‘Smart Lane’ Approach Is a Road to Nowhere
The subhead of “Life in the ‘Smart’ Lane” (Nov. 3) reads, “Road to a High-Tech Transit System Paved With Opportunities.” The “smart lane” approach is a high-tech Band-Aid that allows companies to cash in at the taxpayers’ expense. Benefits to the local economy are welcome, but this direction just extends the life of an inefficient, polluting, dangerous system that is near collapse.
The goal of intelligent transportation systems (ITS) is to decrease travel time by 15% in 15 years at a cost in excess of $32 billion. So, after 15 years of high-tech improvements, a trip that could take 30 minutes but during peak times now averages 60 minutes will--if all goes as planned and we are willing to pay--take 51 minutes.
Forgive me for being less than thrilled. Since the auto, oil and highway industries have a vested interest in keeping the current system from reaching complete gridlock and forcing radical change, let them fund ITS. State and federal money is better spent on developing options that provide a realistic solution to our traffic problems.
One option is an integrated system in which high-speed inter-city trains link with commuter rail and subway or monorail lines ending at stations where you can use a debit card to rent an electric car for local transportation.
The jobs generated by the “smart lane” systems described do not justify carrying out such a ludicrous enterprise. A real effort at fixing our transit mess would provide many more jobs while helping make Los Angeles a cleaner, safer and saner place to live.
CHARLES MARK-WALKER
Via the Internet
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