Commuter Comments

I read with pleasure Kevin Roderick’s article about the delights to be found on a weekend stay in downtown Los Angeles (“What’s Up Downtown,” June 2) until I saw his perplexing comments about Union Station. He said that in its heyday, Union Station hosted 66 trains daily and over 7,000 passengers daily, while today the station is unlikely to see 7,000 passengers in a week. In fact, each weekday 95 trains enter and depart Union Station, transporting more than 20,000 passengers between Metrolink and Amtrak. Union Station and its revitalization is perhaps the single greatest success story in all of downtown Los Angeles.

CARL H. SCHIERMEYER

Fountain Valley

Roderick replies: Those who note that Union Station is well used by rail commuters today are correct. I should have made it clear that my reference was to the decline in strictly long-distance passenger travel.

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Kevin Roderick says he descended into the Red Line’s “Hill Street Station.” There is no such station; he may have been referring to the Pershing Square Station. I also took exception to his statement that “the subway still looks new, perhaps because it is so little used.” Please do not give readers the impression that the Red Line subway is “little used.” I believe the main reason the subway is so clean is that passengers cannot eat/drink/smoke in the cars or anywhere in the stations. I feel very strongly about the future of rail transit for commuting in the Los Angeles area.

ROXANA M. COLE

Covina

Editor’s Note: The Red Line advises that, indeed, there is no Hill Street Station, but both the Pershing Square Station and the Civic Center/Tom Bradley Station have entrances on Hill Street.