[Quixote]

The HRT rolling stock and stations should be designed to the same specifications as the Purple/Red Lines, with the goal/expectation that the latter will eventually be separated and converted to automation (while not precluding, say, Purple interlining with Sepulveda). This would allow for more frequent service, thereby yielding higher ridership and greater farebox revenue that could then be used to finance infill stations (Vermont/3rd, Wilshire/Crenshaw, etc). Any increase in travel times resulting from those infill stations would be offset by the shorter wait times owing to the more frequent headways.

This should be the type of thinking that dictates long-term planning. We need to be thinking of ways to design a system that not only connects important points of interest, but also one that serves communities and is able to spur political momentum toward implementing urban-minded infrastructure (continental crosswalks at every intersection, road diets, wider sidewalks, bulb-outs, etc) within these communities. The only thing holding LA back is this level of imagination and NIMBYs, who are slowly but surely continuing to lose the long-drawn-out war they've been able to sustain for decades.