MTA and the Direction for Public Transit

I cannot help but be dismayed by the views concerning public transit in Los Angeles as expressed by James E. Moore II, Harry W. Richardson and Peter Gordon in “MTA Makes a Right Turn” (Opinion, Dec. 28). Apparently, auto-driven suburban sprawl will continue to lead us into the best of all possible worlds, since it “permits companies and households to escape social ills.”

In this scenario, downtown L.A. can also be written off as a no-man’s land, with the very idea of a city center being halfway hospitable after dark being dismissed an “an eternal pipe dream.” Impending gridlock on the freeways? Not to worry: “. . . trip speeds have continued to increase since 1980.”

Men and women of goodwill can honestly disagree on solutions to Southern California’s transportation problems. But to get beyond the current zero-sum bus versus rail debate, much less bring a sense of long-term direction to the MTA, surely limited credence needs to be given to “experts” such as these who persist in burying their heads in the sand.

DONALD A. STANWOOD

Costa Mesa

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There is much justification for criticism of the performance of the MTA. However, the value of the ultimate goal of providing a truly alternate means of transportation cannot be denied. Despite the authors’ consistent and continuous advocacy of more buses, they do not constitute a true alternative. For the most part they are vying for the same precious resource as the private automobile, which is obviously the reason for traffic congestion. Busways don’t help either because they are also open to car-poolers and have to merge with the other traffic somewhere.

They offer the idea that there isn’t proper population distribution to make a rail system work in this region. Clearly this is due to the availability of the freeways and the options provided for the automobile. It took many years and billions of dollars to put the freeway system into place. It will take many years and billions of dollars to build a rail system that would be a true alternative. Rail systems also can easily adjust their capacities to meet peak demands and have the potential to become driverless devices.

All predictions show a tremen- dous influx of people into this area. If the choice exists, many of them will opt to use the alternate system and change the demographics the article cites.

HUGH A. BARNWELL

Hawthorne