Readers React: Santa Monica’s rail transit misstep

Many years ago, I made the acquaintance of a transportation expert who educated me on certain axioms of the trade. We are watching one of the lessons I learned play out in Hollywood and in Santa Monica. (“Santa Monica City Council scraps Bergamot Transit Village plan,” May 14)

To wit: The only way you can have a successful mass transit rail system is also to have high-density residential, shopping and work within a convenient distance from your fixed stations. This actually allows people the option of dispensing with a car. How obvious.

Yes, Santa Monica’s traffic is abysmal. I cringe every time I get off the 405 Freeway. But now that we have spent billions building the Expo Line to Santa Monica, it’s a little late to condemn it to failure by killing a mixed-use development that had been approved to go up near a station.

The fact that Bergamot was initially approved indicates that somebody knew about successful rail transit.

Michael Gorman

Glendale