Lost Public Transit: Transportation in Los Angeles

Believe it or not, there was a time when Los Angeles had a world renown public transit system. With above ground rail cars as old as 1887, similar to the MUNI system in San Francisco, the population of Los Angeles moved around freely, cheaply, and with ease. Growing up in Los Angeles, I learned about this long after being frustrated with my time on city buses. I used to ask myself, "Why isn't there a quick train from downtown to the beach?" Little did I know, there was. In fact, one of the funniest stories I have heard is one my grandfather told me. When he and my grandmother moved to West Los Angeles from South Carolina after WWII, they rented a small apartment. Laying in bed their first night, they endured a classic sitcom moment as a Red Car (Pacific Electric Streetcar) stormed right past the side of their windows and shook the apartment complex. I imagine plaster falling from the ceiling and smile.

So what happened? Much like Toontown in the Roger Rabbit film, the Red Cars were destroyed to make room for the freeways!

Before the demise of the Red Cars, the system was bought up by General Motors, Standard Oil and Firestone Tires, among others, and the service began to suffer. Over a comparatively short period of time, with the management of these automobile-affiliated companies the Red Car system lessened in quality, service, and subsequently lost many formerly satisfied customers. Perhaps not so coincidentally, this formerly popular and efficient service had quickly fallen into disrepair. Once the new owners "proved" the ineptness of the Red Cars to the (notoriously corrupt) city officials, it was agreed upon that the transit system would be shut down and dismantled. Sadly, you can still see skeletons on the old rail system on some of L.A.'s traffic ridden streets.

Once the adequate transit system was destroyed (purposely, in this author's opinion), the city needed a new means to get around the growing city quickly. The answer? You guessed it, FREEWAYS! In the 1960's the city began large scale building on the 10 freeway, among others. Over time, Los Angeles became the freeway capital of the world, with a horrendous traffic problem and little dependable and convenient mass transit.

Guess who stood to profit from this? Those same companies who bought the streetcar system! Since then the rail system was converted to traffic stifling buses, the freeways led to a California car culture, and untold billions have poured into the pockets of GM, Firestone, and Standard Oil.

Though acquitted of official charges (do you think there was money exchanged in that deal?), the actions by these conspirators has become known as "The Great American Streetcar Scandal," which involved other cities such as Baltimore and Minneapolis as well.

The consequences of this move are many. For one, Los Angeles has become a place of sprawl partly because of the freeways, and the lack of walker/commuter capabilities. Pollution is an obvious reason to lament the loss of the Red Car, but the sprawl has also led to great water shortages. In addition, the lack of connectedness among Angelinos and the development of disconnected, isolated areas has caused a variety of social issues. Entire communities were destroyed to make way for the freeways, and places like West Adams, and the former "sleepy beach town" of Santa Monica have been changed forever.

Now, many years later, Los Angeles has continued the process of attempting to rebuild the mass transit system with subways, yet another poor decision. Although some lines of L.A.'s subway system are beneficial, the cost to make them has been over-budget and past-deadline. Only remnants of the old system remain and we can only dream of the charm - which is so lacking in Los Angeles.

I feel the real solution for the future of Los Angeles would be another ABOVE GROUND system, preferably a monorail. A monorail would be quiet, electric, efficient, and much cheaper to build. But I am sure it will never happen if the same types of people that killed the previous system, remain in power.