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Simply laying miles of tracks and waiting for commuters to ride the rails won’t do much to lighten the load on Southern California’s overburdened freeways and roads. Not until the connections between rail transit and other forms of transportation are seamless will drivers turn to mass transit in any great numbers. It’s a point this page has made many times.

The type of connections that help make mass transit work include the bike facility that opened last week at the Chatsworth Metrolink station. The Chatsworth Depot Bike Stop includes lockers and changing areas for commuters who ride to or from the station. The shop also rents bikes and makes repairs. All of the $350,000 construction cost came from the half-cent sales tax provided by Proposition C.

A similar facility works near a Blue Line station in Long Beach, but the Chatsworth Depot Bike Stop is only the second of its kind in Los Angeles County. A third is planned for Santa Clarita next year. Only when mass transit is stitched into communities does it have any hope of paying for itself. Rail transit in Southern California is still a long way from paying for itself, but small efforts such as making it easier for bicyclists to use the train are a push in the right direction.