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April 20, 2010· scvtalk.com · WordPress (SCVTalk 3.0) · Wayback capture

Pondering Metro

By Jeff — Jeff Wilson

We don’t have a lot of direct exposure to LA County Metro here in the Santa Clarita Valley, but the massive agency is nonetheless important for the SCV roads, transit projects and funding allocations.

But in LA, they’ve come along way from the days of the RTD, pretty much re-inventing themselves in the last 5-10 years. They’ve actually made it hip to ride mass transit in all its forms.

LA Metro: Promoting Mass Transit from EMBARQ Network on Vimeo.

Maybe if Santa Clarita Transit emulated Metro’s marketing, we’d see more local and commuter transit users in the SCV? Or is the SCV hopelessly doomed to the road/car paradigm forever due to our topography, street layout and preference for stomper trucks?

What would it take for you to get out of your car and ride the bus?

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Comments (9)

  1. WillieApril 20, 2010 at 9:19 am
    i chose other because i am looking for more stops closer to my destination not my home
  2. Alan FerdmanApril 20, 2010 at 10:38 am
    If gasoline goes up to $6 a gallon you will have a lot more to worry about than if you want to use the metro. Everything you currently purchase will be going up in price also. From the food you eat to every service you need. They all depend on energy and are related to transportation costs. Let’s hope we are able to solve our energy issues without the need to double the cost.
  3. Need for Involved CitizenryApril 20, 2010 at 12:03 pm
    What about us vanpoolers?
  4. cashApril 20, 2010 at 12:30 pm
    If you recall, the last time gasoline was over 4 bucks a gallon, people with long commutes to work began to fall behind on their mortgages. Many that bought cheap homes in Palmdale, Lancaster, etc. for example, and were driving to LA to work, could not make ends meet. They were stretched too thin in the first place, and the high gas prices help to start bring down the housing market. I don’t believe public transportation helped much, even then. Living within your means makes sense to me. Higher taxes to fund additional, inefficient public transportation, makes little sense.
  5. Kevin D. KorenthalApril 20, 2010 at 12:45 pm
    If public transportation could get me to/from the various client meetings I have throughout the day, I’d be on board!
  6. WalkerApril 20, 2010 at 3:37 pm
    If public transportation was at all convenient, I’d be all over it. We love to use public transit when we vacation in cities that have effective system. In New York, for instance, you wait less than 5 minutes for a bus and if you need to transfer, you’ll wait another (at most) 5 minutes. The grid system makes the system idiot proof. So long as you know which direction you want to be, the bus can be almost as quick as a taxi ride. We used to take the bus to Magic Mountain when the kids were little. We’re probably only 4 miles from there, but it would take an hour (and we’re only 5 houses away from a bus stop! And a pretty direct route). There’s just SO MUCH WAITING. Using the public system for everday transportation just isn’t practical at all.
  7. gobstopperApril 20, 2010 at 9:47 pm
    too bad buses just can’t pick everybody up at their houses and take them directly where they need to go. No walking to a bus stop, no stops in between, no sharing a ride with unfavorable people. Just pick up and go. Get to your destination in less than 10 minutes. Now that would be an effective transit system!
  8. WalkerApril 21, 2010 at 6:46 am
    No one suggested that the bus needs to pick them up from their home, but it needs to offer some sort of convenience if those who could generally afford other forms of transportation (adults w/$ and cars) are to be attracted to a mass transit. Our lack of a grid makes a convenient system really unlikely, and the fewer people take the bus the fewer buses that are offered, which makes the system a complete flop for just about anyone over 16YO. Why would I wait 20 minutes for a bus, ride all over town before we finally get to a point where I can wait 20 minutes and then hop on my transfer, to ride all over town before I finally get where I wanted to go (or, at least, kind of close to where I wanted to go). I could get in my car and be there in under 5 minutes, or I could take an hour touring the SCV. And trust me, I’m a HUGE mass transit supporter, our system simply isn’t a convenient one, causing less people to ride, which makes for less buses/routes and more inconvenience.
  9. ToddApril 20, 2010 at 11:56 pm
    I was taking Metrolink to and fro for the longest time… until it got to the point where the train was getting to be consistently late in arriving… and prompting my boss to basically “order” me to take the earlier train and sit at my desk, unpaid, for half an hour doing nothing on the days that it was on-time. Or, I can drive. And 99% of the time, take less time on the freeway than I do in the train. And not smell anyone else, or have them step over me, or make faces at me when I ask them to move their bag so I can sit.

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