Did you know that the Orange County Metrolink system started service on March 29, 1994? In fact OCTA gave me a birthday gift. They opened for service the Laguna Niguel/Mission Viejo station on April 22, 2002, four and half years ago. Larry, what’s your point in all this trivia? A good question. In the Region/State section of today’s OC Register is a report stating that LA transportation officials are looking to spend $one billion for a light rail connection along Crenshaw Blvd.to LAX. Notice that’s the same amount of money OCTA is seeking on the renewed Measure M for Metrolink related connections.
Let’s get back to my original comment. OC Metrolink has been in service for TWELVE and a half years. The Mission Viejo station has been operating for FOUR and a half. “On March 29, 1994 2,000 commuters and pleasure riders took to the Orange County Metrolink rails for the first time.” Source. Metrolink News and Events. My sense is that this first day was a “free” ride and people were curious to test the system. Now twelve and a half years later that number has not increased enough to justify adding another billion dollars for social engineering.
The Register report said the Crenshaw/LAX system could be up and running by 2015 and projected 43,400 daily boardings by 2025, ten years later.
Well, We’ve had twelve years of our experiment. Let me continue to hammer home the point that during the June 2006 PEAK a.m. boardings only 2,136 Orange County passengers boarded the train after having knowledge of, and access to, it for 12 years. The good news, and there is some good news, is that once you figure out how to get to the station from your homes, and figure out connections to your jobs or whatever final destination your travels take you to, you should not have a problem getting a seat on the train. On the flip side I cannot assure you that you will find a place to put all of your packages if you happen to be out shopping that day.I would fire anyone working for me that would propose spending one billion dollars of taxpayer money to move less than one half of one percent of Orange County commuters. That’s my opinion. I welcome yours. That’s what the blog is all about!
Larry Gilbert
Okay Larry, the frequent critic of all things transit, there is one fact we cannot escape: Orange County IS growing and people keep coming here. How do you propose these people get around?
I drive our freeways and they’re congested – during rush hour on weekends, heck, most of the time there’s traffic. As the good conservative I’m sure you are, using eminent domain to widen our freeways probably isn’t an option.
How DO we handle the population and make sure they can get around so we don’t choke our highways and roads to the point where you can’t get around at all.
The reality is that maybe you won’t take transit or maybe lots of current OC residents won’t take transit, but what about the people moving here? We need a way to accomodate growth.
Transit solutions are for the future generations coming to OC. Look at the Gold and Orange Lines in LA County – ridership is far above expectation and people are starting to make real estate decisions based up access to transit. With a farily efficient transit system in OC its very plausible that people will move to a place close to Metrolink or other transit if it works for them
But I want to hear from you. Its easy to criticize now, please, tell how YOU would accomodate the growth of OC and all the cars and people we expect to come here.
A rail line to LAX, this is awful. Why would anybody want options besides driving to get to an airport? Damn those planners. LOL!
If you were only allowed to get on freeways during certain times of the day, and those times were quite limited, would most people feel compelled to use them? If people are accustomed to Metrolink running consistently all day, then more people would use the system.
By the way Larry, if your anti-Measure M arguments rely on you using scare tactics of a revitalized Centerline, then I can’t wait until the Measure M victory party.
I can already hear your knuckles dragging out to Riverside where they have the amount of transit you like, next to none.
Larry Gilbert UPDATE:
One of my colleagues suggested I add some ADDITIONAL data to my prior post on vehicular traffic vs. Metrolink ridership. OK. Having OCTA data I will now provide an “apples to apples” comparison.
Metrolink Passenger Trips, June 2006, on the Orange County Line, INCLUDING Oceanside, Norwalk and City of Commerce. There were 27 days of operation during which time they reported 70,674 passengers, or a daily ridership of 2,617, outbound. Those are not my numbers. Those were provided to me directly by OCTA staff.
Now compare that to freeway usage as reported in Monday’s Register. On Interstaste 5 the daily usage, in either direction, is 178,000 vehicles, divided by five lanes, equals 35,600 cars per day. And for Meg Waters, speaking in favor of Measure M, to say that “Metrolink is the equivalent of one freeway lane” is disingenuous.
To set the record straight I do not oppose mass transit. In addition to using rail in the US I have riden various subway systems in England and France. Many years ago I worked in Manhattan and did use their subways. Orange County has 789 square miles while Manhattan has 24 square miles with high density employment centers. You need job density to make the system effective. That’s what is required to justify the system.
Larry Gilbert