Spend money on trains, subway

Re “Why dig L.A. into a hole?” Opinion, Nov. 18

Every few years, policymakers in L.A. are bedazzled by busways. First it was the slow-moving bus arteries of Curitiba, Brazil. Now it’s the same from Bogota, Colombia. Is this really their vision for Los Angeles? Do Angelenos stuck in traffic really want busways?

Busways are a far cry from the world-class city connected by trains that Mayor Tom Bradley envisioned a generation ago. Metro’s innovative Rapid Bus system has done a lot to encourage new riders. But there is no substitute for Metro Rail, particularly in the dense Wilshire Boulevard corridor.

Across the nation and here in Los Angeles, rail transit and intercity rail ridership is up, and new systems are being built. Voters approved Proposition 1B, and Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa realizes that Metro Rail expansion, below ground where appropriate, is what will get us out of our cars and slow-moving buses.

ALVA DENNIS LYTTON

Hollywood

The writer is on the board of directors of the National Assn. of Railroad Passengers.

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Everyone I know spends at least two hours a week more in the car than they did even two years ago. It is the main reason people dislike this city. The only chance for this city is to build the subway so people who can afford cars nonetheless find it advantageous to take mass transit. The carping about the cost is just shortsighted and is head-in-the-sand ignorance about how big Los Angeles is capable of getting in the next two decades. What a shame that these people have academic credentials and positions of power on the planning commission.

STEVEN FIERBERG

Los Angeles

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Anyone with common sense who reads this has to come away understanding that the politicians in Los Angeles, as well as in many other large U.S. cities, have spent decade after decade chasing their own legacies rather than looking to sensibly solve the transportation needs facing our communities. Los Angeles immediately needs to plan and build a greatly expanded public bus (cleaner natural gas) system all across the city -- not only the Wilshire Corridor. Automobile congestion could be significantly cut, pollution will be addressed and just possibly a few million of us will get out and learn how to truly be a part of a cosmopolitan city where we learn how to walk, ride and talk among ourselves.

GARY HALL

Los Angeles

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Re “All aboard,” editorial, Nov. 21

Some of the streets that I have seen repaved recently were on a scheduled and not a need basis. Use some of the bond money for sidewalks. They are the streets that the wheelchair-bound have to use.

MERLE S. GLICK

Los Angeles