Ted, I once had a discussion with a coworker over the sad state of public transportation in California. To be brief, here are some things I've learned or noticed:
- It costs L.A. twice as much to build a subway tunnel than, for example, NYC because L.A. needs to have it earthquake-proof.
- SoCal is pretty decentralized, so unlike Washington, D.C. that has a cool "hub-n-spoke" subway system, L.A. county can't really do it that way.
- Carpool lanes don't really increase carpooling around here. Most of the time, they're just used by those who just happen to have more than one passenger in the car.
- Sacramento continues to raid the gas tax revenues to cover their budgetary problems. They're supposed to be earmarked toward transportation only, but there's that "emergency loophole" that the legislature uses all the time. How many times in a row can we call this an "emergency"? Too bad it's hard to elect new representatives, given the gerrymandering that is going on here.
- New roads are shunned because it is feared that this will attract new development, but the lack of development has helped drive up real estate prices because so many people want to move here anyway. Meanwhile, 1/3 of L.A. county residents are considering moving out because of traffic concerns, home prices, etc., but it's hard to say whether most of them will actually follow through on this.
- Finally, the race for L.A. mayor is now between a corrupt incumbent and a challenger who might be a friend of illegal immigration. Talk about no-win situations.
Tenchusatsu |
