To the editor: Please, not another transit construction solution from academia using flawed comparisons to Europe (“The Wilshire subway took 46 years. Future projects should skip the decades of objections,” June 16). Yes, litigation is a problem, but it is not the problem.
The problem is the decreasing demand for transit service despite the tens of billions of taxpayer dollars spent on new rail lines. Lower ridership is not simply due to recovery from the COVID shutdown. L.A. transit ridership was in decline for years before COVID.
Transit systems are designed and operated around commuter trips. Remote work is now the most cost-effective commuter mobility option of all and it is here to stay.
Despite using the power of government to punish automobile drivers with higher and higher costs, there remains a massive chasm between the convenience of auto use and transit use.
Automated rail operation (which is in service all over the world and in U.S. airports) is one step that would increase the utility of our existing subway lines by making more frequent service affordable.
As for construction, building a larger in-house workforce is not the answer. I spent five years with the New York Metro Transit Authority, the largest in-house transit engineering organization in the country with the poorest track record by far of delivering transit projects on time. By contrast, L.A. Metro’s previous three-station Wilshire subway extension to Western Avenue was completed on budget in only five years employing a management team that was 20% in-house staff and 80% outside construction.
Edward McSpedon, Oxnard
This writer is the former chief engineer of L.A. Metro and chairman of the American Public Transit Assn.’s construction committee.
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To the editor: I am in agreement with most of guest contributor Payton Rockwood’s op-ed on the restrictions facing transit projects today. What I do object to is his calling the Metro’s “Ride the D” merchandise for the three new stations on the D Line a “joke.” It is not a joke. It is a blatantly sexist statement.
The t-shirts sold out because of what the “D” represents, and it is not only the subway line. It’s a sexual innuendo. Women continue to refuse to ride Metro because they don’t feel safe. “Ride the D” is an affront to those feelings.
How could the Metro board and Metro offices allow this phrase to see the light of day? It is juvenile, and shows a lack of respect by Metro to its riders.
Matthew Hetz, Los Angeles
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To the editor: Rockwood hit the nail on the head about why it’s so expensive and takes so long to build anything anymore, most specifically mass transit projects.
Every mile of track costs triple or more because of misguided and endless NIMBY lawsuits. If this mindset had existed back in the day, we probably would not have roads to access our beaches or our beautiful mountains. Doubtful the Golden Gate Bridge could get approved now — too many lawsuits.
Janet Cerswell, Rancho Cucamonga
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To the editor: This opinion piece made me wonder how we have arrived at a situation where local jurisdiction can overrule — and certainly delay — regional projects. From what little I’ve read, this does not appear to be a uniquely California problem. Other cities and regions of the U.S. appear to erect similar obstacle courses.
What I don’t know is if this is a problem unique to our country. Is Spain an outlier or representative of the norm outside the U.S.? Does our insistence on local jurisdiction represent rugged individualism run amuck? There are times when it would appear so — to the detriment of the greater good.
Martin Parker, Thousand Oaks
