Transportation Problems and Policy - class blog for USP 456/556 at Portland State University
Thursday, March 28, 2013
Current Events
If you see a news story relevant to class, please post a link to the story along with your brief (250 to 500 words) commentary. Current events post can be published at any time.
Los Angeles transit issues have popped up numerous times the past couple of days so I thought I'd share them. First off, from NPR, LA has recently just finished synching all 4,500 of its traffic lights to better coordinate traffic flow, which the optimum improvement seems to be a savings of 2 minutes. However, perhaps not surprisingly, the majority of drivers either didn't notice a difference or said it was worse. Those who noted improvements were the bicyclists and bus riders.
Another story came from NextCity: LA County tried to pass a .5 cent sales tax increase to improve and extend transit but it failed by only 16,000 votes. Most of those "no" votes came from those living on rim of the county. The article does well to point out that these voters were not just anti-transit but also had concerns over gentrification and distribution of wealth.
The third one was relating to Joan Didion's 1976 essay "Bureaucrats." She spoke of LA's burgeoning HOV (diamond) lane experiment as disconnected demi-gods molding Angelinos' driving habits by making driving as intolerable as possible. I found that today, LA is proposing HOT (High Occupancy Toll) lanes which would allow mono-occupied vehicles to drive in the HOV lane for a fee. People are skeptical of this calling it the Lexus Lane. Virginia and Georgia are among other states trying this out.
Los Angeles transit issues have popped up numerous times the past couple of days so I thought I'd share them.
ReplyDeleteFirst off, from NPR, LA has recently just finished synching all 4,500 of its traffic lights to better coordinate traffic flow, which the optimum improvement seems to be a savings of 2 minutes. However, perhaps not surprisingly, the majority of drivers either didn't notice a difference or said it was worse. Those who noted improvements were the bicyclists and bus riders.
Another story came from NextCity: LA County tried to pass a .5 cent sales tax increase to improve and extend transit but it failed by only 16,000 votes. Most of those "no" votes came from those living on rim of the county. The article does well to point out that these voters were not just anti-transit but also had concerns over gentrification and distribution of wealth.
The third one was relating to Joan Didion's 1976 essay "Bureaucrats." She spoke of LA's burgeoning HOV (diamond) lane experiment as disconnected demi-gods molding Angelinos' driving habits by making driving as intolerable as possible. I found that today, LA is proposing HOT (High Occupancy Toll) lanes which would allow mono-occupied vehicles to drive in the HOV lane for a fee. People are skeptical of this calling it the Lexus Lane. Virginia and Georgia are among other states trying this out.
NPR story- www.npr.org/2013/04/06/176419133/will-synched-lights-clear-a-path-through-the-city-of-angels
HOT article- losangeles.cbslocal.com/2013/03/28/santa-clarita-residents-speak-out-against-proposed-toll-lanes-on-5-freeway/
NextCity Article- nextcity.org/daily/entry/l.a.-county-voters-opposed-to-transit-tax-are-where-youd-expect-them