Reasons Why LA Sucks

[mordecai]

I was exaggerating a bit on the use. My point was just that our county is the size of Rhode Island and Delaware and has an enormous population. To spend a billion dollars plus eternal maintenance and operation costs for something that serves people that live and work within half a mile of a station seems like a waste of money. The blue line is one of our most utilized and it gets less than 15,000 rides a day out of the millions of commuters here. It's nice that you and some other commuters find it useful, but that money, and all money used for the subways could have gone farther in alleviating traffic congestion on the freeways.

 

[foodguy]

well, you're certainly right that the limited amount of light rail we have in southern california hasn't been nearly as effective at easing traffic congestion as, say, the new york subway.
seriously, i do think it's an important part of the puzzle and will become more important (and more visible) as it continues to expand.

 

[mordecai]



well, you're certainly right that the limited amount of light rail we have in southern california hasn't been nearly as effective at easing traffic congestion as, say, the new york subway.
seriously, i do think it's an important part of the puzzle and will become more important (and more visible) as it continues to expand.

I really disagree, or at least hope you are wrong. It isn't worth billions of dollars to keep a few thousand more people off the road per project. I used to think as you did, but I no longer see anything to support that view.

 

[foodguy]



I really disagree, or at least hope you are wrong. It isn't worth billions of dollars to keep a few thousand more people off the road per project. I used to think as you did, but I no longer see anything to support that view.

i guess it depends on what you think is a few thousand. from wikipedia

The Blue Line was originally projected to have a daily ridership of 5,000. Within the first months of service, daily ridership had reached 12,000, and by the end of the first year of service, daily ridership was at 32,000. As of July 2011, Metro estimated that the Blue Line had over 90,000 average weekday boardings, and 26.26 million yearly boardings.

 

[mordecai]



i guess it depends on what you think is a few thousand. from wikipedia

You're right, my number was much lower. It still isn't significant enough to warrant the cost.

 

[FLMountainMan]



I really disagree, or at least hope you are wrong. It isn't worth billions of dollars to keep a few thousand more people off the road per project. I used to think as you did, but I no longer see anything to support that view.

Government does not do this nearly enough. There is virtually no cost-benefit analysis performed. This is actually an area I've made quite a successful career in. More well-known federal examples include $50 billion in direct costs in response to a handful of anthrax deaths, hundreds of thousands of dollars to warn people about the dangers of angry texting, spending tens of millions to advertise the EITC so that people who didn't pay any income tax can get money "back", etc.... but there are countless examples at the local and state level.

But this is not the politics tab, so I'll STFU.

 

[mordecai]

How are you liking southern Alabama? I have family in Fairhope. Seems like a nice little area.

 

[A Y]

Timely thread. What's everyone doing for Carmageddon II?

 

[foodguy]



Timely thread. What's everyone doing for Carmageddon II?

doesn't bother me! i take public transportation!
seriously, i avoid the 405 pass like the plague anyway. i live in long beach and just head up the 710 to the 101 to get to the other side of the hill.

 

[Xericx]



Timely thread. What's everyone doing for Carmageddon II?

out of town from Thursday-Monday. just like last time.

 

[Xericx]

Nightlife in LA is pretty horrible. well, not horrible. just ends too early.
anyone 5 miles out of where you live is geographically undesirable due to traffic, parking concerns, etc.

 

[Xericx]

oh, the roads are like 3rd world nation bad with potholes. and this is beverly hills.

 

[Xericx]

line for a cup of coffee.

 

[Xericx]

yeah, we live by the beach...but the water is too cold/dirty to actually go swimming in.

 

[mordecai]



Nightlife in LA is pretty horrible. well, not horrible. just ends too early.

But unlike most other cities there is a good chance of actually meeting someone attractive. Although this leads to some funny situations too. I remember hitting it off with a girl in Echo Park and she told me to follow her home. Turned out she lived in West Hollywood, almost all the way to Beverly Hills. There was an accident on Melrose and I ended up following her home for 40 minutes. Might have been more like an hour. Woke up with a parking ticket.