Mark’s Soap Box

view in rearview mirror while on I10 looking at the 215
~~ LA Times - Richard Hartog

Once again the liberal newspaper The Los Angeles Times is bemoaning how traffic is caused by those damn selfish independent drivers. Why can’t they just see that the Marxist Public Transit System is so much better, or at least give up some freedom and ride-share?

Oh if only we could have Nirvana again.

When Los Angeles traffic experts get depressed at the sorry state of the freeways, their minds sometimes drift to the improbable days of 1984, when the Olympic torch blazed through town and the city’s sea of cars parted.

For more than a week, downtown and Westside freeways worked as their creators had intended, whisking drivers from place to place.

Funny they say that is what they were designed for, since in most cases the traffic is intentionally snarled to force people onto mass transit. This is to force people to give up their freedom.

For the 16-day event, transportation agencies put aside turf wars. Employees carpooled or worked staggered hours or took vacations. Truckers shifted deliveries to off-hours. Construction projects were rescheduled. Arterial lanes were reserved for buses. Two-way streets became one-way streets.

So if all of us independent types would just sing Kumbayah, and arrange our schedule around the failed policies of liberals; all would be well. All, except the fact that the liberals caused the problem in the first place and now want us to listen to their “resolution” to the problems.

No Thanks. The last thing we need is to keep doing the liberal way. It’s run us into a filthy, degenerate, and smog trapped hell. Once paradise, it’s nothing more than a ruined place. Ironic that the liberals who hate business, say that only business does what they have done to California. Just more proof that liberals are exactly what they say they hate.

Oh and for all of this “green” b.s.; San Diego county still does not have synchronized lights. I believe that LA and Riverside county do not have them either. So much for trying to solve the problem. The Governments can’t even do the most simple thing to start.

It turns out that meager fractions, added or subtracted, can make the system scream or purr.

Imagine what would happen if Government stopped forcing people to live in Riverside county and drive to LA to work. Socialized err community planning is a failure, and it keeps on happening. Typical liberals, more of the same failed policies.

And when the government workers are forced to actually take responsibility and help solve issues they created, well they don’t like it so much.

Consider what happened in 1988, when Honolulu tried to thin rush-hour traffic by forcing half the city’s public employees to arrive at work 45 minutes later for a month.

Congestion eased, but the affected workers complained of problems with ride-sharing, child care and meeting other obligations before and after work. In the end, the main beneficiaries were drivers who didn’t have to shift their schedules.

If only us selfish non-government, non-union folks would just bow down and let our betters decide what is best for us, life would be so much better. No thanks.

I remember a time when government employment was called “service”. Guess that does not apply anymore.

The LAT tops it all with this bit of bullcrap.

People say they want less traffic, but they don’t want to be forced to alter their habits, planners say. And no one has found the key to getting them to change voluntarily.

No they don’t want less traffic, they want a faster commute. Hell most would rather not commute at all. Due to the failed liberal policies in place in LA and California, honest hard-working people are forced to move hundreds of miles away from where they work just so they can live in a safe and sane place that is not infested with druggies, degenerates, and psychos.

And then this whopper.

Much of the time, when government declares war on congestion, it does so by laying track or pouring concrete. Lure people from their cars with improved mass transit, the thinking runs, or free up the roads by building more of them.

But despite massive investments in both strategies, Southern California traffic has worsened as newcomers have poured into the area and commutes have lengthened.

To say that CalTrans has built more roads to relieve congestion is like saying Arnold Schwarzenegger is a Republican. On the face it appears to be true, but it’s not.

This speaks to the incompetence of the liberal solutions.

L.A. County has emphasized rail. Since 1990, 73 miles of subways and light rail lines have been opened in the county, at a cost of more than $7 billion. The system now has a mere 275,000 boardings on an average weekday. And the actual number of riders is even less, since each rider may board several trains during a single round-trip commute.

Yea Socialism works so well.

Not to let anyone think the other way works, the LAT is quick to point out it’s alleged failures.

Orange County has pursued a different approach, adding 646 miles of freeway lanes — about half of which are on privately funded toll roads — at a cost of more than $5.7 billion. In one of the county’s largest projects, the 5 Freeway was expanded from six to 14 lanes in many places.

For all that, Los Angeles and Orange counties retain their status as two of the most congested counties in the nation. While Orange County’s ambitious building projects have improved traffic somewhat, 67% of the county’s highways are considered congested during rush hour — the highest percentage in the region. CalTrans officials say the expanded sections of the 5 will reach capacity by 2010.

Notice how they don’t say how many people use the roadways. Or give specifics. Hmm. Also notice that they don’t explain that most of the traffic is caused by people fleeing the cesspool of LA county, who still work in LA county.

Heads up for you liberals.

Census data show that as income rises, transit use declines, suggesting that the moment people can abandon buses or rail, they do.

Well duh.

Then this clunker.

But there is an ironclad rule that helps account for traffic’s mulish persistence: When travel on the freeway becomes easier, more people do it.

Funny how they said earlier how that is not true.

The problem is social planning by bureaucrats. The sooner we get past that, the better. Unfortunately the beauracrats still dont’ get it, neither do the RINOs who are in power. Governor Schwarzenegger wants to waste $137 Million for mas transit. Nice.

Bay Area

• $36 million to the San Francisco Bay Area Rapid Transit (BART) District for their Station Modernization Program, which will upgrade all 43 BART stations by replacing aging equipment and improving station signage.
• $9.7 million to the San Francisco Muni for the Metro East Light Rail Vehicle Facility that will increase efficiency and reduce costs for light rail vehicle maintenance.
• $8 million to the San Mateo County Transit District to replace 126 older buses with new, more fuel efficient and cleaner burning buses.
• $6.7 million to the Santa Clara Valley Transportation Authority to build a pedestrian/bicycle overcrossing spanning the Monterey Highway and the Union Pacific railroad tracks, which is used by freight trains, Amtrak and Caltrain.

Sacramento

• $4 million to the Sacramento Area Council of Governments for a variety of projects, including replacing buses with more fuel efficient models, replacing wheelchair lifts on buses and improving ticketing systems for more efficient public use.

Riverside

• $8 million to the Riverside Transit Agency for replacement and expansion of transit services. A portion of these buses will implement a Bus Rapid Transit service along the Interstate 215 corridor.
• $2.5 million to the Riverside County Transportation Commission for the Green Metrolink Station Rehabilitation project that will update and modernize all five stations, using environmentally-friendly technologies.

San Joaquin Valley

• $3.8 million to the Golden Empire Transit District in Kern County to replace aged buses with new, more fuel efficient and cleaner burning buses.
• $2 million to the San Joaquin Regional Rail Commission for a maintenance facility in Stockton. This facility will serve Altamont Commuter Express passenger cars and locomotives.
• $500,000 to San Joaquin Council of Governments for a multi-modal station parking facility in Tracy. This project will enable the public to have access to local and regional public transit, including bus service, regional connections, future passenger rail service, taxi, dial-a-ride, van pools, car pools, ridesharing, and bicycles.

San Diego

• $9 million to the San Diego Metropolitan Transit System to replace older buses with new, more fuel efficient buses.

For a complete list of the projects receiving funding click here

To date this fiscal year, a total of $3.4 billion in Proposition 1B funding has been allocated to improve California’s transportation infrastructure. In addition, the Schwarzenegger Administration has allocated the following in Proposition 1B funding:

• $40 million for port security
• $221 million for diesel emission reduction projects [MARK: aka mass transit]
• $15 million for rail security

Tags: los angeles, orange county, traffic, mass transit