Subway

* Since the subway in Los Angeles is becoming popular to bash, I find it interesting that we have suddenly discovered all the answers to our transportation woes by simply adding more buses, carpool lanes and bringing the subway project aboveground.

This strategy might make sense in some parts of the county, but certainly not in my place of residence, West Los Angeles. Our two freeways (the 10 and 405) are the busiest in the nation. It will be virtually impossible to expand the freeways for carpool and bus lanes because of land restrictions. Our surface street traffic is just as bad, as buses crawl along crowded streets like Wilshire and Santa Monica. Where the heck is there room for aboveground rail in this highly dense part of the city? We would have Metrolink trains running from Century City to downtown if this were feasible. The subway is the only possible way to bring meaningful rapid transit to the crowded Westside, which so far has been ignored by transportation planners and the MTA board.

MATT MASON

Los Angeles