LAT: A Cool Way to Unclog L.A. [View All]

[question everything]

http://www.latimes.com/news/opinion/sunday/commentary/la-op-buses17apr17,1,613203.story

A Cool Way to Unclog L.A.

A smart mayor can help cure our poor circulation
By William Fulton
William Fulton is president of Solimar Research Group and a senior scholar at the School of Planning, Policy and Development at USC.

April 17, 2005

Everyone in L.A. is stuck in traffic. There is no longer any distinction between rush hour and the rest of the day. Whether freeways or surface streets, it's crawl, crawl, crawl.

Both Mayor James K. Hahn and his election opponent, Councilman Antonio Villaraigosa, are pushing big transportation platforms. Hahn touts express buses and money for a Gold Line extension. Villaraigosa promises more signal synchronization and more bus and rail service.

But is there really anything either candidate can do to decongest Los Angeles? Yes. The next mayor can make it cool to get around town without driving.

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But the power of rail — and rapid bus transit as well — is not in moving people today but in shaping the city tomorrow. In the last 30 years, rail transit has changed several U.S. cities, most notably Washington and San Francisco, where BART now connects far-flung communities in the East Bay and South Bay to the city's jobs and recreation — and even the airport — transforming time and space in a way that drivers and bus riders could never have imagined. L.A. is much bigger and more spread out, but the city's central parts are as dense as D.C. and San Francisco. One can easily traverse downtown, Hollywood, Mid-Wilshire, Pasadena and parts of South L.A. on the rail system. That was impossible a decade ago.

(snip)

A generation from now, when freeways are even more sluggish, most of the remaining transportation capacity will be along rail lines and busways. And much of the underutilized land available for higher-density development will be near the stops. The market, so far, has ignored the development potential along the Blue and Green lines. New development along rail and busway stops, especially for housing, will be more than an attractive alternative. It'll be the only solution left.