Readers React: Finally, Expo Line service to Santa Monica begins — and these readers are not impressed

Before Friday, it had been more than 60 years since Los Angeles enjoyed rail service to the beach in Santa Monica. The opening of Phase II of the Expo Line promises to free beach-bound Angelenos from their vehicular cages, we’ve been told, in exchange for reliable, safe transit to paradise.

Reliable and safe, maybe, but not that quick. The 45-minute-plus trip time between downtown Los Angeles and Santa Monica prompted most of the nearly three dozen readers who wrote letters about the new service to react critically to the Expo Line’s completion.

The possible takeaway for Metro officials? They still have their work cut out for them if they want to win over new transit riders.

James Roman, author of the book “Chronicles of Old Los Angeles,” compares L.A. and New York:

When comparing New York’s mass transit to the challenges faced in L.A., there’s one forgotten fact that cannot be repeated often enough.

In the early 20th century, New Yorkers saw such grave importance in public transportation that the city acquired the private trolley lines, ripped up the streets and installed them as the city-run subways that are still in use today. In contrast, those who ran Los Angeles took the small-government approach: In a capitalist system, let market forces determine the railroad’s future.

In 1926, the owners of the Pacific Electric Red Cars offered to build a network like New York’s, moving the trolley tracks underground in downtown L.A. and building elevated tracks that would not interfere with auto traffic in outlying areas. The catch: The public, not the railroad, would finance it. The plan was put to a referendum, and in the end, Los Angeles voters rejected the proposal.

Our great-grandparents saw no reason to pay to replace what they already took for granted. They’d rather spend their money on cars. We’re paying for it now.

Los Angeles resident Darryl Rehr remarks that Metro missed its chance to get it right:

An editorial on Friday describes the Expo Line to Santa Monica as “something so logical.” But why weren’t the so-called lessons learned not equally so?

Does it really take an expenditure of $2.5 billion to learn that we should “invest in the best” or “make it easier for drivers to become riders?”

When residents near the line appealed for grade separation, they were often labeled NIMBYs. According to Metro presenters at community meetings, these residents were not entitled to grade separation, a determination that was made using formulaic standards, never mind the effect on the ride’s efficiency.

Now, it’s a “lesson learned.” Were the people who planned this project and the commentators who lavished such praise on it (until now, of course) really that short-sighted?

Paul Zimmelman of Marina del Rey finds L.A.’s system lacking:

We have a new attraction: the slowest commuter trains in the modern world. And no bathrooms to boot.

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