The Orange Lie

I don't make a secret of my dislike for Metro's Orange Line. I've ridden it, and believe me...it's no walk in the park. Come to think of it, a walk in the park would be more pleasant. The Orange Line is slow, it's late or otherwise off schedule, and it's way over-crowded. (I can handle crowds -- I live in LA -- but over-crowding is no fun.) So let's take a brief look at this cheapskate's alternative light rail.

For the benefit of those readers living outside Los Angeles, the Orange Line is a Bus Rapid Transit (or BRT) line that runs east-to-west along a former Southern Pacific rail right-of-way, between North Hollywood and Woodland Hills. The land was acquired by the LACMTA (a.k.a. Metro) in March of 1991. That same year, a state senator named Alan Robbins introduced SB211, which placed certain restrictions on the right-of-way. Specifically, section 130265 of the California Public Utilities Code states that "in the area between the western curb of Hazeltine Avenue and a line parallel to and 50 feet west of the western edge of the Hollywood freeway, there may not be constructed any exclusive public mass transit rail guideway, rail rapid transit or light rail system, or other track, other than as a subway system that is covered and below grade." Complicating matters further is a newer law by current LA County Supervisor Zev Yaroslavsky called The Metropolitan Transportation Authority (MTA) Reform And Accountability Act Of 1998, which is designed "to prohibit the use of transportation sales tax revenues for future subway construction."

These two laws would seem to be at crossed purposes. Yaroslavsky's law in particular also contradicts the recently passed Measure R, which raises the state sales tax 0.5% for the expressed purpose of improving mass transit in Los Angeles County, including building the so-called "Subway To The Sea". But neither explains why a light rail line was prohibited in the corridor, when it was already graded for rail use at the time. Pretty nonsensical, really. Never the less, the busway was built, and we seem to be stuck with it. But it's hardly better than driving, and it's not even in the same league as light rail. Buses accelerate more slowly, brake more poorly, have lower average speeds, lower per-vehicle capacity, a poor public image, and greater levels of noise and air pollution than light rail (some of these points are covered here).

It seems clear, therefore, that politics won out over logic in renovating (er, removing) that rail line. Unfortunately, the bottom line is that current law prohibits light rail construction anywhere along the Burbank-Chandler line. But the money's already been spent, so it would take a hell of an argument to convince the county supervisors that they've made a big mistake. The Orange Line is a bad idea. It's not exactly a failure, but in my opinion it's close. I don't know what it's going to take to change things to allow the it to be converted into a proper light rail system, but I, for one, would love to get involved.