Rapid Transit in Southern California

The Blue Line opened in July 1990. It was the culmination of a process in the works since 1980, when voters had first approved railway bond issues and tax measures providing more than $5 billion for this purpose. The Blue Line is a light rail tack, which means that the tracks share the road with cars and buses. The first portion runs the 22 miles from downtown Los Angeles to Long Beach. In the early days, the trains were carrying three times more passengers than expected ("The Pasadena choo-choo," 1990: p. 33). The economics of the system have been examined many times over the years. The Blue Line was budgeted at $595 million, but the project generated overruns of near

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unding for the burgeoning public rail system has derived from taxes of various kinds as well as from bond issues and similar voter-approved measures. One approach noted by Zamora (1988) that has been effective and that is somewhat new is that of the benefit assessment, which is a governmental levy upon real property which benefits from a public improvement. These are based on the theory that property owners should contribute to public improvements in approximately the same proportion as they benefit from that improvement. Since this is difficult to calculate, cities use a "cost method" or proportionate theory to determine the amount to levy against each business. The taxpayer at different levels has thus been responsible for the creation and building of the Metro Rail and the other rail systems which are now under the purview of the Southern California Rapid Transit District (SCRTD). The SCRTD is a taxpayer supported entity that has been responsibility for public transportation throughout the Los Angeles region, including connecting Los Angeles with adjacent regions in the Southern California area. It bears primary responsibility for any charge of negligence, which occurs "when a person who has a legal duty to act carefully f
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Some common words found in the essay are:
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Approximate Word count = 1202
Approximate Pages = 5 (250 words per page)

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