Famous Hollywood glamour, San Fernando Valley orchards, and historic streetcars have long disappeared. Although I can only relate to these long gone elements of Los Angeles through photos, articles, and older films, one of them is making a comeback.
Metro, along with its massive rail improvements, is bringing back the historic streetcar back to Downtown, Los Angeles. They have hopes of starting services “around 2015.” Daily ridership for the streetcar is estimated to be around “7,000 to 11,000,” with seven possible routes. It will “probably head roughly from LA Live to Bunker Hill and back south via Broadway.”
However, some are not too thrilled about this comeback. Transport Politic blog's Yonah Freemark finds the “$100 million project” pointless. He argues that “there are already many buses and trains along the streetcar's planned route” He is also against the fact that the “train moves in a one-way loop, which he writes is a failed transit concept.”
Freemark and opponents of this project ignore some of the major benefits of the streetcar. Not only will they enhance “property values and development to fill some of the hundreds of vacant lots that litter the area,” but also be a model for other urban centers in Los Angeles.
Streetcars will alleviate traffic and provide an efficient mode of transportation. It would be an excellent investment in diversifying and expanding mass transit systems. Once a driver reaches an urban center such as Downtown or Hollywood, a streetcar can be a great option for local mobility.
I agree that it does sound like a good idea - anything that could potentially reduce the outrageous traffic in LA is a good thing in my mind. However, in order for it to have an effect, people will actually have to ride it. That's one of the big issues of public transportation in LA in my opinion; most people either don't know about it because it isn't well publicized, and many that do are too scared to go on it because of the notion that it's dangerous - which may or may not be true. Hopefully they will do this right and implement routes that make sense, as well as publicize it enough so people can hear about it.
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