Subway Needed for Eastside

The subway is dead. Long live the subway. The MTA board chose to put the last nail into the coffin by voting in favor of the new “restructuring plan.” Transportation decisions being made today will affect the future of Los Angeles as greatly as charter reform. Lack of reliable, clean, safe public transportation will doom East Los Angeles. The current “restructuring plan” does very little to address the transit needs of the Eastside.

The best the MTA has to offer is the vague notion of a busway (May 12, 14). Buses just can’t do the job, especially in East Los Angeles. There simply isn’t enough room for additional buses on 80-foot-wide streets. The Clean Air Act calls for clean transportation alternatives to diesel-powered, cancer-causing buses. The natural gas bus fleet is notorious for problems, most notably engine fires.

Surface rail would require costly and time-consuming studies, hearings and EIRs. Light rail right of ways would displace thousands and trains have proved fatal. The most logical solution to the Eastside’s transportation needs is the subway. Millions have been spent on studies, engineering, land acquisition and relocation. An hour bus ride equates to a 15-minute subway ride. Los Angeles already has a subway system, and for it to be viable, it needs to connect to the rest of the county. The subway will create jobs and a better quality of life. Don’t bury the subway just yet.

JOEL BLOOM

RACHAEL SANTOS

Metro Red Line Eastside Extension Review Advisory Council

Los Angeles