Proof, BRT is NOT "Mass Rapid Transit"?

[Ocklawaha]

"Michael, What THEY said..."

California like Florida, is also undergoing a budget crunch. Los Angeles, with it's sparkling new BRT system called Metro-Rapid, has been trying to expand it's commuter rail and light rail routes. The new 704 Metro-Rapid line, which is BRT, connects downtown Los Angeles with Santa Monica via Santa Monica Bl. The BRT lobby has hailed and praised this as the greatest leap in mass or rapid transit since the wheel. Glowing reports have stated how it has expanded ridership and "maybe" even attracted more quality riders then rail. The same BRT guys are always care full not to mention that the whole Metro-Rapid system is coordinated and built around a network of rail, and serves as remote extensions of the rail system. Rail feeds Metro-Rapid and Metro-Rapid feeds people into rail, which is HOW IT SHOULD BE DONE. (Hello JTA, Skyway - Light Rail - BRT feeding each other?) But for the sake of argument, lets just play along and give the BRT zealots their day, let's say for a minute that it IS "As good as rail - only cheaper". Then along comes no less of an authority then Los Angeles and CAL-TRANS (formerly CDOT) and tosses cold water all over the BRT! Check out this excerpt from the newest issue of METRO MAGAZINE, one of the journals of mass transit.  

METRO MAGAZINE

The funding comes after months of being stalled amid a legislative budget deadlock but now means several projects can move forward, including $315 million for the Exposition Light Rail line project.

"(This) ensures continued progress without interruption in building the Expo Light Rail line to Culver City and ultimately to Santa Monica," said Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors Chairman Zev Yaroslavsky, in a written statement.

"It hastens the day we can finish the project and bring mass rapid transit and a measure of genuine traffic relief to the people of West Los Angeles."

Read that last paragraph again... Humm? "Why Michael, I thought BRT WAS mass rapid transit? Isn't it the answer to all of OUR traffic problems? Won't it cruise at speeds faster then Light Rail? Doesn't it draw more quality riders (riders that would otherwise use their own automobiles) then rail? Y'all better talk to your cousin Arnold, in Sacramento, because neither he, nor the State Representatives, or the City of Los Angeles, seem to agree with you. You see Michael, they already have BRT, and now they are going to built "Mass Rapid Transit".

Ocklawaha