Digging L.A. Out of Its Transit Mess

A November ballot initiative may be the public’s last chance to save Los Angeles County from a regional transportation nightmare.

The Metropolitan Transportation Authority Reform and Accountability Act would principally do two things. First, it prohibits the use of transportation sales tax funds for the construction of any new subways after the current project between downtown and North Hollywood is completed. Second, and more important, it gives us a chance to create a new vision for a regional transportation system--one that is affordable and achievable in our lifetime.

The financial challenges confronting the MTA are legion. The subway’s construction costs are $300 million per mile, at least five times more than surface light rail or 20 times more than busways. Subways have been the driving force behind the growth of the MTA’s $7-billion debt, now so high that debt service is the single largest item in the MTA’s annual operating budget--about $360 million per year.

What’s worse, our region is wasting a precious opportunity to build a functional transportation system because it remains locked in the old transit planning paradigms. Indeed, the MTA has committed much of the next several decades’ worth of transit sales taxes to pay off the subway debt. By changing course now, we can free up future sales tax dollars for a more affordable transit system, serving more people and more communities in our sprawling region.

I do not come to this position lightly. I once backed this project based on a set of assumptions that now have gone up in smoke: that we would have a higher rate of federal financial participation; that the MTA staff would competently manage its construction program; and that the MTA board would exercise rigorous oversight in protecting the taxpayers. It didn’t work out that way, and as a result, local taxpayers are bearing a much larger share of a much more expensive, runaway rail project.

My initiative will do what the MTA board itself is unwilling or unable to do. Predictably, this measure has drawn fire from defenders of the status quo. Here are a few of their myths, debunked:

* Los Angeles will never be a world-class city without a subway. Nonsense. We can proudly hold our own with any leading world city. What we do lack, however, is the population density that sustains subway ridership in European, Asian or even East Coast cities. Consider that if you start at the Eiffel Tower and head out six miles in any direction, you’ve essentially left Paris. By contrast, if you start at Los Angeles City Hall and head out six miles, you won’t even have reached La Brea Avenue. Los Angeles needs a public transportation system that truly serves its population and is tailored to its geography.

*% There are certain areas whose transit needs can be served only with subways. Actually, there are just a few areas of Los Angeles that have such high population density that they cannot be easily served by above-ground rail or bus. Two of them, downtown and Hollywood, will be served by the subway; a subway in the third area, the Wilshire corridor, has been blocked by federal law due to high concentrations of methane gas. All other communities have alternatives.

The MTA has spent hundreds of millions of dollars purchasing railroad rights of way that could be used for light rail or busways in the Eastside, the Westside and the San Fernando Valley. Instead, the MTA insists on expanding its financially ruinous subway system, tying up funds that could be used for more affordable alternatives. In truth, the entire county has suffered from the MTA’s reckless waste and mismanagement. It’s time to change.

* The November initiative permits no subways whatsoever, not even a short tunnel running under a river or an intersection. While the measure prohibits the use of transportation sales tax revenue for any new tunnel construction, it does not preclude the use of federal, state or other transportation grants for grade separation either above or below ground. Accordingly, a short tunnel under the L.A. River would be legally permissible and financially supportable, under terms of the initiative.

* It’s too late to turn back now; if we don’t build more subways, the current one will be a waste. Hardly. The Red Line subway, when completed, can be the spine of a great multimodal transportation system. Surface rail, busways and bus lines can easily feed off and connect to this 18-mile subway, providing a transit network stretching from Pasadena to Long Beach, and from East Los Angeles to the San Fernando Valley and Santa Monica.

For several decades during this century, Los Angeles had a remarkably effective public transit system--the Pacific Electric, a legendary network of surface rail lines whose red cars ferried commuters, shoppers and tourists throughout the Southland. Those pioneering transit planners had the right idea. This November, voters will have the opportunity to set Los Angeles transportation policy back on the right course. It may well be our last chance.