California should really consider using some of those bullet-train to nowhere funds to add at least one light rail system in west LA. That would be far more useful than a train that stops in Burbank.
To fix L.A.'s traffic, we need tolls
281–290 of 689 posts
Re: To fix L.A.'s traffic, we need tolls
#282Earlier quoted context omitted.
> And that solution is buses. But not the current underfunded system that barely limps along That's why a good toll system should fund the public transit. The higher you set the tolls, the more buses you can offer to those who find it too expensive.
If you think that money from tolls is actually going to go to buses and improved public transit and not just into some Bel-Air businessman's brother's pocket, I have a bridge to sell you in Brooklyn.
I know things are done differently in America, but the profit from London's congestion charge is invested in public transport by law. For at least the first few years, it was entirely spent on improvements to buses -- giving much more capacity, and faster journeys due to the reduced congestion.
* Schedule 23 of the Greater London Authority Act 1999, to be precise, but the whole act is a 500 page PDF, so my curiosity ended there: http://www.legislation.gov.uk/ukpga/1999/29/pdfs/ukpga_19990...
Re: To fix L.A.'s traffic, we need tolls
#283The true solution to LA traffic will never happen. And that solution is buses. But not the current underfunded system that barely limps along. A massive number of buses, like 5x the current number. And combined with tolls for cars to get cars off the road. The large number of buses is critical because it greatly reduces wait time between transfers. It also allows adding express bus lines between major areas. But buse…
You might like Sao Paulo. Its like LA but smelly-er and full of buses. In Sao Paulo there's no need to hurry to hop on your bus before it leaves the stop because another one will arrive immediately. Same deal with the metro. Trains arrive and depart every 90 seconds during rush hour. Do an image search for tráfego em sao paulo site:.br if you're curious how that's working out for them. I like this one: http://f.i.uol…
This applies only to more or less "central" locations. Buses to the city outskirts are still infrequent and, during rush hour, will still be stuck in traffic.
Metro is good, but it is nowhere near 90 seconds - specially with the long stops in between stations.
Re: To fix L.A.'s traffic, we need tolls
#284The article falsely assumes that the HOV lane has spare capacity. During rush hour here all lanes are equally clogged, and sometimes the HOV lane is actually slower than the other 4 lanes. The only way to fix LA traffic with current infrastructure is self driving car pools. If/when they can get to the point in which they are safer than normal drivers, and safe for the riders (crime inside of self driving cars) LA tra…
Here's my idea: Rather than high-occupancy lets make the left lane a guaranteed-speed lane. The rule is that all cars in the lane move at 80 mph. If you can't merge in or out of the lane is such a way that no one else has to brake, then you're not allowed to merge. You're not allowed to slow down unless there's an emergency and those will be rare because users will be required to maintain their vehicles in top condition and crashing is strictly prohibited.
This will dramatically increase the throughput of the lane and will inescapably lead to an increase in usage. But the increase will naturally be capped around 20k cars per hour per lane.
To make it work, you'll need precise data about conditions far ahead and far behind. You'll also need an inescapable enforcement mechanism or the system will succumb to cheating. The good news is that very soon many cars will be covered in sensors, networked and able to implement the concept.
Re: To fix L.A.'s traffic, we need tolls
#285Earlier quoted context omitted.
Kinda related to what you talk about, one problem is that lots of buses are just old . In Massachusetts, over the past year or so the MBTA has been rolling out new buses that are comfortable, smoother, rather quiet, and more energy efficient than the older buses. I'd actually argue that our bus system is far better than our train system. I wonder if it's a feedback loop sort of issue. The buses are old and crummy ->…
But a new tram is EVEN BETTER than a new bus, and Prague has 50-60 year old trams that are as good as a new bus.
Yeah, I hear you, and agree. My point is more just that buses nowadays don't have to be a miserable experience if cities are willing/able to pay for it.
There are wayyyyy too many problems with public transportation in the US that stem from decades of car-centric urban and suburban growth. It seems like nobody wants to pay for public transit development and maintenance around here.
Re: To fix L.A.'s traffic, we need tolls
#286As an interesting aside, the CHP hates HOT lanes because they are very difficult to enforce. My friend is CHP and he says it's hard to read the lights as the cars pass and then make sure the car has a carpool in it if they skipped the toll.
I always thought HOV lanes were a bit of a joke during rush hour or traffic jams. It's nearly impossible to effectively enforce the rule and there's simply too many people willing to ignore the rule.
Re: To fix L.A.'s traffic, we need tolls
#287To people who feel pricing roads is wrong because of equity, what about pricing cars, gasoline, transit, parking, etc? Virtually all prices are hard on the poor but there are rarely calls to do away with prices where they already exist. It doesn't make much sense to say that it's equitable to put a tax on gasoline, an input to driving, but not driving itself. Moreover, are we supposed to make all street parking or pu…
Lets take average Joe. He can choose to buy a car or not, but he depends on the value roads provide with his life and employment. Does he not have the responsibility to contribute? Police do not arrive by train, we will always need roads, and discrete transport, and they will always benefit everyone, driver or not. Toll only funding just leads to worse basic services, and technical inflation.
Re: To fix L.A.'s traffic, we need tolls
#288Earlier quoted context omitted.
> there's not much of a difference in cost between steel+gravel and concrete is there? There is a difference, because a pure asphalt track is easy to lay, and especially easy to rework. Train tracks, especially those running in asphalt (shared road between cars and trams), have a host of problems: 1) It's really expensive to build them - trains weigh a LOT and the rails need adequate foundations 2) It's really expens…
On 2) you say "which means you have two weeks of no service at all". Well in Prague, we just use busses when the tram line is being repaired. Its like a downgrade. "Oh, tracks are being worked on, I'll have to take the x6 bus rather than the 6 tram." It sucks, but its far better than using busses all the time ;). And of course, you might think that it is wastefull to have a host of busses just waiting around to be tu…
> Well in Prague, we just use busses when the tram line is being repaired. Its like a downgrade.
Yeah, we do that in Munich too, but it sucks real hard. Especially when the replacement buses are also in the same traffic jam created by the construction site... and all the replacement buses cost big money these days, given that there are nowhere near enough bus drivers to serve the demand.
ad 3) Yeah of course, but it's still a huge cost factor ;)
ad 4) I know someone who carries self-made stickers with penis stencils. He places these on idiot car owners' cars.
Re: To fix L.A.'s traffic, we need tolls
#289Earlier quoted context omitted.
Better enforcement is a good idea. Seems to be worth the money. Or carry concealed permits. You'll have to repeal California's action that requires all new semi-auto's to have a unique firing pin. But then you don't have to worry traveling. I carry. I keep odd hours in a small town. I walk every night .25 miles to my office at 8 PM and then back again around 2 AM. Never had any problem (probably the same as most peop…
> Or carry concealed permits. Um, no. The crazy people won't care, the gangbangers will be better armed and generally in a group, and the single mugger will now take your wallet AND gun AND may shoot you if he gets the drop on you instead of just taking your wallet. > in a small town It shows. Your assessment of the probability of crime and how you will interact with it is completely wrong.
'bsder you seem pretty confident here, despite the fact that everything you've said contradicts what I've heard from LEOs and other trained firearms users.
Re: To fix L.A.'s traffic, we need tolls
#290The problem as I see it is that we force everyone onto the freeway. Need to get somewhere a few miles from here? They make it very difficult to get there without getting onto the freeway. There was some point in the last 30 years where city designers decided the best way to handle local traffic was just to force everyone onto the freeway. It's horrible. There should instead be a reasonable main grid of smaller (2 lan…
> The problem as I see it is that we force everyone onto the freeway. Need to get somewhere a few miles from here? They make it very difficult to get there without getting onto the freeway.
This applies to many American cities, but not really most of LA. The relatively grid-like nature of the surface street network + the level of highway congestion makes short trips do much better on surface streets most of the day.
Of course, the flip side is terrible surface street congestion (to to go east from Santa Monica to UCLA at end-of-day rush hour... or south to LAX on Lincoln). But it reflects that LA's street planning is in many ways much more like an "old" city than a "new" one with lots of intentionally-confusing local road routing and consistent, easy routing to the highways instead.
But when every street going west->east or north->south is backed up, whether they're 1 lane or 3-to-4, I'm not sure there's any room for a denser grid of narrower streets, or that it would improve much.