LA opens its new light rail connection
A city famous for its congested freeways and rambling commutes has a new claim to fame: the world’s longest light rail line.
This is reported by the Los Angeles County Metropolitan Transportation Authority, which opened a 3 kilometer long subway tunnel under the center of Los Angeles last week. The tunnel caps a $1.8 billion project that will now allow riders to travel directly between Long Beach and Azusa, a nearly 50-mile journey, or between Santa Monica and East Los Angeles.
The new connection, called the Regional Connector, includes three new metro stations and connects three express tram lines, reducing travel time by eliminating the need for many travelers to transfer.
Transit agencies across California and across the country are trying to reinvent themselves after the coronavirus pandemic dramatically changes commuting and passenger numbers. Los Angeles leaders hope that by making the light rail network easier to use, they can attract new travelers, ease traffic and reduce pollution.
“It’s redefining transportation in Los Angeles County,” Bart Reed, executive director of the Transit Coalition, a public transportation advocacy group, said of the new connection. “Wherever you go, driving is often slow. The truth is that trains are a mobility solution in Los Angeles.”
I recently rode the recently extended A Line, from Long Beach through downtown Los Angeles, through Pasadena, and to Azusa at the base of the San Gabriel Mountains. The entire journey took just under two hours at speeds of 56 miles per hour. Railcars were usually sparsely populated.
At a time when transit budgets are under pressure across the country, the Los Angeles County Metropolitan Transportation Authority, known as Metro, is expanding light rail, in part because of a series of voter-approved sales tax increases designed to fund such projects. after proposal A in 1980.
“We are following the will of the voters,” said Janice Hahn, Los Angeles County Supervisor and Metro board member. “We are making a major investment in building a modern transportation system that connects people to where they want to go.”
With Los Angeles slated to host the 2028 Summer Olympics, officials believe the expansion of the light rail system will better connect cities across the county, the most populous in the country, while reducing street congestion and carbon emissions. be reduced.
“There’s no other choice because we’re not going to build any new highways,” said Ara Najarian, a member of the Glendale City Council and chairman of Metro’s board of directors. “We want to get people out of cars and into safe, reliable transit.”
The expansion also comes at a time when the number of drug overdoses on the trains has risen, and a string of travelers boarding metro trains have been attacked. Violent crimes on public transportation in Los Angeles County are up about 10 percent from last year, and drug-related crimes are up 301 percent, according to figures from Metro.
Passenger numbers remain below pre-pandemic levels, but are starting to increase steadily. According to Metro officials, about 23.4 million travelers used Metro trains and buses in April 2023, up 10 percent from April 2022. Buses account for more than two-thirds of total passengers.
When my train was traveling back to Long Beach, it was rush hour and many more passengers were boarding. Subway “ambassadors” — tour guides in lime green shirts — lined station platforms and train cars in pairs, with black pouches containing doses of naloxone, a drug used for opioid overdoses, attached to their belts.
“They need to do something about crime and people being attacked,” said Judy Louie, 69, a Sierra Madre resident who drives to downtown Los Angeles with her sister. “It’s terrible.”
Other passengers said a fast and reliable light rail system has potential in a vast region where car culture is prevalent and public transportation is often perceived as uncomfortable or inconvenient.
“There’s a stigma,” said Bill Teweles, 72.
Traveling to Little Tokyo, Teweles said he believed the new Regional Connector would make navigating downtown easier while also attracting new passengers, easing traffic and helping the environment.
“I’m an optimist,” he added.
For more:
Douglas Morino is a journalist from Los Angeles.
Where we travel
Today’s tip comes from Jackie Leventhal, who recommends discovering new sights in San Francisco’s Golden Gate Park:
“San Francisco’s largest park is well known to many. The mainstays of the park – the Japanese Tea Garden, the Young Museum and many lakes – are well traversed. However, you can walk around unguided and discover many other tidbits waiting for you to see. We found a lush fern forest, the first children’s playground in the country, blooming magnolias, the meditative AIDS Memorial Grove, and the Janis Joplin Tree. Cyclists, skaters, musicians turn every walk into a unique happening.”
Tell us about your favorite places to visit in California. Email your suggestions to CAtoday@nytimes.com. We will share more in upcoming editions of the newsletter.
What we read
The 25 Most Influential Works of Post-War Queer Literature.
Tell us
We are almost half way through 2023! What are the best things that have happened to you this year so far? What have your victories been? Or your unexpected joys, big or small?
Let me know at CAToday@nytimes.com. Please include your full name and the city where you live.
And before you go, good news
Things are looking good for a California creature that once seemed doomed to extinction.
For decades, the Santa Cruz kangaroo rat was thought to exist only in a small patch of sand hills in Henry Cowell Redwoods State Park in Santa Cruz County. But scientists have recently identified new populations 40 kilometers away, This is reported by Mercury News.
“It was incredible,” said Ken Hickman, who discovered the elusive subspecies near Los Gatos. “People have been looking for it for years.”
Thank you for reading. We’ll be back on Monday. Nice weekend.
PS Here it is today’s mini crossword.
Soumya Karlamangla, Johnna Margalotti, and Maia Coleman contributed to California Today. You can reach the team at CAtoday@nytimes.com.
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