^[1]April Fools.  If Monrovia ^[2] and the other cities have their way with a letter writing campaign it may happen.  Some dozen SGV cities banded together and formed their own pac to lobby for the Gold Line extension ^[3]from Pasadena to Montclair.

One problem with the Gold Line Extension in my not so humble opinion is that it is 11 cities trying to build a transit system to address their own needs instead of the greater metro area.  In fact 3 of the stops, Montclair, Claremont and Pomona lobbying for the Gold Line are already MetroLink ^[4]stops on the LA to San Bernardino run. 

Removing that duplication alone could save millions in construction costs and not affect transportation in that area.  If a line to Ontario is as sensible as they say, drop a shuttle line from Montclair or Rancho Metrolink stations to the airport.  That can save quite a bundle too.

Another problem I see with the Gold Line as proposed is that the system will not address the tens of thousands of cars that use the 210 each day to get to the 605 or 57 freeways to Long Beach or Orange County. Neither will it address the literally thousands of cars that travel from the IE into the East Valley nor from Thousand Oaks to jobs in Glendale or Pasadena.  It won’t even help the people I have met here that work in Monrovia and commute from the East Valley.  Get the picture…nominal impact on our freeway traffic.

Our own Jason Burns ^[5]challenged Metro to get a box of crayons out and start drawing in a recent post.  Continue reading on my thoughts and explanation of what I did with my crayons and a metro map.

The map is simple and I put more than a little thought into this the last few months.  We desperately need a rail system in LA.  The problem we have had is too many little cities banding for their own needs, LA City Hall thinking they deserve it all and a huge bunch o’nimby’s throwing tantrums blocking meaningful progress and planning. 

To make it work in my world on this map.  Keep the existing light rail rainbow lines and use them as feeders in and out of the new lines. 

Line 1: Thousand Oaks to San Bernardino Yellow line with the options to hop off for excursions to LA, LAX or wherever there’s a cross line you can switch too.

Line 2: Purple Line address the 5/405 mess from Santa Clarita somewhere through the middle of the Valley, to SaMo LAX, Long Beach back up to Pasadena. One can even a sidestep somewhere down into the OC.   Maybe this will finally tame the dreaded 405.

Line 3: Green loop Running down basically the 57 and 605 completing itself as needed in OC and up in the SGV.

Line 4 : Pink loop from Downtown LA to LAX, SaMo, Beverly Hills, WeHo and back.  Imagine trains going both directions so you can get north or south on the route quickly based on your needs.

Ms H addressed a public hearing regarding the Draft Long Range plan for Metro in Jason’s post earlier.  The meeting details:

April 8, 2008, at  6PM 

Potrero Heights Elementary School, 8026 E. Hill Drive, in Rosemead, CA

I will be at that meeting and ask they don’t bow to the pressures of 11 small cities and look to the benefit of greater LA Metro.   We desperately need a decent rail system in LA, what they have planned is leaving out too many areas to make a significant impact on traffic. 

My thoughts.  I put the crayons away.  It’s your turn now.

Related posts:

1. Metro’s Runaway Gold Line ^[6]
2. Gold Line Gets A Boost ^[7]
3. I’m Calling It The Gold Line ^[8]
4. Wow…this is post #600 for me here at LA Metblogs ^[9]
5. Pop quiz: which of the following are L.A. transportation cliches? ^[10]