Alyssa's post

Traffic and Congestion Discussion: 4/17

I personally think that the traffic problem in the LA area is a huge
problem but I don’t know if there is anything that we can do about it now.
The freeway system is already set up and so complex that people have
gotten used to it. They complain about traffic and congestion but they
have almost accepted it and the long commutes that come along with it. I
would like there to be a better public transportation system in the area,
but I don’t know if it’s possible to have a metro any better than the one
that exists now, which has one line and five or six stops. I think the
best bet would be an expansion and possibly a privatization of the bus
system so that it can serve more people.

I do not agree with the article that was pro-high speed rail in
California. The author argued, before the current bill passed to allot 800
million dollars of tax money to a high speed rail in 2008, that it would
be a solution to transportation problems. One person that he talked to
said how her life would be much easier if there was a train from Los
Angeles to San Francisco. Yet realistically, how many people would this be
helping? How many people really travel that distance on a regular enough
basis that 800 million dollars worth of taxpayers’ money would benefit the
most people? In reality, it seems like it would be a much more expensive
system than an airplane, at least in the first several years of its
service. It does not seem like the best investment.

I do not agree either with some of the odd ways of getting revenue to help
pay for road repairs, like raising the amount of money in parking meters
or just installing even more meters. That and taxing cars coming into
large cities seems to be punishing people for something that isn’t their
fault. However, optional toll lanes would be helpful, or converting some
car pool lanes into toll lanes would work.