Putting The "El" In LA
Yay, Ray! Ray Bradbury calls for monorails across Los Angeles. I'm with him. Something must be done about the traffic:
More than 40 years ago, in 1963, I attended a meeting of the L.A. County Board of Supervisors at which the Alweg Monorail company outlined a plan to construct one or more monorails crossing L.A. north, south, east and west. The company said that if it were allowed to build the system, it would give the monorails to us for free — absolutely gratis. The company would operate the system and collect the fare revenues.It seemed a reasonable bargain to me. But at the end of a long day of discussion, the Board of Supervisors rejected Alweg Monorail.
I was stunned. I dimly saw, even at that time, the future of freeways, which would, in the end, go nowhere.
At the end of the afternoon, I asked for three minutes to testify. I took the microphone and said, "To paraphrase Winston Churchill, rarely have so many owed so little to so few." I was conducted out of the meeting.
In a panic at what I saw as a disaster, I offered my services to the Alweg Monorail people for the next year.
During the following 12 months I lectured in almost every major area of L.A., at open forums and libraries, to tell people about the promise of the monorail. But at the end of that year nothing was done.
Forty years have passed, and more than ever we need an open discussion of our future. If we examine the history of subways, we will find how tremendously expensive and destructive they are.
They are, first of all, meant for cold climates such as Toronto, New York, London, Paris, Moscow and Tokyo. But L.A. is a Mediterranean area; our weather is sublime, and people are accustomed to traveling in the open air and enjoying the sunshine, not in closed cars under the ground.
Subways take forever to build and, because the tunnels have to be excavated, are incredibly expensive. The cost of one subway line would build 10 monorail systems.
Along the way, subway construction destroys businesses by the scores. The history of the subway from East L.A. to the Valley is a history of ruined businesses and upended lives.
The monorail is extraordinary in that it can be built elsewhere and then carried in and installed in mid-street with little confusion and no destruction of businesses. In a matter of a few months, a line could be built from Long Beach all the way along Western Avenue to the mountains with little disturbance to citizens and no threat to local businesses.
Compared to the heavy elevateds of the past, the monorail is virtually soundless. Anyone who has ridden the Disneyland or Seattle monorails knows how quietly they move.
They also have been virtually accident-free. The history of the monorail shows few collisions or fatalities.If we constructed monorails running north and south on Vermont, Western, Crenshaw and Broadway, and similar lines running east and west on Washington, Pico, Wilshire, Santa Monica and Sunset, we would have provided a proper cross section of transportation, allowing people to move anywhere in our city at any time.
There you have it. As soon as possible, we must call in one of the world's monorail-building companies to see what could be done so that the first ones could be in position by the end of the year to help our huddled traffic masses yearning to travel freely.
The freeway is the past, the monorail is our future, above and beyond.
What he said!
Doug Mason at February 12, 2006 9:36 AM
Anyone pitching a monorail project would be wise not to mention Seattle. They've dumped hundreds of millions of dollars into it over the years, and it's currently a grand total of one mile in length. Even Seattleites, who generally don't need to be convinced of the points raised in the article, are sick of the money suck it's become. Last I heard (when I lived there in 2001) they needed another $300 million for some inadequately explained reason.
Gary at February 12, 2006 12:39 PM
The Atlantic had an article about monorails last month ([the] Iraqi soldier on the cover). Much of it was sentimentalism, because that's about all monorails have done for anyone lately. That Seattle monorail was great for the one silly tourist from LA (ahem) who needed a quick ride from Pike Place Market to the Hendrix Museum... But that doesn't make it worthwhile.
In terms of LA, it's three or four generations too late... Sprawl has already happened, and growth can't retroactively cluster around new terminals. The proposed routes are PRECISELY what I need, but there's no way it would happen before my retirement. Why exactly would should I ask Kansans and Floridians to pay for it?
Crid at February 12, 2006 1:35 PM
Lyle Lanley: Well, sir, there's nothing on earth
Like a genuine,
Bona fide,
Electrified,
Six-car
Monorail!
What'd I say?
Ned Flanders: Monorail!
Lyle Lanley: What's it called?
Patty+Selma: Monorail!
Lyle Lanley: That's right! Monorail!
[crowd chants `Monorail' softly and rhythmically]
Miss Hoover: I hear those things are awfully loud...
Lyle Lanley: It glides as softly as a cloud.
Apu: Is there a chance the track could bend?
Lyle Lanley: Not on your life, my Hindu friend.
Barney: What about us brain-dead slobs?
Lyle Lanley: You'll be given cushy jobs.
Abe: Were you sent here by the devil?
Lyle Lanley: No, good sir, I'm on the level.
Wiggum: The ring came off my pudding can.
Lyle Lanley: Take my pen knife, my good man.
I swear it's Springfield's only choice...
Throw up your hands and raise your voice!
All: Monorail!
Lyle Lanley: What's it called?
All: Monorail!
Lyle Lanley: Once again...
All: Monorail!
Marge: But Main Street's still all cracked and broken...
Bart: Sorry, Mom, the mob has spoken!
All: Monorail!
Monorail!
Monorail!
[big finish]
Monorail!
Homer: Mono... D'oh!
Noel at February 13, 2006 7:25 AM
Awesome, Noel. You beat me to it.
fritz at February 13, 2006 8:53 AM
I lived in Tempe, AZ, for 15 years, and they tried to sell us (the greater Phoenix metro area folks) the monorail back then. Basically, they wanted a blank check. We wouldn't buy it. They have vastly improved their freeway system since then, but there is still a horrendous amount of air pollution.
Where I live now, we really need some kind of a train system, because people commute into Columbus from fifty miles around. Every time gas goes up we're all scared to death; something HAS to be done, but don't expect the politicians to do it, that's for sure!!!
m j at February 13, 2006 1:22 PM
The greater problem is city design. American cities just don't lend themselves to trains and other forms of mass transit. We made our bed with the freeway system, and now we're lying in it. You can build all the mass transit you want, but it does no good if doesn't serve the routes people need to take.
Where I live, the joke goes: "a city bus collided with a light rail train today. Both vehicles were instantly consumed by fire. No one was injured."
Gary at February 13, 2006 3:11 PM
I am surprised no one mentioned a biggie: with California's earthquake history, who wants to be underground when one happens - and who wants to start all over again when the underground rails are buried in rock by the first decent-sized quake?
In the meantime, you can see here that no one wants to give up their car, because they literally can't imagine something else and don't have the inclination (if they have the ability) to police the use of their tax dollars.
Radwaste at February 14, 2006 2:26 AM
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