The Downtown LA Streetcar Should Travel on 9th Street

July 12, 2012 3 Comments

The most effective route for the streetcar would travel east on 9th Street, not 7th.

I’ve written a couple times about the streetcar being planned for Downtown LA. First, examining all of the suggested route options and then praising the selection of the locally-preferred-alternative. As I said in those pieces, I think the LPA that was selected is good, but after looking at it further, it’s certainly not best. Upon more reflection I’ve come to believe that taking the route east on 7th Street instead of 9th Street would be a particularly unfortunate decision for both mobility and development reasons and wanted to explore the options further. (Click here for a pdf of both routes from the city.)

Here’s why:

7th Street Doesn’t Gain You Much

The key reasoning behind taking the streetcar up to 7th Street is access to the 7th Street/Metro Center station. That’s all well and good, but what does this actually get us? We must first remember that this portion of the route will be a one-way loop headed east and then turning north on Hill.

With this in mind, it will certainly be useful for travel from Staples Center/LA LIVE/Convention Center to connect to the Metro Red/Purple lines. However, with a probably similar fare, the more frequent combined northbound service from the Metro Blue/Expo lines at Pico is probably a better bet anyway. It’s a block or two further from LA LIVE, but closer to the Convention Center and Staples south entrances.

What about the other direction, though?

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Lessons From San Diego: Transit Retail

June 1, 2012 Leave a comment

Not long after Los Angeles’ newest light rail line opened up, I had a chance to visit San Diego and ride all three of their “Trolley” lines. (Personally, I’ve always considered a trolley the same as a streetcar, like the one being planned in Downtown LA, but San Diego uses it as the name for the regional light rail system.)

First, a few observations..

Low Floor Vehicles: San Diego MTS has some nice new, low floor, vehicles (that do seem to me more like a streetcar or a trolley). These vehicles are a vast improvement over the old ones, where you would have to climb two stairs to the higher floor. The new vehicles offer ample space for bikes and people, but there was definitely less space to sit. The center aisles near the doors are large and spacious, but very onorganized. It may seem strange, but because there was so much open space, the aisles became a mess of legs, bikes, shopping bags, and riders all mixed together, and it was actually hard for people to get on and off at stations. If there was a designated “bike, stroller, luggage” section, like on LA’s Metro vehicles, it may work better.

San Diego’s low-floor trolley. (Photo: San Diego MTS/Brett Shoaf)

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Civic Philanthropy: Transit

March 29, 2012 3 Comments

This is part of a short series on Civic Philanthropy. For an introduction, please read my first post on the subject: How Can Cities Leverage Donations?

Transit infrastructure is imperative to a city’s success. Whether by way of roads, sidewalks, bike paths, streetcars, light rail, subway, or personal flying pods, people need to get around. I believe that infrastructure (and specifically transportation infrastructure) should be at the top of a government’s list when it comes to spending money. It is a shared amenity that benefits all within the city and allows the city’s residents and businesses to function.

Unfortunately, most of our nation’s (and certainly here in Los Angeles) infrastructure is crumbling. Bridges are failing, roads are sinking, trains are slow… because the government has not invested as it should. There’s obviously needs to go around. Education is important, police are important, some of the bureaucratic positions may or may not be important… but money needs to go to lots of things. Infrastructure often gets pushed aside until it’s too late. And now, it’s getting to be too late.

Thomas Wayne built Gotham's transit system as a gift to the people (and to support his business) in Batman Begins.

Like Bruce Wayne’s father in Batman Begins, I see an incredible opportunity for cities to court businesses and individuals to help improve the transit system in their city.

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LA Streetcar Selects Locally Preferred Alternative

March 15, 2012 6 Comments

Metro and the LA Streetcar announced late last week the selection of a locally preferred alternative (or LPA) for the Downtown LA Streetcar project. With this, the full Alternatives Analysis is being sent to the Metro Board for review — but the LPA is presented as the preferred option.

I closely examined the alternatives in a post back in December. While my preference is Alternative 4 (which travels east on 9th Street), the study recommends Alternative 7 (traveling east on 7th Street) as the LPA. It does, however include Alternative 4 as a secondary option and recommend that both be studied as the process moves forward.

I think they’ve made the right choice, carrying both of these routes forward for further study and eliminating all others. Take a look back at my reasons for settling on these two, and let me know what you think.

Either way, I’m looking forward to this project continuing through the analysis process and moving closer to construction.

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