Trains and Buses

* Once again Mike Antonovich’s toy monorail raises its ugly head. It seems Antonovich is determined to leave Los Angeles with a legacy, no matter what the cost to the public. He urges another study; no study is needed. One only needs to call the MTA and ask them what the total ridership is of the 424, 425, 522 bus lines and divide by 2. That would more closely approximate ridership of the proposed trolley than the inflated results of the previous study done for the monorail.

Does anyone seriously believe that the affluent of Woodland Hills, Tarzana and Encino are going to drive their plush vehicles to a train station and hop on a trolley to go shopping in Sherman Oaks or Studio City? Give me a break, supervisor. As a bus rider I am appalled at the money wasted on light-rail projects in this county, including MetroLink and others under construction or proposed. It seems no one understands that before you can have an effective rail transportation system you must have a good local bus system to support it. It is time to shut down MetroLink and the Redline project and spend that money upgrading the bus system.

STANLEY M. PARKER

Tarzana