Saturday, July 08, 2006
No Green Light For the Green Line's Extension
The Metro Green Line is a hallmark of MTA illogic. A rail-line that teases you to use it by going "almost" to LAX. A current LA Weekly article sheds some light on how the current thinking as pertains to that rail line goes. Below is an excerpt from that article, and frankly, it's not entirely difficult to see why the forces behind it reason the way they do, but, in my deep opinion, the Metro Green Line should've been extending to the airport from the beginning, so that now this type of debate would be reduntant. While the Union Station Flyaway bus does close a gap of missing airport connections, the question is why it became a success, and granted, one reason is that the Metro Greenline ends abrubtly before LAX (which renders it less than an obvious choice for LAX heading riders). Besides, while the Flyaway is a good thing, it apparently requires a separate fare of $3. For many budget travelers, it'd be convenient to get to LAX on a regular Metro day pass. Now, if they choose the Flyaway, the price is upped $1.25, at least.
Not to say, a train that went all the way to LAX would much more intuitive to use, and be a more modern infrastructure choice.
Perhaps, well, MTA and LAX are siblings in terms of (sorry, excuse the term, cheap as it is) retardness. LAX is lax, just like the MTA is. Both do not represent Los Angeles as a world-class city (whatever that is, but just compare with other major cities' transportation systems and airports), and people deserve better. But here's how some of the current thinking goes, anyway:
Not to say, a train that went all the way to LAX would much more intuitive to use, and be a more modern infrastructure choice.
Perhaps, well, MTA and LAX are siblings in terms of (sorry, excuse the term, cheap as it is) retardness. LAX is lax, just like the MTA is. Both do not represent Los Angeles as a world-class city (whatever that is, but just compare with other major cities' transportation systems and airports), and people deserve better. But here's how some of the current thinking goes, anyway:
SHOOTING DOWN THE TRAINS
From LA Weekly's current issue
Standing before a room full of lobbyists, lawyers and airport contractors last week, the woman hired by Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa to run Los Angeles International Airport put her cards on the table regarding the Metro Green Line, the light-rail system that stops just shy of LAX.
In her usual no-nonsense fashion, Lydia Kennard bluntly warned her lunchtime audience that extending the Green Line to LAX could be a colossal waste of money. For one thing, she said, the project would cost at least a half billion dollars. For another, only one-third of 1 percent of the airport’s passengers use the Green Line.
“There are a lot of other, better things we can do with our money in terms of getting people to the airport,” she said...
(click on the LA Weekly link for the full story)
