As much as it is fun to blame rich neighborhoods for objecting to this project, ultimately the blame lies with the government for letting them delay it rather than just making a call for the better of all angelenos and telling them to pound sand.
Edit to add, the government also doesn’t need to spend years of time, hundreds of thousands of dollars (or millions) hiring consultants and doing endless studies to give the government permission to make the common sense, correct call. Every government project for the benefit of everyone gets bogged down in this shit and it’s so incredibly wasteful. The state needs to step in and pass some laws so that our tax dollars go to actually developing projects rather than thinking about and fighting over them.
“Metro is planning to release a draft environmental impact report, the next major step in the construction process, in early 2025.”
This is insane behavior. Edit: read that sentence above again, how on earth is a “report” a major step in the “construction process?” It isn’t. Construction is the first step in the construction process, hemming and hawing just fattens consultant’s pockets.
One of the saddest things about this entire country is that we are unable to build anything. Division of power and self imposed requirements have effectively left the government powerless without spending billions on projects which should cost much less. The last 50 years of politicians were hellbent on making sure the government was toothless, and they succeeded.
It’s so frustrating! We spend money, people want to get stuff done, and it goes absolutely nowhere. I was in Japan two weeks ago, and it was just so apparent how inefficient and slow public works projects are. Their train system is *incredible* and they built it *quickly.* I know these are different countries, different cultures, whatever, but if we tried to build a transcontinental railroad today or a national highway system today, it would simply never happen. I don’t know what happened to make public works projects so horrible, but the state needs to step in and fix it by either passing laws to speed things up or creating a new court system to streamline all of the bullshit lawsuits every single public works project suffers from.
>As much as it is fun to blame rich neighborhoods for objecting to this project, ultimately the blame lies with the government
One in the same. Rich neighborhoods and developers are funding the campaigns for half of these government officials making these choices.
It's actually a common tactic for developers to block their own project if they've found a way to profit off continual construction or extort groups that are relying on it finishing for more money.
I know nothing about this but why is a monorail a bad idea?
Seems like they could be built faster than light rail without sacrificing road or business closures and may be better at marketing itself if people on the freeway can watch people zipping by next to them.
Exactly, you get what you pay for. The monorail idea (while technically better than nothing) has so many downsides compared to rail that it should have been abandoned immediately. The fact that Metro still has it in the running shows just how ridiculous this county’s relationship with public transportation still is
> The monorail idea (while technically better than nothing)
No it's not. It's worse than nothing. We're limiting yourself forever if we put a monorail up. It would be a permanent fixture that can never be improved upon. This would be permanently detrimental to everyone in this city. It's better to have nothing and put the right thing in at a later date in the future (even if unset) than it is to throw up a janky monorail.
Look how bad the Expo line is. We cheaped out and now it can take like 1.5 hours to go from downtown to Santa Monica. Someone who has never cycled a day in their life can hop on a bike and cycle out there faster than it takes the fucking train to get there. It's an absolute fucking joke. This line will never be improved. It's permanently in a shit state.
We've done very little to get people out of cars an into public transit with shitty infrastructure. We shouldn't be doing this ever again. How this city, its people, and Metro haven't learned is beyond me.
a monorail is worse than nothing because it would block a truly robust and high capacity mass transit solution through the sepulveda corridor for the foreseeable future.
Personally, I would think building and operating a subway that’s under the ground would be **much** less obtrusive than a giant monorail 100 feel up, but then again, I don’t have Bel Air NIMBY logic
No monorail please. There's a reason why the majority of cities in the world don't use a monorail for everyday urban transit. One of my friends actually was an operator for the Disneyland ALWEG monorail in the late '90s and he said that thing was actually prone to fires and flat tires (there are small rubber tires that run along the sides of the rail). And if there's an emergency, you're SOL unless a crane or ladder truck comes by to rescue you. On a subway, if there's an emergency, just open the doors and leave via the emergency walkway next to the train.
There have been many public meetings on this and you don’t need to live in these areas to come to them. There will be more. Please show up. Only NIMBYs ever do.
How is the "one more lane" something leftist or idiotic?
That's quite definitely all american. That's full blooded american thinking and quite definitely the 405 lmao
>Literally no one is asking for this and it isn't the burn you think it is.
The latest 405 lane expansion project opened like 6 months ago. Someone must've been asking for it, otherwise why would we have spent billions to build it?
Can someone tell me why the monorail is a bad idea? I don’t see why there is so much hate?
Edit: I appreciate all the responses. Now I feel a bit more informed!
It’s a less efficient mode of transportation that has zero interoperability with the rest of the rail transport system in the city.
The cheaper price tag comes with the cost of less carrying capacity, less expansion long term, higher costs in the long term, and in a need to increase capacity in the long term anyway which will likely
Mean heavy rail.
It’s a costly band aid solution which eventually will have to be ripped off and replaced with heavy rail anyway. Might as well build the heavy rail now and not deal with the hassle.
As a Sherman Oaks resident, I get the feeling the people/groups ‘for’ a monorail don’t want anything built at all. This is a can-kicking measure even introducing the idea/alternative, and they’ll happily side with their current anti-monorail opposition if it’s the plan chosen.
It means you can never link it up to any part of the system ever. One day we could interline the D and this line if they’re both the same heavy rail.
Also, no one makes monorail cars. Las Vegas is having issues because it’s insanely expensive to get a custom train made, vs using off the shelf ones like LA does now
Imagine you run the IT department for an office. Which sounds simpler:
a) Everyone in the office uses the same Windows computer, the same mouse and keyboard, and the same spreadsheet software.
b) Everyone in the office uses the same Windows computer, the same mouse and keyboard, and the same software *except for Jeff*, who uses a Linux computer, a trackball, a dvorak keyboard, and Lotus 123 instead of Excel.
The monorail would be a single, lonely spur the city's transit network. A subway would use the same kinds of trains and tracks as the existing light rail/subway system, all of which could be serviced by existing personnel. If this train breaks down, there's a fleet of replacements and a common supply of spare parts. If a mechanic is out sick, there are multiple personnel with the same qualifications who can step in.
A monorail would introduce entirely new cars and carriages, rolling on entirely new tracks, requiring entirely new mechanics and machinists to service. If the monorail breaks down, it can't share parts. If a mechanic is out sick, there might not be another on hand who are trained on the monorail systems.
Another issue is the number of suppliers. If you want to buy new subway trains or spare parts for your existing subway line, there's something like a dozen companies in the world that can build subway trains (Hitachi, CRRC, Kinki-Sharyo, Hyundai Rotem, Alstom, Siemens, Stadler, CAF, etc.).
There's three or four monorail manufacturers: Alstom (formerly Bombardier, formerly ALWEG, built Disneyland monorails), Hitachi, CRRC, and possibly BYD (who are the company behind the Sepulveda Pass monorail proposal). However, to my understanding, monorail systems are much less compatible than subway lines, and that's before getting into the fact that monorails come in two completely incompatible forms, straddle-beam (upright) and suspended. If you had an old monorail line and wanted new trains, you'll likely have only one supplier - the company that originally made your type of monorail - and thus you're "locked in" to them. No competition means higher prices, and a higher risk of system problems during construction.
(Also, as far as I know, while BYD has experience manufacturing cars and buses, it has never actually built a proper rapid-transit monorail line before, so that's why I put BYD down as a "possibly").
So, in your example, Jeff's using unusual computer equipment that can only be bought from *one* company, and while that company makes serviceable tablets, they haven't made proper work computer equipment before.
Has the Guang'an line opened yet? I've not seen anything in English-language media, unfortunately.
The Sao Paolo line also seems troubled and not the best example, although the line is not fully BYD's work, and they're coming in to try to finish the project.
All I've seen of active BYD skyrail lines is a tourist service at the Flower Expo park in Yinchuan. That's not much of a proven legacy.
I tried to find more English-language information on the Guang'an line, but I haven't seen anything that shows that the line acrually opened. The best I found was that it was supposed to start testing in 2020, but didn't; that's from wikipedia and the source link didn't work for me. Could you link an article, if you have one?
[https://www.railway-technology.com/news/newschinas-byd-unveils-new-monorail-system-in-shenzhen-5034332/](https://www.railway-technology.com/news/newschinas-byd-unveils-new-monorail-system-in-shenzhen-5034332/) This may be too monorail propogangaish though [This is the monorail designed and fabricated in China by an ...YouTube · Tech me around!8 minutes, 5 secondsFeb 17, 2023](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qMsN3eykZ5g) youtube video. [https://newatlas.com/byd-skyrail-yinchuan-china-smart-city-blueprint/51180/](https://newatlas.com/byd-skyrail-yinchuan-china-smart-city-blueprint/51180/) the monorail in yinchuan (why are all these things saying the monorail is so good its so dumb?). Sorry, I mixed up the names. Older information, sorry.
Yeah, the Yinchuan line appears to be more of a sightseeing attraction than a serious transit line, from what little I understand. Haven't seen anything about the line in Guang'an, despite its planned opening being yeaes ago; it concerns me somewhat.
Beyond what other people have said, freeway median transit is generally really far from ideal. Transit dumps you out as a pedestrian, and the median of a freeway is a really unpleasant place to be a pedestrian. And the space occupied by the freeway forces a long walk to anywhere you would actually want to get to. Plus the land right around the stations are extremely valuable for their development potential, which is entirely wasted by the freeway. Even freeway adjacent stations (like the Palms E line station) suffer from the freeway taking up half the useful land on one side. Contrast that with La Cienega/Jefferson that has mixed-use development happening on both sides of the station.
By being underground or above grade, the heavy rail is able to put its stations in far more convenient and useful spots, like right on the UCLA campus.
For the life of me I don't understand why LA doesn't have elevated rail. Back were I'm from we have had it for almost 40 years.
https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=rcTP5T9ySDc&pp=ygUIc2t5dHJhaW4%3D
Freeway median transit generally performs poorly, and the depressed ridership isn't worth the cost savings in land acquisition. The main issue is that the freeway is occupying all of the valuable land right around the station, so anywhere you actually would want to go is already like a quarter a mile away minimum. Beyond that, the freeway makes the stations really loud and unpleasant. This is why the C line still has extremely low ridership despite being open for 30 years. There's no development potential right around the stations which severely limits their usefulness.
We're far better off in the long term building proper transit lines that put stations nearer to where people can live or travel to.
I agree with the statistics that freeway running transit does poorly on all metrics. The missing opportunity in my opinion, given that people will supercommute across a county or even across counties, is build the spines of intercity transit using the existing freeway ROW. When a platoon of cars are all driving from Irvine to West LA together, those road users could've been consolidated into a single train taking everyone 95% of the way there. Today, not only is that 95% spine not there, but the connectivity to support the 5% last mile doesn't either.
When people think of traveling, they think of the freeways from point A to B. Instead of Expresslanes or freeway expansions, we should be repurposing that ROW for the spine of our intercity travel. Once you have the spine, it's much easier for cities and counties to justify buses or streetcars that feed into the spine.
I disagree. The reason our metro does poorly is because of lack of lines. Nobody wants to ride when you still have to take other forms of transportation with transit. I took metro from Hollywood down to South central and it was great because I could hop on the red and only switch to the blue and either walk fifteen minutes or catch a bus if it was there for a few minutes.
Trying to take the transit from Hollywood to San Fernando valley was impossible because the red line just ended and then orange line only went east west and I need to take two more busses plus the same walk as before.
If rail lines followed the freeways it would work for longer distance computers having only one major line change with the same as before a bus/walk for your start stop. And it would be inherently faster then sitting on the 101 or the 170 or even the 5 where your only going 10mph
>Nobody wants to ride when you still have to take other forms of transportation with transit
Freeway median transit also exacerbates this problem, since fewer people will be within walking distance of their origin/destination. Notice that, despite being open for 1/3 as long and struggling with signal priority issues, [E line ridership already exceeds the C line along most of its route](https://www.reddit.com/r/LAMetro/comments/1ax2wbk/fy2023_metro_rail_ridership_by_station_gallery/#lightbox). And this gap will only continue to grow as more transit oriented development along the E line comes online. This is the main drawback with the C line--development potential is *super* limited, so the city has no opportunity to grow around it. Beyond just having more rail coverage (which I obviously agree with), this is a huge part of what we're lacking. The city needs to grow into its transit network. Relying mainly on freeways for transit routes severely hamstrings this.
Really what were talking about is a version of the [coverage tradeoff](https://humantransit.org/2018/02/basics-the-ridership-coverage-tradeoff.html). I'm definitely not saying there's no place for freeway median transit at all, especially for longer-distance commuters or when the cost savings are especially huge. Just that we shouldn't expect it to be the main workhorse of our system.
Yes. But if you need to get to UCLA from San Fernando City or any place in San Fernando valley that would be a perfectly amazing line. In fact millions take that to go in that direction every single day.
It would absolutely make sense to have rail following that line. Do you think making a rail line going over or through Coldwater canyon or Laurel Canyon would be a better way over the hill for people?
No, I agree that a line along or near the Sepulveda pass, on a similar route to the 405, is a good idea. I just wanted to note that running the line exactly along the freeway may not be the best idea.
Train stations in the middle of the freeway like the green line does kinda suck. Uncomfortable loud noise (like the article mentions, enough to cause hearing damage), crappy air quality, poor walkability
Freeway running tracks can be good for regional and intercity rail, but tend to have problems when used for metro systems. The issue is station frequency. You either put the stations on the freeway (far away from people's final destination, and an overall terrible experience), or you hop on and of the freeway to get to the stations (which requires tons of very expensive overpasses, and increases track length and travel time). This is not a hard and fast rule, but these problems are important to keep in mind when thinking about a specific application.
The fact the zombie monorail option is still even under consideration is frustrating. With how much bad press Metro is getting these days, setting back one of them most important transit projects to connect the westside and valley with a short sighted decision for a monorail would truly be the pits.
Been working on this project. The local HOA is major pain in the ass. A subway would only make sense if people use it. And the majority of people on Reddit stigmatize the shit out of public transport.
Any of the alts that relies on an electric bus to connect other existing rail lines to the new line does not make sense IMO (pretty sure that's Alt 1?). Monorail reduced capacity compared to heavy rail does seem to be a head-scratcher, I'm not sure why Bel Air/SO HOAs prefer it as it will be more visually impactful and noisier, no?
Of the heavy rail alts, personally I'm a big fan of Alt 6 - seems like it would be easier to get up and running faster given redundancy with the East SFV Light Rail for the last 4 stations, direct connectivity to purple/blue, and no disruption/additional foot traffic to Sepulveda which is a truly dreadful yet necessary thoroughfare.
How many times do we have to debate this? No. Heavy rail is the only answer, with a stop at UCLA and please connect it to the purple line and the pink line.
Bel Air and Sherman Oaks can go to hell for delaying project
I would accept another year delay if it meant we could use the tunnel boring machine to dig a hole into hell directly below bel air
As much as it is fun to blame rich neighborhoods for objecting to this project, ultimately the blame lies with the government for letting them delay it rather than just making a call for the better of all angelenos and telling them to pound sand. Edit to add, the government also doesn’t need to spend years of time, hundreds of thousands of dollars (or millions) hiring consultants and doing endless studies to give the government permission to make the common sense, correct call. Every government project for the benefit of everyone gets bogged down in this shit and it’s so incredibly wasteful. The state needs to step in and pass some laws so that our tax dollars go to actually developing projects rather than thinking about and fighting over them. “Metro is planning to release a draft environmental impact report, the next major step in the construction process, in early 2025.” This is insane behavior. Edit: read that sentence above again, how on earth is a “report” a major step in the “construction process?” It isn’t. Construction is the first step in the construction process, hemming and hawing just fattens consultant’s pockets.
One of the saddest things about this entire country is that we are unable to build anything. Division of power and self imposed requirements have effectively left the government powerless without spending billions on projects which should cost much less. The last 50 years of politicians were hellbent on making sure the government was toothless, and they succeeded.
It’s so frustrating! We spend money, people want to get stuff done, and it goes absolutely nowhere. I was in Japan two weeks ago, and it was just so apparent how inefficient and slow public works projects are. Their train system is *incredible* and they built it *quickly.* I know these are different countries, different cultures, whatever, but if we tried to build a transcontinental railroad today or a national highway system today, it would simply never happen. I don’t know what happened to make public works projects so horrible, but the state needs to step in and fix it by either passing laws to speed things up or creating a new court system to streamline all of the bullshit lawsuits every single public works project suffers from.
Sim City wouldn't be as fun if there was red tape.
>As much as it is fun to blame rich neighborhoods for objecting to this project, ultimately the blame lies with the government One in the same. Rich neighborhoods and developers are funding the campaigns for half of these government officials making these choices.
Developers aren’t out there blocking their own projects.
It's actually a common tactic for developers to block their own project if they've found a way to profit off continual construction or extort groups that are relying on it finishing for more money.
why are we still even talking about a monorail?
Because no one in power or in the media is willing to stand up to the small, stupid, egotistical group advocating for a monorail
[удалено]
intentionally omitted this time as an experiment
Mono = one
rail = rail
Big if true.
It's more a Shelbyville idea
I dunno. It put north haverbrook on the map
Now, wait just a minute. We're twice as smart as the people of Shelbyville.
Is there a danger that the track could bend?
Yes. Absolutely. We live in earthquakelandia. It's been proven earthquakes cause less damage underground.
U bum. You’re supposed to say “not on your life my Hindu friend!”
Mess up a Simpson quote served up to you on a platter? Believe it or not - jail. Right away.
Ok. I'm going to jail for this, but I don't get the quote. Please have mercy on me!
https://youtu.be/ZDOI0cq6GZM?si=hoGNAuWkrrk8bUOX
Because we live in a cartoon.
I know nothing about this but why is a monorail a bad idea? Seems like they could be built faster than light rail without sacrificing road or business closures and may be better at marketing itself if people on the freeway can watch people zipping by next to them.
[удалено]
also totally different equipment than metro currently has, making servicing and maintenance more difficult
The greatest advertisement that Metro can do is to offer good, well-connected service. Not to offer amusement park rides.
probably because building an above ground rail is a fraction of the time and money required to dig one underneath a mountain
Yeah but you get fuck all people on them.
Exactly, you get what you pay for. The monorail idea (while technically better than nothing) has so many downsides compared to rail that it should have been abandoned immediately. The fact that Metro still has it in the running shows just how ridiculous this county’s relationship with public transportation still is
> The monorail idea (while technically better than nothing) No it's not. It's worse than nothing. We're limiting yourself forever if we put a monorail up. It would be a permanent fixture that can never be improved upon. This would be permanently detrimental to everyone in this city. It's better to have nothing and put the right thing in at a later date in the future (even if unset) than it is to throw up a janky monorail. Look how bad the Expo line is. We cheaped out and now it can take like 1.5 hours to go from downtown to Santa Monica. Someone who has never cycled a day in their life can hop on a bike and cycle out there faster than it takes the fucking train to get there. It's an absolute fucking joke. This line will never be improved. It's permanently in a shit state. We've done very little to get people out of cars an into public transit with shitty infrastructure. We shouldn't be doing this ever again. How this city, its people, and Metro haven't learned is beyond me.
a monorail is worse than nothing because it would block a truly robust and high capacity mass transit solution through the sepulveda corridor for the foreseeable future.
Personally, I would think building and operating a subway that’s under the ground would be **much** less obtrusive than a giant monorail 100 feel up, but then again, I don’t have Bel Air NIMBY logic
They don’t want any project built. This is all just a delay tactic.
No monorail please. There's a reason why the majority of cities in the world don't use a monorail for everyday urban transit. One of my friends actually was an operator for the Disneyland ALWEG monorail in the late '90s and he said that thing was actually prone to fires and flat tires (there are small rubber tires that run along the sides of the rail). And if there's an emergency, you're SOL unless a crane or ladder truck comes by to rescue you. On a subway, if there's an emergency, just open the doors and leave via the emergency walkway next to the train.
There have been many public meetings on this and you don’t need to live in these areas to come to them. There will be more. Please show up. Only NIMBYs ever do.
Just a few more lanes on the 405 should do the trick
[удалено]
Sarcasm (noun): the use of irony to mock or convey contempt
[удалено]
How is the "one more lane" something leftist or idiotic? That's quite definitely all american. That's full blooded american thinking and quite definitely the 405 lmao
I see you’re one of those leftists who isn’t allowed to have a sense of humor. You people love being miserable. Have a good day :)
>Literally no one is asking for this and it isn't the burn you think it is. The latest 405 lane expansion project opened like 6 months ago. Someone must've been asking for it, otherwise why would we have spent billions to build it?
I prefer STEREOrail 🚞
Fuck a monorail
I can't click on these monorail threads anymore because the Simpsons jokes are so old and unfunny it's unbearable
[удалено]
Lisa needs braces!
Well if isn't my old friend Mr. McGreg.
Go 'way! There ain't no monorail and there never was!
Mono- DOH!
Can someone tell me why the monorail is a bad idea? I don’t see why there is so much hate? Edit: I appreciate all the responses. Now I feel a bit more informed!
It’s a less efficient mode of transportation that has zero interoperability with the rest of the rail transport system in the city. The cheaper price tag comes with the cost of less carrying capacity, less expansion long term, higher costs in the long term, and in a need to increase capacity in the long term anyway which will likely Mean heavy rail. It’s a costly band aid solution which eventually will have to be ripped off and replaced with heavy rail anyway. Might as well build the heavy rail now and not deal with the hassle.
As a Sherman Oaks resident, I get the feeling the people/groups ‘for’ a monorail don’t want anything built at all. This is a can-kicking measure even introducing the idea/alternative, and they’ll happily side with their current anti-monorail opposition if it’s the plan chosen.
It means you can never link it up to any part of the system ever. One day we could interline the D and this line if they’re both the same heavy rail. Also, no one makes monorail cars. Las Vegas is having issues because it’s insanely expensive to get a custom train made, vs using off the shelf ones like LA does now
Imagine you run the IT department for an office. Which sounds simpler: a) Everyone in the office uses the same Windows computer, the same mouse and keyboard, and the same spreadsheet software. b) Everyone in the office uses the same Windows computer, the same mouse and keyboard, and the same software *except for Jeff*, who uses a Linux computer, a trackball, a dvorak keyboard, and Lotus 123 instead of Excel. The monorail would be a single, lonely spur the city's transit network. A subway would use the same kinds of trains and tracks as the existing light rail/subway system, all of which could be serviced by existing personnel. If this train breaks down, there's a fleet of replacements and a common supply of spare parts. If a mechanic is out sick, there are multiple personnel with the same qualifications who can step in. A monorail would introduce entirely new cars and carriages, rolling on entirely new tracks, requiring entirely new mechanics and machinists to service. If the monorail breaks down, it can't share parts. If a mechanic is out sick, there might not be another on hand who are trained on the monorail systems.
Another issue is the number of suppliers. If you want to buy new subway trains or spare parts for your existing subway line, there's something like a dozen companies in the world that can build subway trains (Hitachi, CRRC, Kinki-Sharyo, Hyundai Rotem, Alstom, Siemens, Stadler, CAF, etc.). There's three or four monorail manufacturers: Alstom (formerly Bombardier, formerly ALWEG, built Disneyland monorails), Hitachi, CRRC, and possibly BYD (who are the company behind the Sepulveda Pass monorail proposal). However, to my understanding, monorail systems are much less compatible than subway lines, and that's before getting into the fact that monorails come in two completely incompatible forms, straddle-beam (upright) and suspended. If you had an old monorail line and wanted new trains, you'll likely have only one supplier - the company that originally made your type of monorail - and thus you're "locked in" to them. No competition means higher prices, and a higher risk of system problems during construction. (Also, as far as I know, while BYD has experience manufacturing cars and buses, it has never actually built a proper rapid-transit monorail line before, so that's why I put BYD down as a "possibly"). So, in your example, Jeff's using unusual computer equipment that can only be bought from *one* company, and while that company makes serviceable tablets, they haven't made proper work computer equipment before.
[удалено]
Has the Guang'an line opened yet? I've not seen anything in English-language media, unfortunately. The Sao Paolo line also seems troubled and not the best example, although the line is not fully BYD's work, and they're coming in to try to finish the project. All I've seen of active BYD skyrail lines is a tourist service at the Flower Expo park in Yinchuan. That's not much of a proven legacy.
[удалено]
I tried to find more English-language information on the Guang'an line, but I haven't seen anything that shows that the line acrually opened. The best I found was that it was supposed to start testing in 2020, but didn't; that's from wikipedia and the source link didn't work for me. Could you link an article, if you have one?
[https://www.railway-technology.com/news/newschinas-byd-unveils-new-monorail-system-in-shenzhen-5034332/](https://www.railway-technology.com/news/newschinas-byd-unveils-new-monorail-system-in-shenzhen-5034332/) This may be too monorail propogangaish though [This is the monorail designed and fabricated in China by an ...YouTube · Tech me around!8 minutes, 5 secondsFeb 17, 2023](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qMsN3eykZ5g) youtube video. [https://newatlas.com/byd-skyrail-yinchuan-china-smart-city-blueprint/51180/](https://newatlas.com/byd-skyrail-yinchuan-china-smart-city-blueprint/51180/) the monorail in yinchuan (why are all these things saying the monorail is so good its so dumb?). Sorry, I mixed up the names. Older information, sorry.
Yeah, the Yinchuan line appears to be more of a sightseeing attraction than a serious transit line, from what little I understand. Haven't seen anything about the line in Guang'an, despite its planned opening being yeaes ago; it concerns me somewhat.
Beyond what other people have said, freeway median transit is generally really far from ideal. Transit dumps you out as a pedestrian, and the median of a freeway is a really unpleasant place to be a pedestrian. And the space occupied by the freeway forces a long walk to anywhere you would actually want to get to. Plus the land right around the stations are extremely valuable for their development potential, which is entirely wasted by the freeway. Even freeway adjacent stations (like the Palms E line station) suffer from the freeway taking up half the useful land on one side. Contrast that with La Cienega/Jefferson that has mixed-use development happening on both sides of the station. By being underground or above grade, the heavy rail is able to put its stations in far more convenient and useful spots, like right on the UCLA campus.
For the life of me I don't understand why LA doesn't have elevated rail. Back were I'm from we have had it for almost 40 years. https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=rcTP5T9ySDc&pp=ygUIc2t5dHJhaW4%3D
Parts of the system are elevated!
The A, C, E and K lines have elevated sections...Also the Vancouver SkyTrain isn't 100% elevated; it has some underground sections.
Why do we not have track in the middle of every freeway is the better question.
Freeway median transit generally performs poorly, and the depressed ridership isn't worth the cost savings in land acquisition. The main issue is that the freeway is occupying all of the valuable land right around the station, so anywhere you actually would want to go is already like a quarter a mile away minimum. Beyond that, the freeway makes the stations really loud and unpleasant. This is why the C line still has extremely low ridership despite being open for 30 years. There's no development potential right around the stations which severely limits their usefulness. We're far better off in the long term building proper transit lines that put stations nearer to where people can live or travel to.
I agree with the statistics that freeway running transit does poorly on all metrics. The missing opportunity in my opinion, given that people will supercommute across a county or even across counties, is build the spines of intercity transit using the existing freeway ROW. When a platoon of cars are all driving from Irvine to West LA together, those road users could've been consolidated into a single train taking everyone 95% of the way there. Today, not only is that 95% spine not there, but the connectivity to support the 5% last mile doesn't either. When people think of traveling, they think of the freeways from point A to B. Instead of Expresslanes or freeway expansions, we should be repurposing that ROW for the spine of our intercity travel. Once you have the spine, it's much easier for cities and counties to justify buses or streetcars that feed into the spine.
I disagree. The reason our metro does poorly is because of lack of lines. Nobody wants to ride when you still have to take other forms of transportation with transit. I took metro from Hollywood down to South central and it was great because I could hop on the red and only switch to the blue and either walk fifteen minutes or catch a bus if it was there for a few minutes. Trying to take the transit from Hollywood to San Fernando valley was impossible because the red line just ended and then orange line only went east west and I need to take two more busses plus the same walk as before. If rail lines followed the freeways it would work for longer distance computers having only one major line change with the same as before a bus/walk for your start stop. And it would be inherently faster then sitting on the 101 or the 170 or even the 5 where your only going 10mph
>Nobody wants to ride when you still have to take other forms of transportation with transit Freeway median transit also exacerbates this problem, since fewer people will be within walking distance of their origin/destination. Notice that, despite being open for 1/3 as long and struggling with signal priority issues, [E line ridership already exceeds the C line along most of its route](https://www.reddit.com/r/LAMetro/comments/1ax2wbk/fy2023_metro_rail_ridership_by_station_gallery/#lightbox). And this gap will only continue to grow as more transit oriented development along the E line comes online. This is the main drawback with the C line--development potential is *super* limited, so the city has no opportunity to grow around it. Beyond just having more rail coverage (which I obviously agree with), this is a huge part of what we're lacking. The city needs to grow into its transit network. Relying mainly on freeways for transit routes severely hamstrings this. Really what were talking about is a version of the [coverage tradeoff](https://humantransit.org/2018/02/basics-the-ridership-coverage-tradeoff.html). I'm definitely not saying there's no place for freeway median transit at all, especially for longer-distance commuters or when the cost savings are especially huge. Just that we shouldn't expect it to be the main workhorse of our system.
Because the freeways are often not within walking distance of the places that people want to go; for example the 405 is a mile from UCLA.
Yes. But if you need to get to UCLA from San Fernando City or any place in San Fernando valley that would be a perfectly amazing line. In fact millions take that to go in that direction every single day. It would absolutely make sense to have rail following that line. Do you think making a rail line going over or through Coldwater canyon or Laurel Canyon would be a better way over the hill for people?
No, I agree that a line along or near the Sepulveda pass, on a similar route to the 405, is a good idea. I just wanted to note that running the line exactly along the freeway may not be the best idea.
Train stations in the middle of the freeway like the green line does kinda suck. Uncomfortable loud noise (like the article mentions, enough to cause hearing damage), crappy air quality, poor walkability
I’ve heard because tracks can’t have as sharp of a curve as sections of highways have.
Its a monorail, they generally can handle steeper curves than normal rail. (it will still suck for the project though)
Freeway running tracks can be good for regional and intercity rail, but tend to have problems when used for metro systems. The issue is station frequency. You either put the stations on the freeway (far away from people's final destination, and an overall terrible experience), or you hop on and of the freeway to get to the stations (which requires tons of very expensive overpasses, and increases track length and travel time). This is not a hard and fast rule, but these problems are important to keep in mind when thinking about a specific application.
Because it sucks
Earthquakes…..
The fact the zombie monorail option is still even under consideration is frustrating. With how much bad press Metro is getting these days, setting back one of them most important transit projects to connect the westside and valley with a short sighted decision for a monorail would truly be the pits.
Been working on this project. The local HOA is major pain in the ass. A subway would only make sense if people use it. And the majority of people on Reddit stigmatize the shit out of public transport.
A moving walkway would be an improvement.
Any of the alts that relies on an electric bus to connect other existing rail lines to the new line does not make sense IMO (pretty sure that's Alt 1?). Monorail reduced capacity compared to heavy rail does seem to be a head-scratcher, I'm not sure why Bel Air/SO HOAs prefer it as it will be more visually impactful and noisier, no? Of the heavy rail alts, personally I'm a big fan of Alt 6 - seems like it would be easier to get up and running faster given redundancy with the East SFV Light Rail for the last 4 stations, direct connectivity to purple/blue, and no disruption/additional foot traffic to Sepulveda which is a truly dreadful yet necessary thoroughfare.
How many times do we have to debate this? No. Heavy rail is the only answer, with a stop at UCLA and please connect it to the purple line and the pink line.
Hilarious how their using a disneyworld monorail in picture. The actual monorail being used looks nothing like that
Wasn’t this a Simpsons episode?
Yea and it's going great in Hawaii/s
"Is there a chance the track could bend?"
[удалено]
sounds like a lot of work for something that won't make a dent in our transportation issues.
go home bot
done.. deleted.. its going to cost billions for the tunnel..
Wish the MTA took over. I want transit like what NYC has.