Earlier quoted context omitted.
It is only so fast, because the rest of us are in the tram though.
Nope. It's fast because the local government decided to support individual transport for once and built the tunnel complex.
To fix L.A.'s traffic, we need tolls
411–420 of 689 posts
Re: To fix L.A.'s traffic, we need tolls
#412This is just a band-aid. Same with adding buses, lanes, trains, etc. When something goes wrong in software we usually try to resolve it by finding a root cause. There are a lot of cars on the roads. Why? People live far away from their work. Why? All the office buildings are in one central place. Why? ... Etc. The solutions to the root causes, whatever they are, are, unfortunately, a lot more complex and expensive th…
Yes, this. Also, maybe those people who drive so far into offices to sit at a desk all day clicking buttons in a web app... Maybe those people don't need to be driving into an office at all. Or maybe just one day a week. Or, if you can't trust your employees to work from home, maybe there should be neighborhood working spaces where you can have a supervisor with your employees as they click buttons in a web app, but…
Re: To fix L.A.'s traffic, we need tolls
#413Earlier quoted context omitted.
How often do you take the Big Blue Bus? People really do drive so they do not have to deal with the bums. Those guys can be really violent and smelly some days.
Perhaps have a society without insane inequality whilst we are drawing up a wish list...
Re: To fix L.A.'s traffic, we need tolls
#414Earlier quoted context omitted.
Residential (and commercial) parking minimums need to be abolished. Set parking maximums if you must impose some rules, and then allow the market to settle on appropriate amount of parking for a new development.
I'm sure there's some research on this somewhere, but parking minimums have got to be one of the most distortive policies to ever emerge in urban planning.
Re: To fix L.A.'s traffic, we need tolls
#415This is just a band-aid. Same with adding buses, lanes, trains, etc. When something goes wrong in software we usually try to resolve it by finding a root cause. There are a lot of cars on the roads. Why? People live far away from their work. Why? All the office buildings are in one central place. Why? ... Etc. The solutions to the root causes, whatever they are, are, unfortunately, a lot more complex and expensive th…
The real problem is how impossible it is to get remote work in LA, employers here demand onsite even when it hurts the project, its very hard to get remote work living in La as most employers are looking for remote employees in cheaper cost of living areas.
The problem in LA is that VCs and founders have money to live by the ocean, so they start companies near the ocean.
If an LA startup is stunted by its inability to hire, that startup should move downtown where trains can deliver a workforce from distant suburbs and the surrounding counties of Orange, Riverside, San Bernadino, and Ventura.
Re: To fix L.A.'s traffic, we need tolls
#416Earlier quoted context omitted.
> [rail] will always have the last mile issue That is true only for heavy rail (commuter trains). But light rail (trams, or perhaps called streetcars in American English) can have stops as often as buses. Here is a tram in Karlsruhe, Germany: http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3470/3906930335_f3b2e209c2.jp... Here are some in Helsinki, Finland: http://static.panoramio.com/photos/large/47004637.jpg https://i.ytimg.com/vi/…
> But light rail (trams, or perhaps called streetcars in American English) can have stops as often as buses. I have a hard time justifying trams/streetcars over buses. They largely seem equivalent except that buses are more flexible since they're not bound to a set of tracks. For example, if a car crash or other obstacle blocks the tram tracks, the trams have to wait for the obstacle to be cleared. A bus can just go…
On the other hand, buses are far more flexible; a minor glitch like an accident or someone unloading their moving goods stops a tram on the street totally, because it absolutely doesn't go round any obstacle. Buses do.
Re: To fix L.A.'s traffic, we need tolls
#417Earlier quoted context omitted.
'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.
> despite the fact that everything you've said contradicts what I've heard from LEOs and other trained firearms users. Really? 1) Muggers The LEO's I deal with are normally "Just give them your wallet and phone. Do not fight back." Now, admittedly, most of this advice is from the US and being near big cities. In the US, we don't tend to have kidnappings--normally muggers will take your wallet and phone and run unless…
One carries in order to defend lives. One's own life, the lives of family, and if the situation warrants the lives of other innocent people. It's true that defending life with deadly force will get one in trouble in some jurisdictions. That's why it's better to live in the vast majority of jurisdictions where justified uses of deadly force prompt handshakes rather than criminal charges.
Re: To fix L.A.'s traffic, we need tolls
#418This is just a band-aid. Same with adding buses, lanes, trains, etc. When something goes wrong in software we usually try to resolve it by finding a root cause. There are a lot of cars on the roads. Why? People live far away from their work. Why? All the office buildings are in one central place. Why? ... Etc. The solutions to the root causes, whatever they are, are, unfortunately, a lot more complex and expensive th…
I don't know that I've ever heard someone suggest that fewer job opportunities is better than more job opportunities.
Re: To fix L.A.'s traffic, we need tolls
#419This is just a band-aid. Same with adding buses, lanes, trains, etc. When something goes wrong in software we usually try to resolve it by finding a root cause. There are a lot of cars on the roads. Why? People live far away from their work. Why? All the office buildings are in one central place. Why? ... Etc. The solutions to the root causes, whatever they are, are, unfortunately, a lot more complex and expensive th…
Re: To fix L.A.'s traffic, we need tolls
#420But the real problem with tolls is that there really is no alternative to driving and it's going to be irresponsible and ineffective to pretend like there is.
Other posters have mentioned the concentration of businesses downtown as a problem but there is some spread. And commercial districts tend to cluster for a reason. Supporting infrastructure, proximity to other businesses and so on.
What LA needs--and any other sprawling city for that matter--is for high density, affordable living close to employment centers such that car ownership may eventually become optional.
This requires changes in zoning (which current landowners will fight tooth and nail) and probably an adjustment to the property tax system to pay for new public transit infrastructure such that the property tax is a function of the land area you occupy inversely proportional to your distance from downtown (and maybe several other important points).
Basically you need to tax people who own large lots close to the city center. This effectively means the rich and again they'll fight it tooth and nail.
Everybody wants to live on a half acre lot (or bigger). They want it to be affordable and close to work. Well that doesn't work in a city of X million people.
Additionally outer areas may need to be treated like commuter towns are in NYC, meaning rail transport from there to, say, downtown where there's essentially just one stop in the "town". Too many stops and it just stops working at anything over, say, 20 miles or so.