Why Expo/Aqua will be the crown jewel of Metro LRT

[Jason Saunders]

10 Reasons why the Expo/Aqua Line is going to be the crown jewel in LA Metro's light rail system.

1. Lessons Learned: Metro has come a long way since the Blue Line. There have been lessons learned in terms of safety (quad gates), dealing with contractors and in design. In this regard it is good that Expo/Aqua wasn't built in the early 90's.

2. The Availability of a Semi Exclusive ROW: Long stretches where streets do not cross and are wide enough to allow the train to travel more speedily and efficiently . Gold Line Eastside Ext. is hampered in this fashion.

3. The Greenbelt Factor: The alignment has the room for a greenscape and the powers that be are willing! The Blue Line miserably failed in terms of green space. Much of the Blue Line is downright bleak but Metro did a wonderful job of landscaping the Orange Line and it seems Expo/Aqua will be very green and beautiful as well.

I know it seems far fetched but one of the least expensive things that could be done to improve safety on the Blue Line would be to green it. Psychological studies have shown that people 'calm down' when their commutes go through green environments.

4. The Bike Lane/Path: The exceptionally nice bike path on the Orange Line gives hope that Expo will also have a comparably great path for people to travel by bicycle but funding source issues give cause for concern that there will be a multi-year gap between completion of the rail project and the bike path. It also seems some of the bike path was put in the much maligned 'door zone' of parked cars but over all the alignment is a great backbone addition to the regions bicycle infrastructure network with potential integration of several existing bike paths including Ballona Creek and Venice.

5. The extra grade separations for congested streets: Gold line in Highland Park and Blue Line at both ends suffer from this. Yes, there is debate on the cost benefit of grade separation but the higher density of West Los Angeles means more streets will be grade separated and thus the line will benefit as a whole.

6. Expo/Aqua is not in a freeway median: The Green Line is fast but there is no opportunity for community improvement and it sucks waiting for a train in the middle of a noisy, busy, polluted freeway.

7. Mini-Sound Walls Near the Wheels: Most of the noise from LRT comes from the wheels and large segments of Expo will have 'short' sound walls to dampen this noise.

8. Relatively Straight: Straighter means faster travel times and a quieter train. Squeaky wheels seem to happen at curves in the track which Expo in large part lacks.

9. The Destinations: Staples Center, LA Live, Collisium, Expo Park, Natural History Museum, USC, Museum of Jurasic Technology, Santa Monica Pier, Downtown LA, Downtown Culver City, Downtown Santa Monica, Bergamont Station, SMC (short walk), the Beach..... WOW this line is loaded with destinations!

10. Driving on the 10 freeway SUCKS During Rush Hour: Commute times double and tipple and it can be very frustrating with no other viable alternative. Expo/Aqua will be a viable alternative as it roughly parallels the freeway all the way to it's eventual terminus in downtown Santa Monica.

I look forward with eager anticipation to it's opening and I know Expo/Aqua will knock the Blue Line out of the number one spot for highest ridership light rail line in the country as measured by passengers per mile.

[Gokhan]

I can never agree more with you SAUNDERS on the Expo Line: it will be the crown jewel of all light-rail lines in the world!

Reason 11: Because Darrell, I, and others have been working so hard on this. LOL

[masonite]

Jul 27, 2009 13:04:56 GMT -8 Gokhan said:

I can never agree more with you SAUNDERS on the Expo Line: it will be the crown jewel of all light-rail lines in the world!

Reason 11: Because Darrell, I, and others have been working so hard on this. LOL

I am hope I am wrong, but I think it will be quite difficult for this line to beat the Blue Line's 80k riders (although since the Blue Line is longer I suppose the passengers per mile might be in reach). There is a tremendous need for a line in this corridor.

If it does exceed the Blue Line ridership, what do we think is the overall capacity of the line? There could only be 3 car trains and with the Blue Line tie-in, headways can only be minimized so much.

[Gokhan]

Jul 27, 2009 14:52:36 GMT -8 masonite said:

I am hope I am wrong, but I think it will be quite difficult for this line to beat the Blue Line's 80k riders (although since the Blue Line is longer I suppose the passengers per mile might be in reach). There is a tremendous need for a line in this corridor.

If it does exceed the Blue Line ridership, what do we think is the overall capacity of the line? There could only be 3 car trains and with the Blue Line tie-in, headways can only be minimized so much.

Ridership is something that is both hard to measure and interpret, for numerous reasons.

Blue Line's current ridership is close to 100,000 -- perhaps around 90,000 during high demand. I don't think it's near capacity yet. It can probably go up to 150,000 but this is both a wild and inaccurate estimate.

Ridership will increase more when the system expands, such as more lines are built, like Downtown Connector and Crenshaw Line. I think after Phase 2, Expo Line will exceed Blue Line's ridership, and we may see a ridership in excess of 100,000. If the demand gets even higher, the Purple Line extension will help relieve the Expo Line's load a bit in the later decades.

[JerardWright]

Jul 27, 2009 14:52:36 GMT -8 masonite said:

Jul 27, 2009 13:04:56 GMT -8 Gokhan said:

I can never agree more with you SAUNDERS on the Expo Line: it will be the crown jewel of all light-rail lines in the world!

Reason 11: Because Darrell, I, and others have been working so hard on this. LOL

I am hope I am wrong, but I think it will be quite difficult for this line to beat the Blue Line's 80k riders (although since the Blue Line is longer I suppose the passengers per mile might be in reach). There is a tremendous need for a line in this corridor.

If it does exceed the Blue Line ridership, what do we think is the overall capacity of the line? There could only be 3 car trains and with the Blue Line tie-in, headways can only be minimized so much.

The main reason for the Blue Line's capacity is that about 65-70% of the riders are heading in one direction (Downtown in AM, Green Line/Long Beach in PM) during it's peak period.

Expo, I believe will be closer to 50/50 (more likely 55/45. Santa Monica AM, Downtown PM and this is based on current traffic patterns and bus ridership) during it's peak period meaning just as many folks will be travelling in both directions to reach the destinations all throughout the day listed as Item #9 in SAUNDERS list and it will operate more efficently because of this.

So it could reach the same 80,000 riders as the Blue Line but do it with 3 car LRT with the same Blue Line headway and still have space inside the trains for more riders. This is because the travel distance of riders will be shorter than the Blue Line's which will enable more riders on the line because USC and Culver City are perfect midpoints destinations to load and discharge riders along the line so that will refresh ridership loads allowing more seat and train capacity. Also these destinations are spaced fairly evenly 4-6 miles apart so they will have time and space to move the loads. Compared to the Blue Line where the only point where the line refreshes the ridership load is at the Green Line transfer.

This is also a line because of its destinations will have heavier weekend ridership. (Beach, Coliseum, Staples, Convention Center)

[JerardWright]

Jul 27, 2009 12:54:48 GMT -8 Jason Saunders said:

3. The Greenbelt Factor. The alignment has the room for a greenscape and the powers that be are willing! The Blue Line miserably failed in terms of green space. Much of the Blue Line is downright bleak but Metro did a wonderful job of landscaping the Orange Line and it seems Expo/Aqua will be very green and beautiful as well.

Half of that being the other two tracks next to the Blue Line still has active freight movements which will limit what kind of greening that can be done.

[Gokhan]

Jul 27, 2009 16:34:21 GMT -8 JerardWright said:

Expo, I believe will be closer to 50/50

It's probably true that Expo should exhibit very good east - west inversion symmetry. The traffic patterns on the Santa Monica Freeway a decade ago used be toward jobs in Downtown. In the last decade, it reversed for the jobs on the Westside. During the last year or so, following tremendous development in Downtown, it's been reversing again. But it should be close to 50 - 50% in the near future, as far as jobs are concerned.

[spokker]

I've been thinking about the Expo line lately and the issues of race surrounding it. There are vocal advocates on both sides of the issue but I cannot see how any part of Expo's design is racism or environmental injustice or whatever you want to call it.

On the contrary, I see the Expo line as a lifeline for South LA. Its very existence implies that the powers that be, whoever they are, want the residents of South LA to branch out into Santa Monica, Downtown, Pasadena and other locations. The Expo line is an opportunity, an opportunity to get to a job, a school or to simply travel for leisure. How many of these kids in low-income neighborhoods of color ever see the beaches or Hollywood or whatever? The Expo line connects them to not only the rest of the Metro Rail network, but Metrolink and Amtrak too.

I see a lot of opportunity for development, to say to the rest of Southern California, hey, there's some great stuff here. Come down and shop, dine and see. If I were someone like Damien Goodman, with all his charisma and good looks, I'd throw all of my energy into encouraging development in the areas around the stations. I would encourage people around LA County to come and spend their money in South LA, which translates into tax revenue and even greater improvements down the line.

I don't know about you, but when the Gold Line extension to East LA opens up whenever the hell it's supposed to open, I'm going to go visit. I'm going to hit up an ATM and take out $20 so I can get some authentic Mexican food. I might do that if I'm feeling restless and want to get out of the house, or if I have some time to kill before or after work. The point is that I'm spending money, which stimulates the local economy. Sure, the mariachis had to deal with a lot of construction, but are they going to be complaining when hundreds of riders, potential customers that is, are coming in and out of Mariachi Plaza Station?

So I don't know. That's the kind of attitude I have about these stupid trains.

[bluelineshawn]

I agree with the OP and everyone else. Expo will be the crown jewel and will very likely have the highest ridership of the light rail lines. But it probably won't feel much more, if any, crowded than the blue line. Except maybe on weekends. I don't think that 3-car trains at 12 minute headways will cut it on Expo. They make have to look at going to 10 minute headways on both the blue and Expo lines.

[metrocenter]

Keep in mind, opening new lines generally will increase ridership on existing lines. This is because the new lines will increase the value of the overall system by making complete routes feasible for more people.

Take for example a man who lives in Compton and works in Culver City. Currently, he drives because the bus ride is too slow and uncomfortable. However, when Expo opens, he decides to switch to public transit because he can do the whole trip on train (Blue Line to Expo Line), which is faster and more reliable.

In this example, the Blue Line has just gained a new rider. The benefits are not limited to just the newly-opened line.