Negatives of Monorail

We all have happy memories of monorail from outings at Disneyland, but we should not base major transit decisions on a pleasant buzzword. Critical choices of route and equipment now are being made for rapid transit in the San Fernando Valley. As a 31-year Valley resident, and a civil engineer, I fear that the public and some of its leaders have not considered fully the negative features of a monorail shoehorned into the Ventura Freeway:

* Monorail equipment cannot be connected to the Red Line cars which will travel from downtown to North Hollywood. This will mean a change of trains and a wait at North Hollywood. It also necessitates train yard and servicing areas in the Valley.

* Switching of monorail lines is cumbersome and unsightly. The technology has been little-used. Major cities throughout the world have decided to use conventional rail systems, and we should not spend this kind of money on a glamorous experiment.

* Because monorail cars and equipment are uncommon, original and repair parts are likely to depend on a single source.

* The location of monorail stations at existing interchanges along the Ventura Freeway will create a parking and pedestrian nightmare at these already crowded locations. Freeway noise will make the stations undesirable to potential passengers.

* Construction of monorail along the freeway will be a logistic and commuter battle of major proportions. Why suffer it to build an inferior system?

Mass transit westward across the San Fernando Valley should be a continuation of the system from downtown, built on the route previously chosen: an existing Southern Pacific corridor, with logical stations near Valley College, downtown Van Nuys, Sepulveda Basin, Pierce College and Warner Center.

We should build it in increments, as soon as they can be funded. Our community will be much the better for it.

TERRY DOOLEY

Sherman Oaks