We begin by acknowledging that the Los Angeles County Metropolitan Transportation Authority is about to conduct a comprehensive analysis of transit alternatives for the Wilshire Corridor, examining anew all reasonable alternatives. Without question the concerns we raise here will be addressed in detail in their study. While MTA itself must refrain from offering preliminary judgments pending that assessment, we are not bound by the same constraint.
The most frequently mentioned alternatives to a subway on the Wilshire Corridor include expanded bus service, building a light rail system, or building a monorail system. We believe each alternative has significant problems and deficiencies when it comes to meeting the needs of Wilshire Blvd. and must therefore be rejected.
In sum, an appropriate transit system on Wilshire Blvd. should have sufficient capacity and efficiency to measure up to the potential demand there. It should avoid being bogged down in existing traffic, avoid worsening traffic congestion on the street, respect and enable Wilshire Blvd.’s great potential as a pedestrian-oriented boulevard, and encourage economic development. We believe the appropriate system for Wilshire Blvd. is a high-speed, high-capacity system that does not operate at or above grade where it will interfere with traffic and the pedestrian environment — in short, a subway.
Need for a high efficiency, high capacity system
MTA Red Line
Wilshire Boulevard is one of the most heavily traveled boulevards in the heavily congested east/west corridor from Downtown Los Angeles to the coast. It parallels the Route 10 Freeway, Olympic, Pico and Santa Monica Boulevards, each of which has begun to experience much more severe congestion these past several years. Wilshire Blvd. has one of the highest residential and employment densities of any corridor in the region. It has the highest concentration of commercial, cultural, educational, and recreational destinations of any part of Los Angeles County outside of Downtown Los Angeles itself, and certainly more than any transportation corridor under consideration by MTA. As a result, Wilshire Blvd. demands a high-efficiency, high-capacity transit system to meet the need and the demand there. Were the region to deploy the medium-capacity systems suggested above, it will simply be an enormous lost opportunity given the demand potential on the Wilshire Corridor. Only a subway can provide that efficiency and capacity.
Need for a transit system that can avoid being bogged down in traffic
Congestion!
A corollary to the need for efficiency and capacity in a Wilshire Blvd. system is the need for any system to avoid simply becoming bogged down in traffic there. Some of the alternative systems will have their own efficiency degraded and their attractiveness to potential passengers seriously compromised by being forced to share the boulevard with worsening automobile traffic congestion. This is especially true in the case of bus transit, but may also be true of light rail systems.
Need to avoid worsening traffic congestion on an already congested boulevard
All of the above-grade alternative systems will worsen congestion for continuing automobile traffic on Wilshire Blvd. Any system which requires dedicated lane space will force remaining traffic into fewer lanes with little likelihood that the shift of auto users to transit users will be sufficient to offset that affect. In addition, for light rail or monorail systems, unavoidable conflicts with automobile traffic flow will likely occur at many major intersections, further degrading the traffic efficiency of the boulevard.
Metrobus - Wilshire in Koreatown
Dedicated peak hour bus-only lanes will likely improve the efficiency and the utilization of the bus systems during those hours, but at a cost of significantly worsening congestion for those who continue to use their automobiles there. Even optimistic projections of 10% growth in transit use on peak-hour Wilshire buses using bus-only lanes leaves remaining auto users facing significantly worsened congestion and delay on remaining lanes. It is not clear that we would actually have any net mobility or environmental benefit. Certainly, we will have significant political pressures to remedy the worsened congestion by eliminating the bus-only lanes. We believe this option will work best when joined with strategies that will more significantly attract auto users off Wilshire Blvd. — like a subway.
Need to preserve and enhance the Wilshire Blvd. pedestrian environment
Both light rail and monorail will adversely affect the pedestrian experience on Wilshire and will compromise its potential for a truly pedestrian-oriented environment. This outcome is especially likely in the case of monorail systems, whose above grade infrastructure will invariably and unavoidably cast shadows and add noise to the boulevard experience, damaging one of Wilshire Blvd’s greatest assets — its easy access to California sunshine. In our view, the loss of a potentially extraordinary pedestrian environment on Wilshire Blvd. would be incalculable for our economy and our quality of life, turning a boulevard rich with potential for real community life into simply another noisy conveyance.
Need to enhance the economic development potential on Wilshire Blvd.
As our region faces the limits of sprawl, we must look to our cities for our economic development opportunities and take advantage of them in a way that is environmentally sustainable. With its efficiency and capacity to carry larger numbers of passengers, a subway will invariably create economic development potential on Wilshire Blvd., especially in the vicinity of subway stations. Taking advantage of these opportunities in ways that builds high quality livable neighborhoods will be an important and exciting mission for city planning.