(The Center Square) – Angelenos are celebrating the expansion of the city’s subway, but not everyone thinks the taxpayer-funded, $10 billion project will be that effective.
Section 1 of the Metro D Line Extension in Los Angeles adds three new underground stations. They are located at Wilshire/La Brea, Wilshire/Fairfax and Wilshire/La Cienega. This extends the subway west from Koreatown through neighborhoods such as Hancock Park, Windsor Square and into Beverly Hills. According to the mayor’s office, people on the subway can now travel from Union Station to La Cienega in about 20 minutes.
Mayor Karen Bass, who is running for reelection, said Los Angeles is a world-class city and public transportation everywhere around the city is important.
“It makes our very huge city smaller and a lot more connected,” said Bass at a recent event celebrating the expansion’s completion.
U.S. Sen. Adam Schiff, D-California, was also at the announcement. Schiff said it will be “wonderful” for people to get out of their vehicles and quickly move through Los Angeles.
“Quickly move through Los Angeles,” said Schiff. “Several words never spoken in combination like that before.”
Los Angeles County Supervisor Lindsey Horvath said this is just the beginning.
When Sections 2 and 3 are completed next year, Horvath said, 78,000 vehicles will come off one of the busiest corridors in the region, bringing a host of environmental, economic, travel time and quality of life benefits.
“For the thousands of visitors who will be coming to Los Angeles for the World Cup, Super Bowl, Olympic, and Paralympic Games, this east-west connection makes a meaningful difference,” said Horvath. “Today, we complete a chapter in 65 years of planning, of dreaming, and of persevering.”
Section 1 cost approximately $3.5 billion. The total cost, including Sections 2 and 3, is $10 billion.
This is being paid for through a combination of federal grants and local sources. Measure R, for example, was approved by Los Angeles County voters in 2008 to help pay for transportation projects. Meanwhile, the city of Los Angeles contributed approximately $75 million to the project.
Stephanie Wiggins, CEO of the LA Metro, said a ride from downtown to the west side will cost only $1.75. Meanwhile, passengers will be able to have cell service while traveling underground.
“There will be no traffic or parking headaches, no gas pump outrage, but these are more than just subway stations,” said Wiggins. “We want them to be vibrant places that are welcoming and connected to the communities they serve, and I am most proud because at a time when most American cities are talking about transit, Los Angeles is actually building it.”
Steven Greenhut, director of the Free Cities Center at Pasadena-based Pacific Research Institute, said this news is encouraging, but demand for service needs to increase.
“The Southern California Association of Governments (SCAG) has done a report looking at the percentage of people in the region that use mass transit, and it just really isn’t that high,” Greenhut told The Center Square. “According to SCAG, the median resident of Southern California takes zero transit trips annually, and only 2% of the region’s population frequently uses transit.”
Greenhut added that it would help if the transit agency got its act together.
He pointed to “quite a few crime problems” and rampant fare evasion.
“There were reports that 46% of riders don’t pay, and the Metro has installed automated gates recently,” said Greenhut, author of the “Putting Customers First” pamphlet for PRI. “So we’ll see if that’s going to help, but overall, you know, transit agencies just generally don’t do that good a job.”
