Red Line Will Open Early

It certainly made my day to read that the Metro Red Line is not only going to open three months ahead of schedule but will also come in under budget at a mere $1.45 billion (“Red Line Expected to Open Early and Under Budget, Officials Say,” June 16). And, as if this alone is not triumph enough for the beleaguered RTD and LACTC, one could certainly jump for joy in the knowledge that with the completion of this leg of the Red Line, one will be able to ride from Union Station to MacArthur Park! Never mind that no one in his right mind would get off at either one of those places after dark; Los Angeles will at long last be able to boast of a rapid transit system.

As a native Angeleno who by choice has been using public transportation for over three years, I am thoroughly disgusted with the huge expenditures on an underground rail going nowhere. Both the RTD and the LACTC would have been better served in spending the $1.45 billion on upgrading and servicing the already less-than-efficient bus system. It seems that one is forever reading of how strapped the city is for funds and yet there always seems to be enough money for seemingly foolish ventures that conjure up memories of the Edsel, a car that never was.

BETTE AMSLER, Beverly Hills