Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
Until recently auto industry subsidies were mostly government-funded highways as well as traffic patrols. But also bailouts. Chrysler came first in 1980, returned along with GM in 2008. Let's not forget private subsidies, such as parking for customers, with those who walked there paying the same price. And remember the giveaways for the now-closed Saturn plant. Tax writeoffs for business use of vehicles, currently at 55.5 cents per mile. Probably if LA had kept the Pacific Electric fewer freeways would have been built.
Until recently auto industry subsidies were mostly government-funded highways as well as traffic patrols. But also bailouts. Chrysler came first in 1980, returned along with GM in 2008. Let's not forget private subsidies, such as parking for customers, with those who walked there paying the same price. And remember the giveaways for the now-closed Saturn plant. Tax writeoffs for business use of vehicles, currently at 55.5 cents per mile. Probably if LA had kept the Pacific Electric fewer freeways would have been built.
Sigh! Almost ALL roads are publicly funded. Only in a few gated areas are there private roads. Traffic patrols? Wouldn't you need traffic cops on the streets for public safety purposes, regardless of the mode of transportation being employed? I agree about the bailouts. But good grief! Complaining about subsidized parking seems kinda whiny to me. Employees who get to write off business use of vehicles would also get to write off any kind of transportation used instead for business. All this whining about what "might have been" is pointless.
My point is, we don't know. This hypothetical assumes everything else would be exactly as is. IF the streetcars had remained, something other variable might have changed b/c of that. I think such threads are an exercise in futility.
The real shame is that you can never go back. Some of those line ran through the middle of what are now upper middle class neighborhoods. Try and get a similar right of way back.
It was a substantial chance lost. But I would question if anything else could have been done. The resistance in the US SW to eminent domain and such is well known...even in California.
Sure could have made a difference though. As one who commuted up the 405 from OC to the airport I can personally attest to how nice it would have been to have a rail line along the coast.
You know perhaps it was not as big a loss as we make out. We have for instance the right of ways of all the freeways readily available for an elevated train...and we build very few. I would agree they are expensive but in southern California they would be cheaper than anything else when the cost of land is considered.
So perhaps the real answer is that So CA is committed to the car and will consider no alternatives.
Maybe the answer is the googlemobile and more efficient use of the freeways.
The Chicago area managed to keep most of its commuter and elevated network. One result was residential development started along the rail lines, with "infill" areas less favored. More important, the "loop" remained strong even as people moved to the suburbs, as it was still easy to get to. Perhaps LA would have seen more commercial development downtown.
California is committed to the car and will consider no alternatives? Sez who? Los Angeles has expanded its subway and light rail network prodigiously in recent years, supplemented by bus service. Light rail is more comparable to the Pacific Electric, which was an interurban rail system that ran all the way east past San Bernardino and south into Orange County. PE operated or acquired some local streetcar systems, but downtown Los Angeles was served by LARY streetcars, not PE.
California is committed to the car and will consider no alternatives? Sez who? Los Angeles has expanded its subway and light rail network prodigiously in recent years, supplemented by bus service. Light rail is more comparable to the Pacific Electric, which was an interurban rail system that ran all the way east past San Bernardino and south into Orange County. PE operated or acquired some local streetcar systems, but downtown Los Angeles was served by LARY streetcars, not PE.
An interesting an informative piece from the Wikipedia.
**********************************
In 2006, of the 4,423,725 workers aged 16 or older in Los Angeles County, 72.0% commuted to work driving alone, 11.9% commuted by driving in a carpool and 7.0% commuted on public transportation. 64.9% of public transportation commuters were non-white, 70.2% were Hispanic and 67.6% were foreign born. 75.5% of public transportation commuters earned less than $25,000. However, only 32.7% of public transportation commuters had no vehicle available to them for their commute.
**********************************
Now I am quite sure it is not authoritative though the source may well be. But it gives the flavor.
You have an area where 7% of the population uses public transport. And a vast expansion would get it to 10 or 11%.
It is simply not enough to be relevant.
And those who do use it will be most pleased with the googlemobile.
Please register to post and access all features of our very popular forum. It is free and quick. Over $68,000 in prizes has already been given out to active posters on our forum. Additional giveaways are planned.
Detailed information about all U.S. cities, counties, and zip codes on our site: City-data.com.
Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
