Letters: In praise of buses
Re “Metro’s humdrum workhorse,” June 28
The Times’ epiphany about busways should have struck the Los Angeles County Transportation Commission (now the Metropolitan Transportation Authority) 30 years ago, but the agency wanted nothing to do with the facts.
Compared to railways, busways are cheaper to build, offer higher vehicle speeds, have lower operating costs, are more flexible because vehicles can get on and off the guideway to collect and distribute riders, and have higher capacity because buses can be safely separated by seconds instead of the minutes needed to separate trains.
The decision to build a rail system in Los Angeles was a triumph of politics. After spending billions, the MTA’s ridership hovers at 1985 levels. If we are serious about transit, we should convert rail lines to busways.
James E. Moore II
Los Angeles
The writer is the director of USC’s transportation engineering program.
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