Quote:
Originally Posted by tablemtn
I tried a while ago to figure out the 'real' numbers for the LA area, trimming off disconnected zones like Lancaster/Palmdale.
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Except the facts show that, for the purposes of determining things like the "real numbers for LA," Lancaster and Palmdale are
not truly disconnected from greater Los Angeles.
It is true that the Sierra Pelona Ridge physically separates that area from the Valley and the Basin beyond, but it is also true that (pre-pandemic), the annual average daily traffic on the 14 at Sierra Highway, which consists of traffic moving between the growing Lancaster/Palmdale area and the rest of greater LA, was
210,000 vehicles. The calculation includes weekend days, so it's likely that more than 105,000 commuters made workday round trips between Lancaster/Palmdale and the job centers in the Valley and beyond. And that is out of a total Lancaster/Palmdale population of roughly 342,966. I don't know the number of working-age adults out of that population, but it is certain that a very high ratio of employed adults in Lancaster/Palmdale commute to work in the rest of greater LA. Alternatively, a lot of those trips are big rigs moving goods between the harbor and inland distribution centers--which, combined with frequent cargo rail service along the same route, indicates another inseverable economic link between Lancaster/Palmdale and the rest of greater LA.
Meanwhile, MetroLink provides
14 daily trains in each direction between Lancaster/Palmdale and Los Angeles Union Station--and those are one-seat trips. Would a truly "disconnected" area have such a frequent, one-seat commuter rail connection to downtown LA? I don't think so.