Yesterday, I had to travel the 19 miles between Van Nuys and Marina Del Rey. At 60 miles an hour (down the 405), it should take about 20 minutes to get there.
Of course, nobody just gets on the freeway and speeds anywhere in LA. I took Sepulveda to Sunset to Bundy to San Vicente to 16th Street to Wilshire to Lincoln and then crawled down to Washington. The whole hour, I was dreaming of a monorail that might save me and millions of others from this burden.
Ray Bradbury wrote this editorial for the LA Times:
If we examine the history of subways, we will find how tremendously expensive and destructive they are.
They are, first of all, meant for cold climates such as Toronto, New York, London, Paris, Moscow and Tokyo. But L.A. is a Mediterranean area; our weather is sublime, and people are accustomed to traveling in the open air and enjoying the sunshine, not in closed cars under the ground.
Subways take forever to build and, because the tunnels have to be excavated, are incredibly expensive. The cost of one subway line would build 10 monorail systems.
Along the way, subway construction destroys businesses by the scores. The history of the subway from East L.A. to the Valley is a history of ruined businesses and upended lives.
The monorail is extraordinary in that it can be built elsewhere and then carried in and installed in mid-street with little confusion and no destruction of businesses. In a matter of a few months, a line could be built from Long Beach all the way along Western Avenue to the mountains with little disturbance to citizens and no threat to local businesses.
Compared to the heavy elevateds of the past, the monorail is virtually soundless. Anyone who has ridden the Disneyland or Seattle monorails knows how quietly they move.
I can’t express this any better than Mr. Bradbury has.
Here in Van Nuys 