[citywatch]

This opinion piece both hits & misses what should be today's priority. The writer places long term issues on the front burner while placing pressing issues of today on the back burner....

Opinion: L.A.’s half-empty, crime-ridden Metro trains don’t have to stay that way

By Ethan N. Elkind

It’s no secret that the pandemic devastated public transit systems across the country, and Los Angeles’ ever-expanding Metro Rail system is no exception. With many white-collar employees now working remotely for all or much of the week, ridership on the region’s subway and light-rail lines is still around just two-thirds of its pre-COVID peak. The situation is even worse for systems such as Bay Area Rapid Transit, or BART, which is overly reliant on the office workers and employers who have largely abandoned downtown San Francisco.

To survive and thrive over the long run, however, Metro needs to build on these strengths and abandon business as usual. The best recipe for long-term success — one we’ve seen in successful cities across the world from Milan to Busan — is to allow more apartment buildings, offices and mixed-use projects to be built within walking distance of the stations. Beyond keeping Metro Rail viable, more such walkable neighborhoods will provide environmental, economic and quality-of-life benefits for their residents.

As Metro seeks to build expensive yet critical additions to its existing rail network, such as the Purple Line extension along Wilshire Boulevard to Westwood and beyond, state leaders could also help the agency save money by giving it master permitting authority over construction and streamlined environmental review, as is done in Paris, Madrid and other successful, transit-rich cities. Otherwise, projects often exceed budgets and blow deadlines due to endless concessions to hyperlocal interests, lawsuits and byzantine bureaucracy.

To lure riders back in the short term, Metro will have to address the crime and safety concerns of riders, which reflect broader economic and social challenges as well as the dearth of riders. Since lack of housing supply and consequently high rents are the chief cause of homelessness, state and local policymakers can help Metro contribute to the long-term solution by facilitating more apartments near stations, which will have the added benefit of encouraging more ridership.

^ Some of the key homelessness affecting the MTA...its trains, subways & buses...may have far more to do with politics, including law enforcement & the judicial system, than it does with affordability per se.