Mass Transit: The Road to L.A.’s Future

Re “Plan May Do Little to Unclog Freeways,” July 16: Gov. Gray Davis’ congestion-relief plan for L.A. deserves praise for aiming to move motorists onto mass transit. Yet there is one key policy idea missing that could counter critics’ claims that the plan doesn’t do enough to improve traffic conditions.

What his plan lacks is a system of congestion pricing. Fundamentally, congestion reflects too much demand for a product in fixed supply--space on the roads. Charging drivers who use roads during peak hours a premium that reflects this scarcity would provide a strong incentive for many to take advantage of the mass transit to be built. The revenue generated could be put toward the mass transit construction costs, which Davis’ plan only partially covers, as well as expanding the capacity of those projects to make them more effective at reducing congestion. Another option would be to open the proposed high-occupancy vehicle lanes to solo drivers willing to pay a toll.

Mark M. Glickman PhD

Dir., Accurate Prices Program

Redefining Progress, Oakland

I recently moved from the traffic-plagued Westside to a loft downtown. Being a half-mile from the Metro Center station, I decided to put L.A.’s rail system to the test by taking the Blue and Green Lines to LAX--and loved it. It took around 45 minutes from Metro Center to the United Airlines terminal, not too bad considering traffic on the freeway appeared to be at a standstill as my train zoomed by at top speed.

The future of transportation in L.A. does not lie in more freeway construction, as some critics of the MTA’s newest projects have advocated, but rather in a denser network of rapid bus lines and light-rail projects that would crisscross all over the city, connecting its commercial nodes in a tightly woven network of mass transit. You will never solve the transportation woes of places like Century City or Westwood by building wider freeways, as the surface streets are already running beyond capacity. Only a comprehensive light-rail system complemented by a rapid bus network will alleviate traffic tensions in places like these.

John Southern

Los Angeles