WEEKLY WHINE

Now boarding for the Cyan Line

Did you know that public transportation exists in the United States? In fact it does, though outside of the New York City metropolitan area, it seems to be largely invisible. In fact, the total number of rides per day in DC, Chicago, Boston, San Francisco, Philadelphia, Atlanta, Los Angeles, and Miami comes to less than half the New York total.

So how can we encourage Americans to stop wasting money, road capacity, fuel, and time by entering their individual cars and driving alone? The best way, of course, is to make mass transit awesome like it is in Paris, London, or Moscow. Here we list several planned mass transit additions in the United States and rank them by importance.

NEW YORK SECOND AVENUE SUBWAY

The story of the Second Avenue Subway is long and silly. It was first proposed in 1929. Construction began in 1951, and again in 1967, and once more in 2007. Each time to date, the economy turned sour, and plans were abandoned. Today, though, plans are in place to complete digging. But because the area is so developed already, the tunnel must move higher or lower to avoid existing subway and Amtrak tunnels, and even the Queens-Midtown Tunnel.

Importance: The need for this line is obvious. The only nearby subway line, the Lexington Avenue Line, sees more than a million riders per day – more than the entire DC Metro system, and the M15 bus, which follows a similar route, has the highest ridership of any bus route in the New York City area.

WASHINGTON SILVER LINE

The Silver Line in Washington, DC’s Metro system would begin at the existing Stadium-Armory station and follow the Orange Line west to East Falls Church. There it would separate and pass through the edge cities of Tysons Corner, Reston, and Ashton. In all, eleven new stations would be constructed, including one at Dulles International Airport.

Importance: IAD is one of the largest US airports, and yet it is way the hell out in the middle of nowhere and accessible only by one current bus line. In addition, the business districts of Tysons Corner and Reston have become essential parts of the DC area and should have Metro service.

LOS ANGELES REGIONAL CONNECTOR

The Regional Connector is something of a misnomer; in fact it would be nothing more than an extension of one existing light rail line to join another. The Blue and Gold Lines both service downtown, but the Blue Line terminus at 7th and Metro is more than two kilometres from the nearest Gold Line station in Little Tokyo.

Importance: The gap between the Blue and Gold Lines is nothing short of embarrassing, particularly because the Metro system in LA does not offer transfers between Metro lines; to change lines, one must buy another ticket, or purchase a day pass at the outset. So the Regional Connector would help, but a better way to encourage mass transit usage in LA would be to introduce transfers, or better yet, allow a single fare payment to apply to a trip over multiple lines.