Riding the D in Los Angeles: city hopes new subway stations will be game changer • Hacker News Board

Re: Riding the D in Los Angeles: city hopes new subway stations will be game changer

#51

Post by cucumber3732842 » Wed, May 13, 2026, 1:57 PM UTC

NDlurker wrote: post #14

Ride the D? Wow

Changing social norms with time. The dub the dew generation is now starting to actually have some pull and/or be worth pandering to.

The millennials and younger rightfully think every organization and institution is a joke, don't think their words are worth anything, results matter, etc. Since words and names are of low value they don't have a stick up their ass about being SuperSerious(TM) with them like the boomers and older did.

Give it a few years and some place with a name that starts with F will name their transit system FART.

Re: Riding the D in Los Angeles: city hopes new subway stations will be game changer

#52

Post by rayiner » Wed, May 13, 2026, 2:26 PM UTC

yieldcrv wrote: post #50

rayiner wrote: post #37

Earlier quoted context omitted.

In Spain and France, once the legislature approves a transit project, it preempts all other laws and is very difficult to litigate out of existence. Lawsuits cripple our ability to build infrastructure.

The US constitution’s supremacy clause allows for this too But because higher governments derive their existence from the support of the lower governments, laws are frequently written to allow opt in by lower governments California very commonly inverts the supremacy relationship Municipal level governments don’t practice the county’s laws unless they opt in, and don’t practice many of the states laws unless they opt…

A lot of the burden is from federal requirements (NEPA and the APA) that subject every government action to endless litigation. In Spain and France, the laws authorizing transit projects also bar challenges under many corresponding national laws. The idea is that the government has made the decision to do something after extended consideration, and that's that.

Re: Riding the D in Los Angeles: city hopes new subway stations will be game changer

#53

Post by danielhep » Wed, May 13, 2026, 5:04 PM UTC

testfrequency wrote: post #47

danielhep wrote: post #46

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Interesting! How long ago was that? Seattle has higher transit ridership than both those cities and is rapidly expanding its transit system. I believe we are still leading the pack in transit ridership growth yoy. Maybe you were here before it got good? I’ve only lived here 5 years.

Pre pandemic. Seattle has more riders than Los Angeles? That’s…not right? I recall needing to rent a car to get nearly anywhere around Seattle, like if I wanted to get from home in Capitol Hill to Golden Gardens, that’s nearly an hour to go 8mi with multiple transfers. The issue with Seattle is it’s a small city with a giant body of the water in the middle of it, with not many bus lanes or hard rail. Conversely, you…

Sorry, I meant ridership per capita. In Seattle about 15% of people commute via transit (and I believe it’s the fastest increasing in the country), but LA is 6% and flat.

Seattle’s geography is conducive to transit, because there are many bridges where all traffic is constricted. That means point to point trips by car are often taking a similar route to buses. It also restricted the city’s ability to sprawl (although even suburban Bellevue is above LA at 8%).

The standard of service for nearly every bus line that operates in Seattle is 15 minutes frequency, even on weekends. Many lines operate every 10, and the new G Line that opened last year in fully dedicated bus lanes runs every 6!

Re: Riding the D in Los Angeles: city hopes new subway stations will be game changer

#54

Post by TitaRusell » Wed, May 13, 2026, 5:47 PM UTC

sleepyguy wrote: post #23

ETlol wrote: post #3

God it's frustrating how slow making these rail transits has been. The D line was literally planned out back in the 1960s and it took this long? I understand the plethora of problems the engineers faced when completing this. But I find it funny that once the World Cup was planned to be in LA, that's when LA leadership expedited all the legal and corporate hurdles in order to make sure we don't have another carmagetto…

I once watched the TTC (Toronto Transit Commission) close a section of doorways from the street into a station (Runnymede) to replace a small section of tile floor on the inside. It was about 10 ft x 4 ft section, it took somewhere around 2.5 years. After they ripped out the tile on in the first week, I didn't see anyone until it was done 2.5 years later. It took about another 2-3 weeks to remove the plywood and caut…

In my country we still use the same railroad lines that were built in the 19th century.