. In LA, that would be in a low population area. Anyhow, it’s always good to remember that NYC is not just Manhattan.
- jhbadger 7y agoOne issue is that "Los Angeles" in the popular mind is far larger than the literal city. A lot of the actual city, like Downtown and K-town are extremely dense and are quite walkable as well as covered well by public transit. It's just that a lot of the outlying areas and suburbs aren't.