"WHY L.A. TRAFFIC SUCKS #5: PESKY, ANNOYING LITTLE QUIRKS THAT SLOW DOWN TRAFFIC: NO "left turn only" lanes
Try any of the corners of Crescent Heights from Melrose to San Vicente and feel like flying into "road rage" as you're stuck forever behind someone turning left while all the smart ones whizz by on your right! (this problem is closely tied to the previous post: Unprotected Lefts and to the following issue to be posted tomorrow: "WHY L.A. TRAFFIC SUCKS #6: PESKY, ANNOYING LITTLE QUIRKS THAT SLOW DOWN TRAFFIC: Street parking")
The conspicuous absence of a north-south freeway right down the middle of the West Side makes ANY street connecting Sunset to I-10 a prospective thoroughfare at peak hours. Crescent Heights is the ALTERNATE LA CIENEGA, the only way sometimes to make it south from West Hollywood to I-10 without flying into "road rage." But Crescent Heights can be difficult to navigate with this trident of UNPROTECTED LEFTS, NO LEFT ONLY LANES AND STREET PARKING staring you in the face (NOT to mention "DIPS"! See the post three days from now: "WHY L.A. TRAFFIC SUCKS #8: PESKY, ANNOYING LITTLE QUIRKS THAT SLOW DOWN TRAFFIC: Dips and Potholes.")
From Pico to I-10, Crescent Heights is riddled with stop signs. Fine. That's perfectly understandable since you are going through a residential area and a school zone in that part of it. But from Santa Monica to Pico, Crescent Heights can be a little pain you-know-where because of these three factors, ALL OF WHICH are bad urban planning in the midst of explosive urban growth. This city is past the "urban explotion" point of NO return and is not going back to what it was 60 years ago anytime soon. Urban planners might as well deal with it and prepare Crescent Heights to be the ALTERNATE LA CIENEGA that it ALREADY is. The same must be true of any other north-south street that requires it. La Cienega (forget Fairfax!! You'd have to be insane to take Fairfax!) is NOT ENOUGH to carry traffic from mid-West Side Sunset to I-10 and points beyond.
SOLUTION #5: WHAT CAN BE DONE TO FIX IT?
"LEFT ONLY" LANES NEED TO BE PUT IN ANYWHERE AND EVERYWHERE THEY ARE REQUIRED TO KEEP TRAFFIC FLOWING IN THE L.A. AREA.
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Saturday, April 29, 2006
WHY L.A. traffic sucks #5: Pesky annoying quirks: NO "left only" lanes
Friday, April 28, 2006
"WHY" L.A. traffic sucks: OPEN DISCUSSION #1: Up in Arms!
OPEN DISCUSSION [WHY should it be there hidden under "comments"? Let's have it out here in the open!]: Up in Arms!
On 4/28/06, calwatch < chrissharp@bleeble.org> wrote: calwatch has left a new comment on your post " "WHY" L.A. traffic sucks #3: Bus'em and clog'em":
The problem with this idea is that by creating these "indents" (the actual term for them are bus pullouts), you are slowing down bus riders while they have to wait for traffic to clear. And then somebody runs to the bus and the driver opens the door and the bus has to wait for traffic again. Rinse and repeat. Actually, in some places, they are placing bus stop bulbouts such that the sidewalk is extended through the parking lane and that the bus blocks the right lane of through traffic. Your idea is not transit friendly and would be vehemently opposed by transit riders, which despite the small number in LA are actually a somewhat powerful force. [emphasis mine]
italianesco replies:
Thank you for your comments. It's great to know that people are reading the blog.
I WAS one such "transit rider" in the city of Los Angeles, CA for almost TWO AND A HALF YEARS of my life. I did rent cars now and then, especially towards the end of my three-year stay, but I simply REFUSED to own a car and contribute to the mess. I even put up with the three-month (don't remember how long exactly it was) MTA METRO mechanics STRIKE of 2003. I walked like a maniac, went all the way downtown on the S.M. Blue Bus to make it to Hollywood somehow many times, and spend a fortune on cabs. I even took some of those "pirate taxi" vans driven by the Mexicans down Wilshire a few times. That's how far my idealism took me.
When it comes to riding the bus in L.A. I HAVE PAID MY DUES. And I can tell you for a fact that as a "transit rider" your complaint on "bus pullouts" would be the least of my worries, the least of my pet peeves, the least of my concerns. When it comes to the MTA (the BEST bus service in L.A. is, without doubt, the S.M. Blue Bus!!), there is SO MUCH to complain about and fix that I was even thinking of starting a new blog just on that!! "MTA SUCKS! Let's fix it!"
This IS the problem. L.A . drivers, L.A. "transit riders", L.A. residents have a MESS on their hands. What are they going to do about it? SOMETHING HAS TO GIVE. If every simple solution to every single issue is going to have a politically significant "powerful force" opposing it, we might as well GIVE UP right now! Just live with the mess. I think this mess has grown to the unmanageable proportions it has reached precisely because NO ONE seems to have the POLITICAL WILL or the POLITICAL COURAGE to DO ANYTHING ABOUT IT, to really fix ANYTHING.
Here's the problem: that stretch of Wilshire from Westwood Blvd. to Sepulveda needs to be UNCLOGGED, DE-CLOGGED, FLUSHED OUT. It is--to use my recurring the analogy--like an overweight person who either puts himself on diet and exercise program or sooner or later he will have to undergo tripple by-pass surgery. His arteries are CLOGGED. They are JAMMED. They are BLOCKED--just like the "arteries" of the city of Los Angeles. What kind of "medicine" would you rather take?!? Would you rather put yourself on a "diet (fewer cars on the road) and exercise (get those cars moving)" program or would you rather undergo "surgery" (construction everywhere to widen freeways, build overpasses, dig subway systems)? THIS IS THE PROBLEM.
I know, I have lived, I have experienced BOTH SIDES of that great divide: I drove cars and I rode the bus in L.A. When you are on the bus, you are aggravated by all those "damn drivers." When you are in a car, you are aggravated by all those "damn buses." It's always what perspective you're coming from, isn't it? We might as well face it right now: NO SOLUTION TO ANY TRAFFIC PROBLEM IN L.A. IS GOING TO PLEASE EVERYBODY (car divers, transit riders, residents, pedestrians). BUT WE MIGHT AS WELL WORK ALL TOGETHER TO FIND SOLUTIONS TO THE PROBLEMS BEFORE THE MESS REALLY REACHES UNBELIEVABLY UNAMANAGEABLE PROPORTIONS. It's going to get WORSE, NOT BETTER. Las Vegas may be the "fastest growing city in America," but the L.A. is not exactly far behind. In spite of all the problems, people are still pouring into the L.A. area at an unbelievable rate (never mind the great number of tourists and non-residents that simply pass through).
Like I've said before on my blog, equality doesn't work sometimes. But sometimes "democracy" does. If the great majority of the people in L.A. want to drive cars instead of riding the bus, then they deserve a viable, comfortable and efficient traffic system. That's the bottom line. That's "democracy." That's America. That doesn't mean that I don't believe in public transportation. I have lived in Europe and that's one the things I LOVE about both Europe and New York.
I am convinced that a "bus pullout" (what I call an "indent") would be THE SOLUTION to the jam being created on that stretch of Wilshire from Westwood Blvd. to Sepulveda BY the 720 Red Rapid MTS buses. And do you know WHY your complaint is irrelevant to that particular situation? Because MOST of the Red Rapid buses stopping at that busstop on Wilshire between Westwood Blvd. and Geyley stop to UNLOAD ALL PASSENGERS. That's THE END of their line, the END of their route. Sure, some continue on to Santa Monica but a great number of them END there. So creating a "bus pullout" on the next block by that parking lot makes ALL THE SENSE IN THE WORLD.
As a matter of fact, THE JAM created by these buses is THREE-FOLD:
1. Because they are "rapid buses" with selected stops, they are usually coming on the center lane to go fast and once they get to the corner of Wilshire and Westwood, they suddenly try to get on the right lane to stop at that busstop. This maneuver slows down and sometimes jams traffic.
2. Then, because they stop at that bustop FOR QUITE A WHILE SOMETIMES while they unload ALL passengers when that's the end of their route or to load passengers when they continue on, they slow down and jam traffic. I DARE YOU to go that busstop and take one of those buses when the bus is JAM-PACKED FULL or when a DISABLED PERSON ON A WHEELCHAIR is getting on the bus and see how long it takes that bus to get going!! If a disabled person on a wheelchair is getting on the bus, traffic on the right lane can be stopped for at least five (5) minutes, if not longer.
3. Then, when that's the end of their route (and most of the times it is!!), bus drivers go to park the buses and take a break on Veteran Avenue by the Federal Building. That means that in order to get there they have to make a LEFT right after pulling out of the busstop. So as they pull out and veer IMMEDIATELY LEFT they slow down and jam traffic.
So that whole little mess is largely being created by the MTA. They are creating it, THEY should fix it.
My "bus pullout" on the next block SOLUTION idea would solve ALL of these problems. So "transit riders" would have to wait "a little longer" for the bus to get back on track and keep going? SO BE IT. Big deal. This should be THE LEAST of their problems. They ALREADY have to put up with a lot more inconvenience and aggravation from the MTA.
I rode those Red Rapid buses down Wilshire for two years. DON'T EVEN GET ME STARTED ON THOSE!! The MTA sucks!! There's NO question about it. After everything I went through FOR TWO WHOLE YEARS (including their little "mechanics bus strike of 2003"), I WOULD NEVER TAKE AN MTA BUS AGAIN IN L.A. I don't even know whether I'm even ever going back to L.A., but if I ever do and if I can help it, NEVER AGAIN. I'd get off a plane and go straight to a car rental to pick up a car and drive!!!
The S.M. Blue Bus? YES!!!! They provide EXCELLENT SERVICE (well, as "excellent" as you can expect) in the L.A. area. I believe that because of their great efficiency and professionalism, the Santa Monica Blue Bus company SHOULD take over transportation for the WHOLE L.A. area. They are the BEST. MTA is the WORST. If it weren't for the politics behind the MTA, the Blue Bus should RULE.
So that's "the way this cookie crumbles." Do you have any better ideas?
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"WHY" L.A. traffic sucks #4: Pesky annoying quirks: Unprotected Lefts
WHY L.A. TRAFFIC SUCKS #4: PESKY, ANNOYING LITTLE QUIRKS THAT SLOW DOWN TRAFFIC: UNPROTECTED LEFTS
Steev, an "angeleno" friend of mine, cynically jokes that angelenos "love unprotected lefts just like they love unprotected sex!" (hah-hah, very funny, Steev!)
L.A. must be one of the FEW cities in the world with such a ridiculous traffic light system. How is it possible that the second largest city in the country has a traffic light system from 40 or 50 years ago? It's absolutely ridiculous. No wonder there are traffic problems in L.A. In Dallas and Houston, to name just two other American cities, ALL the intersections - EVERY SINGLE ONE OF THEM - have PROTECTED LEFTS (I simply can't believe that, when it comes to traffic, Texas is more advanced and efficient than "cutting edge" California!!) . Protected lefts allow traffic to flow better.
There is NO QUESTION ABOUT IT: unprotected lefts are slowing down and clogging traffic in the L.A. area. Waiting in line for the last few seconds of a YELLOW light to make a left while all the oncoming cars whizz by and practically RUN A RED LIGHT EVERY TIME to get past the intersection, too many cars are stuck waiting in line to make a left. NOT enough cars are allowed to turn left. Sometimes, the line of cars spills out onto the left lane and blocks and clogs the lane, bloking and clogging traffic for all cars on that lane. Unprotected lefts are contributing to the unbelievable traffic mess in L.A. and someone needs to do something about it!
SOLUTION #4: WHAT CAN BE DONE TO FIX IT?
At whatever cost, PROTECTED LEFTS need to be added to ALL major intersections WITHOUT EXCEPTION as soon as possible in the whole L.A. area. Period. Case closed. End of story.
There are simply NO counter-arguments on this one. The cost? What cost? Put a $0.25 toll on everyone making a left in L.A. and you'll have enough millions to upgrade the traffic lights of the entire country. Even insurance companies would contribute to the fund: there'd be a lot fewer accidents in L.A. and a lot fewer people going in for "road rage" psychological treatment (don't you feel like SHOOTING those who RUN A RED LIGHT and keep you from making a left turn? :-)
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Photo: one of the few PROTECTED LEFTS in all of L.A.: FOCUSING ON THE SOLUTION [solutions are in GREEN: go! let's do it! problems are in RED: stop!]
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Thursday, April 27, 2006
"WHY" L.A. traffic sucks #3: Bus'em and clog'em
Before proposing solutions, we might want to figure out WHY L.A. traffic sucks so bad. "WHY" there is a problem might yield some answers on "HOW" to solve it.
WHY L.A. TRAFFIC SUCKS #3: BUS'EM AND CLOG'EM!
How do you move millions of car-less angelenos from home to work or from home to the ocean? By bus, of course.
While buses, as part of a public transportation systeam are good to move more people with fewer vehicles, in a city where millions refuse to take them and prefer to drive, they slow down traffic with their constant start and stops. There are thousands of buses on the road at any one time in L.A. and while they are moving many angelenos around who otherwise wouldn't have the means to move around, they are also clogging L.A.'s arteries. I have a few very good suggestions on how to minimize their impact on traffic and keep it flowing.
Here's the typical scenario: Wilshite Boulevard from Westwood to the 405 Freeway. I dare ANYONE to get on the far right lane and not get caught somehow either behind a bus or behind the line of cars trying to get on the 405. You can be nicely zooming west down Wilshire and looking forward to being in Brentwood in 5 minutes. You get to Westwood and you're invariably caught in a jam.
A great part of that jam is caused by the great number of MTA buses (720 Red Rapid ones) stopping to drop off passengers between Westwood Blvd. and Gayley. The jam is compounded by the great number of buses turning right onto Wilshire from UCLA. While they are not stopping there, they are feeding into Wilshire and clogging this stretch between Westwood Blvd. and Sepulveda. The rest of the jam is caused by the great number of cars trying to get on the right lane to get on the 405 past Sepulveda. This stretch of Wilshire east of the 405 between Westwood and Sepulveda is always a mess. West of the 405, between Sepulveda and San Vicente, this streetch of Wilshire is also usually a mess. The great number of cars feeding into Wilshire off of the 405 in both directions is also contributing to the jam.
There is construction on this stretch of the 405. Appararently, they are trying to widen the freeway at this point (great!), and hopefully, they are also trying to re-do the terrible entraces to and exits from the freeway (hope so!), which are also contributing to the jam. I have no idea exactly what they are doing. But my concern right now is not with the freeway (the 405 is a "monster" that needs major cosmetic surgery! We'll leave that to the powers-that-be), but with those buses, especially those on the westbound stretch of Wilshire from Westwood Blvd. to Veteran. Those buses, multitudes of them, are stopping right there and slowing down traffic.
SOLUTION #3: WHAT CAN BE DONE TO FIX IT? BUSTOP "INDENTS"! [aka, "bus pullouts" or "bus turnouts"]
I don't know exactly what this is called in traffic lingo, but I'm going to call it "INDENTING." The ONLY way that buses can stop and unload or pick up passangers without disturbing and slowing down traffic is by creating "INDENTS."
What's an "indent"? Ever seen the old Beverly Hills post office on Santa Monica Blvd. between Beverly Dr. and Canon Dr.? This post office has a beautiful "indent," a carving off the road where buses can stop without affecting traffic. Buses stop at this "indent" off Santa Monica Blvd. and traffic keeps flowing undisturbed. "Indents" like this one need to be built all over the L.A. area, but especially on that westbound stretch of Wilshire between Westwood Blvd. and Veteran.
Where can such an "indent" be built? Easy. On the block between Gayley and Veteran, past the corner where there is a Hollywood Video store, there is nothing but a parking lot. Part of this parking lot can be "carved" to create an "indent" for buses to stop and let traffic flow undisturbed down Wilshire. Such an indented busstop would not only help traffic but also bus passengers. If you are riding the bus down Wilshire, you have to choose between taking the Red Rapid 720 on the busstop mid-block west of Westwood Blvd. or or the No. 20 on the north-east corner of Westwood and Wilshire: their busstops are on either side of Westwood Blvd. (I used to curse the heavens and the earth and whoever came up with that stupid idea every time I had to wait for a bus to go down Wilshire at that intersection). By relocating both busstops to an indented busstop between Gayley and Veteran, both passengers and traffic would benefit.
So-called "bus lanes" are NOT a good idea. To dedicate one lane sorely needed for traffic exclusively to buses, like they do in parts of downtown Santa Monica, is to compound, NOT solve the problem. While no one wants to be behind a bus because of their relatively slow speed and constant stops, knowing that buses have a place to stop without disturbing the flow of traffic behind them will encourage people to drive behind buses and just go with the flow. It will discourage zig-zagging between the right and center lanes to avoid being behind the bus. This zig-zagging slows down traffic as drivers step on their brakes to avoid hitting the cars coming onto their lanes.
"Busstop indents" are the kind of SOLUTION to a traffic problem that won't cost millions but will make a difference. Small but powerful ideas like this one is what's needed to solve L.A.'s traffic problem. This idea by itself won't solve the problem but together in concert with all these other ideas, it will have a significant impact on the flow of traffic throughout the L.A. area.
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Wednesday, April 26, 2006
Putting "Ingenuity, Creativity and Resourcefulness" back into "American."
----Original Message Follows----
From: italianesco
To: andrew hurvitz
Subject: Beggin for L.A. monorail 4/26/2006
Date: Wed, 26 Apr 2006
RE: Begging for L.A. monorail
http://la-traffic-sucks-lets-fix-it.blogspot.com/
Posted by italianesco to Here in Van Nuys at 4/26/2006 07:42:21 AM
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On 4/26/06, andrew hurvitz replied:
Thank you. Your site is full of interesting ideas.
Andrew
www.hereinvannuys.com
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On 4/26/06, italianesco replies:
Thanks, Andrew.
If you like the ideas and think they'd be worth trying (they're a lot cheaper and more realistic than a subway system or monorail at this point), then please tell others about my blog. The only way to bring about change is to have enough people pressure enough politicians into making that change.
Politicians are not as "creative" as they'd like to portray themselves. I think this mayor Villarraigosa got elected partly because he promised to solve L.A.'s traffic woes. He was on the cover of the L.A. Weekly with a picture taken at a Metro station with a train in the background (The Subway Mayor: How a bus-only politician — and a car-obsessed city — are learning to love the underground - By ERIC BERKOWITZ, L.A. Weekly,Thursday, August 18, 2005 - 12:00 am).
Meaning what? That THAT is his solution?
Typical. There is SO MUCH that can be done WITHOUT spending billions and WITHOUT performing "major surgery" on the city (Building a subway or a monorail in L.A. at this point would be like performing triple by-pass surgery on a 400-pound man. The city would be in the hospital for quite awhile! And it'll cost a pretty penny, too!). Driving around L.A. in that traffic mess you can only wonder: "whatever happened to American Ingenuity, Creativity and Resourcefulness? Is this really the nation that put a man on the moon?"
My ideas are all about putting "Ingenuity, Creativity and Resourcefulness" back into "American."
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WHY L.A. traffic sucks #2: Bad (or not exactly forward-looking) design
Before proposing solutions, we might want to figure out WHY L.A. traffic sucks so bad. "WHY" there is a problem might yield some answers on "HOW" to solve it.
WHY L.A. TRAFFIC SUCKS #2: BAD (or not exactly forward-looking) PATCHWORK DESIGN
If you look at a layout of the city and get a bird's eye view of traffic at the busiest times, you soon realize that a lot, if not most of the traffic is moving east to west (a.m.) or west to east (p.m.) (Let's forget about the 405 for now and traffic coming from the Valley either through the 405, Laurel Canyon or the 101. Traffic from the Valley is a whole other animal). For traffic moving east or west of the 405 freeway at any of those times, the problem is compounded by the fact that when the freeway was built, it was built in such a way that only a few major streets (Sunset, Wilshire, Santa Monica, Olympic, Pico and Venice) were chosen to have overpasses built over them. The rest (essentially all other minor streets) were BLOCKED by the freeway. Whether you're going east or west, to get past the 405, you have to go through one of these major streets. Smaller, stop-sign riddled streets are good only to get as far as the 405, then you have to get on one of the major ones to get past the 405. Having so much traffic redirected through these major streets (Sunset, Wilshire, Santa Monica, Olympic, Pico and Venice), which were not meant to handle such a high volume of cars, is one major problem that needs to be addressed and fixed. Either more overpasses need to be built, or the whole 405 from Sunset to Venice needs to ELEVATED (or INTERRED) to allow more traffic to flow UNDER IT (or OVER IT) east to west and west to east.
This is about as realistic a project as expecting a complete subway system or a monorail to be built any time soon.
For traffic going north-south, anywhere in the middle of the so-called "West Side", there is NO freeway that allows you to get from, say, West Hollywood (the Strip) to I-10 in a hurry (if you take the 101, you'll have to go in a circle all the way around downtown. A risky proposition at busy times). La Cienega (or better yet, Crescent Heights) is your best bet. I never counted them, but there's a lot of lights from Sunset to I-10. The absence of a fast track north-south thoroughfare is a glaring oversight. Most of the gridlock that develops on the streets going north-south from La Cienega to Vine is a direct result of this "missing freeway," one that apparently no one in the 40's and 50's had the foresight to build.
SOLUTION #2: WHAT CAN BE DONE TO FIX IT?
Someone told me in L.A. that the METRO RAPID red buses had a device (a transponder?) that would signal their approach to all the forthcoming traffic lights and turn them to GREEN so that they would have a straight shot all the way down Wilshire to the ocean. There's an idea! If you look at the traffic going in any direction on Sunset, Wilshire, Santa Monica, Olympic, Pico and Venice at peak hours, you find that what is slowing down traffic and keeping it from flowing are all those traffic lights. There are way too many cars on the road to allow any one of them to advance quickly enough past enough intersections before the lights turn RED and traffic has to to stop and back up for miles. The result is a constant bottleneck backed-up traffic jam gridlock.
The SOLUTION has to be keeping those lights GREEN long enough to allow as many cars as possible to flow past as many intersections as possible. In other words, these major streets (Sunset, Wilshire, Santa Monica, Olympic, Pico and Venice) should become for three to five minutes, if not longer, virtual freeways. Digital cameras with sensors could be installed in the whole L.A. area and linked to a computer system that would regulate the flow of traffic east-west and north-south. A 21 century solution for a state on the cutting edge of science and technology. Radio and television could be used to educate, remind and help the public to enforce the system.
If anyone counters that giving precedence to east-west traffic over north-south traffic would force redirecting twice as much traffic onto the already super-clogged 405 freeway, I'd say that this solution cannot be applied without allowing some kind of traffic to flow north-south. This, in turn, cannot be done without building some overpasses north-south over some key intersections over these major streets (Wilshire, Santa Monica, Olympic, Pico and Venice). OR regulating traffic in such a way that traffic north-south WILL keep flowing on selected streets (La Cienega and Crescent Heights to get to the I-10, etc), whereas on most minor streets, precedence will be given to traffic east-west to keep flowing longer. The current system of allowing as much GREEN light for traffic to flow east-west as for traffic to flow north-south is NOT working. Here's one instance in which equality fails, and fails miserably: allowing as much GREEN light to east-west traffic as to north-south creates constant bottleneck backed-up traffic jam gridlock IN EVERY DIRECTION. SOMETHING HAS TO GIVE.
Complete freedom to get in your car and go anywhere in any direction at any time is creating an unmanagable mess, a mess that the current freeway and road system cannot handle. This mess needs to be regulated somehow. If regulating use of your car won't work in a city where everyone is so dependent on the car and where no politician would dare implement it, then where that car goes and how it gets there at peak hours CAN BE regulated, HAS TO BE regulated, MUST BE regulated or the city will continue to have this bedlam.
A website could be created for commuters to input their daily routes. Obviously, if there is a larger area east to west than north to south, then there must be more traffic going east to west (and viceversa) than north to south (and viceversa). If more people are going east-west than north-south, then traffic should flow longer, faster in that direction at that time. This is a simple democratic solution: majority rule.
This is America, the land of science and technology, the land of "ingenuity". A test could be run to see how many MORE cars can make it from Ocean Boulevard (Santa Monica) to Highland (Hollywood) or viceversa on any of these major streets (Wilshire, Santa Monica, Olympic, Pico and Venice) if the lights are kept GREEN for one, two, three, four, five... minutes longer UNINTERUPTEDLY. Once the system is in place in coordination with all the cities that make up the area, it can be tweaked until it works perfectly and works for everybody.
This system might have the unintended consequence of forcing drivers to drive more intelligently and find creative ways of getting where they're going WITHOUT having to rely on the same old ways of getting there.
These measures need to be applied only during rush hour: 7:00-9:00am and 4:00-7:00pm.
No one solution will work magic and solve all of L.A.'s traffic problems. This will work ONLY in conjunction with all the other ideas I am proposing: a sum total of ideas working together in concert.
It's an idea worth trying. Anyone have any better ideas? I doubt it. According to most science-fiction writers, when it comes to transportation (especially public transportation), we're way behind schedule (especially here in America. Europe and Japan are light years ahead in public transportation). Keep on dreaming of electric "air surfing" and flying saucers, subways and monorails...
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Photo: FOCUSING ON THE SOLUTION [solutions are in GREEN: go! let's do it! problems are in RED: stop!]
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Tuesday, April 25, 2006
"WHY" L.A. traffic sucks #1: Serving too many masters on your daily commute
WHY L.A. TRAFFIC SUCKS #1: SERVING TOO MANY MASTERS ON YOUR DAILY COMMUTE
Before proposing solutions, we might want to figure out WHY L.A. traffic sucks so bad. "WHY" there is a problem might yield some answers on "HOW" to solve it.
L.A. is made up of several major "cities" (L.A. proper, Hollywood, West Hollywood, Beverly Hills, Santa Monica...).When it comes to traffic, all of these cities seem to have their own rules and regulations, quirks and idiosyncrasies (if anybody knows any different, feel free to correct me). As you drive East or West on any of the major boulevards, you'll be driving through at least 5 different "traffic zones", 5 different ways of doing things, 4 or 5 different police departments. That is a FACT, and I challenge anyone to dispute it.
WHAT CAN BE DONE TO FIX IT? SOLUTION#1: INTER-CITY COORDINATION
I don't know all the traffic ordinances of the five major "cities" (L.A. proper, Hollywood, West Hollywood, Beverly Hills, Santa Monica...) that make up the West Side and all the differences among them. But you don't have to be a scientist to know that things feel a bit different in all five major cities. Parking regulations are not the same in Santa Monica as they are in Hollywood (in parts of Santa Monica, off Nielssen Way, they enforce parking meters, or so the sign says, 24/7, and in some parts off of Main Street they enforce them 'till 10:00pm at night. I myself got a ticket a few minutes before 10:00pm, sitting on a sidewalk caffe in front of my car!!).
Calling for uniform, standard and comprehensive traffic rules for the whole L.A. area (L.A. County) might be a good way to speed up traffic. Part of the traffic "artereosclerosis" of the place comes from its "patchwork design," from all these different cities having developed and doing things in ways that keep traffic from flowing smoothly as cars pass from one to the other. This is one instant in which local interests should be secondary to the interests of the whole L.A. area. It may not be popular with mayors and councilmen and their inflated egos and political power games, but it NEEDS TO BE DONE. Getting all these cities to cooperate on this one might be easier said than done, but there's no question that ALL these cities need to act and behave as ONE to keep traffic flowing in the L.A. area.
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Photo collage of L.A.'s cities by italianesco (how'd you like the "House of Blues" touch? :-) Couldn't find an image for the City of West Ho! So I thought the "House of Blues" sign could stand for it just as well... :-)
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Monday, April 24, 2006
Do angelenos dream of electric "air surfing" and flying saucers?
Do angelenos dream of electric "air surfing" and flying saucers*, subways and monorails**?
An "angeleno" friend of mine, cynically jokes that angelenos "love unprotected lefts just like they love unprotected sex!" (hah-hah, very funny!)
It may be that angelenos like it this way. They like their messed-up traffic city as a leftover of the outlaw days of the wild, wild West. Maybe so. I have yet to meet a REAL born and raised "native angeleno", though. Most of the people in L.A. are not from there, anyway. They've come from somewhere and brought their wild ways with them and contribute to the mess instead helping to fix it. I can't believe real Californians want to give the world this impression of them as a group of people who can't get their stuff together. The world has this impression of California as a place on the cutting edge of science and technology (CalTech, Silicon Valley), entertainment (Hollywood), social issues (the 60's), the environment (Earth Day). It must come as quite a shock to them to come to a city whose traffic is only a little better than that of many overpopulated Third World cities.
During the height of the three-month-long MTA METRO mechanics strike in 2003, the city turned practically into a Third World city overnight. Traffic was horrifying and it was crippling the city and driving businesses out of business--not to mention fraying the nerves of a lot of people. Bands of Mexicans armed with vans drove up and down Wilshire Boulevard picking up anyone who'd flag them down for a couple of dollars as an army of "pirate taxis" rising to the ocassion and saving a lot of people who couldn't car pool with anyone or afford a daily commute by cab from losing their jobs. It gave the city a real Third World flavor. Wild, wild West, indeed.
Americans are used to instant gratification: a miracle pill that would allow them to eat all they want as much as they want whenever they want and keep them "slim fit". L.A. probably needs to take a very bitter pill to cure its chronic traffic artereosclerosis. But that's not what I'd like to concern myself with here. I'd like to focus on smaller, much smaller scale things that are "do-able" (like "good diet and exercise": get those "arteries" flowing!) without spending millions and without involving the politicians and the public in any major political struggle ("triple bypass surgery": a complete subway system). I'd like to make suggestions that, if followed, would speed up traffic ALMOST INSTANTLY and take ALMOST NOTHING to implement except a little determination to MAKE THINGS BETTER. People like my angeleno friend above can take their cynicism to the desert and leave it somewhere out there near Palm Springs...
One thing is for sure: electric "air surfing" and flying saucers (or subways and monorails, for that matter!) aren't coming to L.A. anytime soon. They might as well fix the traffic problem on the ground if they want to get from point A to point B on time without being consumed by apathy or road rage...
[* a reference to Philip K. Dick's book, "Do androids dream of electric sheep?" The movie "Blade Runner" was based on this book. A futuristic vision of L.A. in which some do have flying saucers to fly over it all]
[** see: Begging for L.A. monorail in Here in Van Nuys blog]
Make it viral. Make it vital...
Sunday, April 23, 2006
L.A. traffic sucks! Let's fix it once and for all!
L.A. traffic sucks! Let's fix it once and for all!
What would you say of a city with some of the most perfect weather in the world that borders the Pacific Ocean to the West, the Santa Monica Mountain range to the East and an endless urban sprawl to the North and South? Its whole metropolitan area, extending as far north and as far south as the eye can see, holds probably over 20 million people and at least 10 million cars. Its public transport system was dismantled by the oil and car companies in the 30's and 40's to ensure their own selfish success and guaranty the subsequent uncontrollable urban sprawl it spawned--which would ultimately benefit them. The 1965 riots created panic among the richer western inhabitants of the city and killed the construction of a more comprehensive subway system that would have connected the eastern and western parts of the city. Its extensive freeway system, even though loaded with at least 4 lanes in each direction, wasn't meant to handle the traffic capacity it's called upon to handle at rush hour everyday today...
A few decades and major explosive, exponential growth later, what do you have? A little mess of unbelievable proportions that angelenos patiently put up with like herds of sheep in cars as the price of living in an "exciting little hell." You see them scurrying around through backstreets and putting up with endless stop signs--anything, anything to advance past the jammed gridlock and get where they're going. Some people simply refuse to go out at all weekdays from 6:00 to 9:00am and from 3:00 to 7:00pm.
I lived this little "inferno" for three years. While I rode the bus and was lost in a book or magazine, I was oblivious to it. Whenever I drove, I felt like screaming, "Who created this @$#^% mess! L.A. traffic sucks! Let's fix it once and for all!"
While the first part of the title says it all ("L.A. traffic sucks!"), it is the second part ("Let's fix it once and for all!") what we would like to concentrate on. Ranting and raving might bring attention to issues, but I doubt it ever solved anything. I would actually like to propose some simple SOLUTIONS that came to mind while driving around in that maze...
This is something I feel pasionate about. I like writing about things I feel passionate about...
So, for whatever it's worth, here it goes... Take it or leave it...
Make it viral. Make it vital...
