The Metro Rail/Blue Line

The Metro Rail/Blue Line is beginning operation in Los Angeles County after many years of planning, argument, analysis, and concern as well as growing public expectation. Now that the system is in operation, the public may be forgiven for wondering if it will prove to be a fiscal disaster. This was always held out by opponents as a possibility based on the idea that the system was costing too much and would not provide the service needed, or at least a level of service that would justify the costs. Another concern is now clear--the system may prove to be a fiscal drain because of lawsuits and related action for the many accidents that may take place on the system. The subway portion of the system has been the most costly, the most problem-plagued, and the most disruptive to businesses and residents of the city. The high costs may be too high when compared to the benefits of the finished system.

Chagall (1985) describes the parties involved in the building and operation of the Metro Rail system in terms of construction and operation. The first interested party is the U.S. Department of Transportation, a federal agency that acted as banker for the project. This agency was created by Congress in 1966 and oversees all national transportation issues. This agency is a mammoth bureaucracy with enormous power, and two of its divisions heavily affect public transportation in Los Angeles. The Urban Mass Transportation Administration (UMTA)

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es a short downtown subway and other more costly features needed for the projected high capacity ridership, would be the state's most expensive light rail system yet, with a cost just under $40 million per mile, including equipment. Operating costs for the system, though, would be substantially lower than those for bus services per passenger. Middleton discusses some of the factors that have made light rail systems successful elsewhere in California and that should make the Los Angeles system successful as well. He notes that the low density, decentralized transportation environment of California means that effective integration of the light rail system with other transportation modes has been one of the fundamental keys to its success. Every one of the successful systems has a well-developed network of connecting bus services at each train station as well as good connections with automobile services. The Metro Rail has such connections, and in addition the line has garnered considerable public support in spite of the high costs. These elements should make the line successful once it is in full operation, assuming it can attract the ridership the SCRTD thinks it can. Funding for the burgeoning public rail system has deriv

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