Friday, July 30, 2004
Gold Line Interminably Slow
Why did the $859-million Pasadena-to-Los Angeles Gold Line fail to meet ridership expectations, as described in the link posted by Matt below? Maybe because it is s - l - o - w. The writer of this article notes that switching from an auto to the light rail doubled his commute time.
When he made the switch, he hoped he could "read my paper, sip my coffee, and gleefully thumb my nose at people stuck in traffic." But it turns out the traffic whisks by him, you aren't allowed to drink coffee on board, and he can't concentrate on reading because he is always wondering why the train is going so slow. "Instead of screaming 'Go!' at little old ladies on the freeway, I wanted to bellow 'Go!' at train drivers," he says.
The writer is thinking of switching back to driving, but unfortunately the drive now takes longer thanks to the fact that there is a new source of congestion on his route: The Gold line, which crosses streets three times and wastes the time of drivers. Don't worry, transportation planners say; they are "working on it." Right.
When he made the switch, he hoped he could "read my paper, sip my coffee, and gleefully thumb my nose at people stuck in traffic." But it turns out the traffic whisks by him, you aren't allowed to drink coffee on board, and he can't concentrate on reading because he is always wondering why the train is going so slow. "Instead of screaming 'Go!' at little old ladies on the freeway, I wanted to bellow 'Go!' at train drivers," he says.
The writer is thinking of switching back to driving, but unfortunately the drive now takes longer thanks to the fact that there is a new source of congestion on his route: The Gold line, which crosses streets three times and wastes the time of drivers. Don't worry, transportation planners say; they are "working on it." Right.
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