Quote:
Originally Posted by Quixote
Buses just aren't an option for choice riders (if we're being honest), unless they're for first/last mile. LA's simply too geographically vast for buses or bicycles to be the average person's primary mode of transportation. The only way to fundamentally change how Angelenos travel is by building an extensive heavy rail system and making our metro area more DTLA-centric.
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Choice riders are so called because they have a choice, and that choice usually begins and ends with "what is the most efficient means of getting from point A to point B?"
If we have BRT on most of the corridor where service is reliable and just as fast or faster than driving, choice riders will flock to such a system. If someone is just going two miles between Midtown Santa Monica and UCLA, or from Century City to Mid City, having a functional BRT system is just as important as having crosstown rail service.
The geographic vastness of LA is also a red herring with regards to BRT. Of course you wouldn't want to construct a BRT service that covers distance like SGV to Westside, the way 720 Rapid does - rail is better at covering those kind of distance. But BRT works in distance for example, between Downtown LA and Westside (Wilshire, Santa Monica, Olympic, Pico, Venice... take your pick), or Hollywood to South LA (Vermont, Western), Mid City to South Bay (Crenshaw, La Brea/Hawthorne, La Cienga) or Westside to LAX (Lincoln, Sepulveda, Westwood).
The point is that in the most dense part of LA basin, it is long past the time to debate whether BRT is necessary. The road capacity is not going to grow so we have to increase the utilization rate. And the only proven way to increase utilization in such urban environment is to carve out dedicated road space for transit vehicles.