Some things mortal
man was not meant to understand.
I had occasion
yesterday to test an assumption I had made about the Red Line, that
the part of the Red Line that went to North Hollywood was indeed a
different spur. After all, Downtown LA to Studio City is basically
right over the hill through Hollywood.
No, when you get on
the part of the Red Line marked for N. Hollywood, it still goes all
the way around the LA basin and then extends your crazy ride a little
further from Hollywood to N. Hollywood. That would make a 5 or 10
minute trip a nice 30 or 40 minute trip, underground, at high speed,
with very loud screeching as the train tries to make up in time what
it has lost in distance.
What you can't really see from this map is that the whole 7th Metro to Hollywood Highland is completely in the other direction from N. Hollywood from downtown LA (e.g. Union Station). Oh well.
I can tell you I would not want to do that commute every day from N. Hollywood to downtown via the Red Line. That would be incredibly annoying. What are these people thinking?
Its like going
between Washington DC and New York via Boston. Or from LA to San
Diego via San Francisco.
Crazy man.
I guess it saved them some money or something.
Furthermore, I learned something about light rail vs heavy rail, which is that light rail is infinitely preferable to heavy rail. Infinitely. Not only is it less expensive to install and maintain, but it is also, generally speaking, less noisy and above ground, which means that it has better air and much better light. You can see where you are, and see, for example, the Museum of Science & Industry when you go by USC, etc. Heavy rail, e.g. the Red Line, is noisy, unpleasant and expensive. Light rail for me!
We should be grateful that LA has mass transit at all, and not worry too much about whether or not it was well designed (or not). I suppose.
Furthermore, I learned something about light rail vs heavy rail, which is that light rail is infinitely preferable to heavy rail. Infinitely. Not only is it less expensive to install and maintain, but it is also, generally speaking, less noisy and above ground, which means that it has better air and much better light. You can see where you are, and see, for example, the Museum of Science & Industry when you go by USC, etc. Heavy rail, e.g. the Red Line, is noisy, unpleasant and expensive. Light rail for me!
We should be grateful that LA has mass transit at all, and not worry too much about whether or not it was well designed (or not). I suppose.
The Red Line on
Wikipedia
No comments:
Post a Comment