[PRCo] OFF--TOPIC:___LA--LA__LAnd__Transit

[Jim Holland]

Good Morning!

	Yes   ---   the situation in LA was potentially bad.   I was in LA for
several months in 1998 and wrote an article on it for Sept-Oct--1998 
*Trolley-Fare*  based on the newspaper articles I was reading.
	Here is the article in its entirety:::::::::::::

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PTM  *Trolley--Fare*  September-October--1998

	"History repeats itself; it seems that we have come around full circle." 
Two phrases that we all know but usually disbelieve because we obviously
know more than they did in the past, right!?!  Does it apply to transit? 
Possibly.  Let's take a look at that possibility in considering Los Angeles
today!
	The Los Angeles Metropolitan Transit Authority (MTA) has built an upside
down pyramid of debt.  Quoting from an editorial in the Los Angeles Times,
June 22:  "Those who ran the MTA and its predecessor agencies have
mortgaged the region's current and future transportation needs, having
already borrowed against all of the MTA's anticipated share of transit
sales taxes for the next 31 years."  And those predictions were made under
a booming economy; if the economy turns sour, they may have borrowed
against the next 50 years!
	What have they done with this money?  Built  a ". . . headquarters that
looks as if it was designed for Donald Trump," granted low interest loans
to employees (now referred to by the locals as "The Bank of MTA) to
purchase condos who are now delinquent in payments with taxpayers (that
means YOU and me) footing the bill, built a "subway to nowhere, and totally
forgotten the buses while spending $3.4 billion on rail projects which
captures only 9.05% of the ridership.  Outstanding debt is $3.42 billion
and interest on that debt is $3.47 billion.  More than 30% of the yearly
budget goes to service the debt!  As a result, the subway is unfinished
(goes nowhere), the rail line to Pasadena is on hold, extension of the
subway to the east is forgotten (by MTA, but NOT the public), new rail
projects are not even considered, and Sacramento and Washington, DC, are
ready to pull the plug on money to Los Angeles, or worse.  Sacramento is
considering a bill to put the MTA into state receivership.
	"Foul" cries the public.  Bus rider, rail advocate, and local communities
have all heard the wonderful promises and remembered them.  They chant: 
"We want transit.  When do we want it?  We want it Now!"
	The subway to nowhere, the Red Line, is currently being extended through
Hollywood to North Hollywood and is on hold.  With partial construction
completed, some bureaucrats are calling for these tunnels to be converted
to busway use.
	But supporters of the new rail line from downtown to Pasadena, an
extension of the Blue Line from Long Beach to downtown L.A., have help in
Sacramento in the form of a bill to take the project away from the MTA to
create the PMBLCA (Pasadena Metro Blue Line Construction Authority).  This
bill requires the MTA to give $350 million to the new agency, which adds to
MTA's fiscal woes, with the new agency raising another $260 million for the
project.  Right of way and rail for the route have already been purchased
but the project is on hold because of the heavy debt burden.
	San Fernando, who wants to secede from Los Angeles because they feel
slighted in education, law enforcement and transit, is watching the
progress of this bill keenly in hopes of establishing their own transit
authority as well.  Then Anaheim might like its own transit agency as well
as Hollywood, Beverly Hills, Santa Monica etc., etc., etc.!
	It is interesting to note that the line from Long Beach to Los Angeles is
the Blue Line and the line from Union station to Pasadena would also be the
Blue Line.  But to ride both lines it will be necessary to transfer to the
Red Line for two stops.  The Red Line is built to full subway standards and
equipment on the two lines cannot be interchanged!  Add the fact that the
Green Line, a crosstown line south of Los Angeles, crosses the Blue Line to
Long Beach on a grade separation (with a non-revenue trackage link) and
goes near the airport and not to the airport causing further furor with the
public!
	This call for multiple independent transit agencies - didn't they exist at
the turn of the century, and weren't there multiple transit agencies in
Pittsburgh until 1964 when PAAC (PAT) took over?  True, Pittsburgh Railways
was a conglomerate of many individual lines and suffered for it, having
gone into bankruptcy twice within as many decades!  And also this call for
privatization of the city transit agencies -- again, it was just 1964 when
PAT took over because the private companies just could not provide the
service needed.  Obviously we can't prove that "history is repeating
itself" in transit or that "we have come full circle" in this short space,
but there is definitely strong evidence that we are heading that
direction!  Maybe the new motto for the New Century should be this:

	"Forward to the Past!"

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James B. Holland

Holland  Electric  Railway  Operation....... 
___"O"--Scale St.-Petersburg Trams Company Trolleycars and...
______"O"--Scale  Parts  mailto:pghpcc at pacbell.net

______Pennsylvania Trolley Museum http://www.pa-trolley.org/
___Pittsburgh  Railways  Company  (PRCo),   1930  --  1950
N.M.R.A.  Life member #2190; http://www.nmra.org

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