First week of Expo Line service to Santa Monica: another accident-prone rail line in L.A.?

Readers React: First week of Expo Line service to Santa Monica: another accident-prone rail line in L.A.?

Josiah Davis, right, rides the new Expo Line to his tech job in Santa Monica. Until this week, he faced commutes of up to three hours each way from his home in Long Beach.

May 26, 2016 12 AM PT

To the editor: I thought it would be just a matter of time before there would be an accident on this roller coaster that the Los Angeles County Metropolitan Transportation Authority passes off as an alternative to driving. But I never imagined a car would crash onto the Expo Line’s tracks on the first day of the first full workweek of operation to Santa Monica. Thankfully no one was hurt. (“Expo Line, meet the real world: A car on tracks, a broken-down train,” May 23)

There are so many things that are wrong about this train. It is too near to schools and pedestrian walkways; worst of all, in many areas cars are rushing by in every direction.

All of it makes me want to leave Los Angeles and go back to a city like New York that has gotten rapid transit right all these years.

Sherry Davis, Playa Vista

To the editor: The MTA spokesman quoted in the article laughed at the accident that blocked the Expo Line on Monday. “Why does this keep happening when it does?” he asked.

Why? Because the MTA decided not to separate much of the rail line from traffic.

The San Francisco Bay Area’s BART system was built decades ago, and it does not conflict with traffic. The MTA decided to build on the cheap everywhere. The MTA decided to avoid going to where mass transit is needed, in particular LAX.

Should we trust the MTA with even more sales tax money to continue doing things wrong? Not with its “track record.”

Tom Keiser, Pasadena

To the editor: The new Expo Line extension to Santa Monica is a wonderful improvement on the status quo, but it is needlessly clogging Westside traffic. The problem is at the intersections with crossing gates.

The gates go down an absurdly long time before the train actually arrives. Worse yet, the problem is compounded because the gates stay down very long after the train has passed.

Metro should fix this as soon as possible.

Randy Garrou, Los Angeles

Follow the Opinion section on Twitter @latimesopinion and Facebook