Eastside Extension... to Whittier? to Industry?

Submitted by night reader on Sun, 02/17/2008 - 20:35
in

I got this in a mass email from Molina's office:

Most First District residents are aware of the Gold Line Eastside Extension, which will connect East L.A. to the rest of L.A. County’s light rail network. But not everyone knows that Metro is planning to extend this line even further east. There are 17 different route proposals along three major corridors: One would extend the line to the City of Industry along the 60 Freeway while the other two would extend it to Whittier. No proposal is set in stone--but all possibilities are very exciting.

Still, we want to hear from local residents which route makes the most sense to them. In this spirit, we held two meetings in the East San Gabriel Valley in November to generate awareness of the these plans, which Metro calls Gold Line Eastside Extension Phase 2. We will be holding another round of community meetings in late March or early April--and we’ll be sure to let First District residents know when and where these forums are scheduled in our next newsletter.

See also: http://www.metro.net/projects_programs/eastside_phase2/meetings.htm
And: http://www.metrogoldline.org/about.html

And Molina's office: http://molina.co.la.ca.us/

‹ The Internet Helps You Find Anything Final Field Poll Results! ›

Eastside Extension... to

Submitted by Todd Kunioka on Sun, 02/17/2008 - 23:19.

They had announcements on their scoping and route selection on MTA buses a few months ago.

I'm no more excited about this proposed south-eastern extension than I am about the east-Foothill extension.  Seems like a lot of money for not a lot of people being moved.

In terms of route selection, I figure if they are going to build it, we ought to leave it up to MTA with their rider surveys.

The only routes that might affect Rosemead are the ones that would run along the 60.  If that's built then, in theory, Montebello Town Center (including the tiny part that's in Rosemead) could draw some additional shoppers.  Except that, right now, the only part of the MTC that's in Rosemead is the Macy's, and they tend not to sell that much to the transit-dependent.  It might be able to take a few cars off the Pomona Freeway, but I doubt it would be enough to make a difference in congestion.

I probably wouldn't ride it more than a few times a year.  If I'm going downtown via public transit, the 487/489 buses would still get me to Union Station faster than having to travel down to MTC.  It might possibly be marginally faster to Little Tokyo for me, depending on which end of Little Tokyo I decide I want to get to.

Eastside Extension... to

Submitted by night reader on Tue, 02/19/2008 - 12:38.

The 60 one would be cool, but who the hell wants to pay for a train that stops less than once a mile, and along the freeway? Nobody will ride it except in the morning and evening. (BTW, there are a fair number of folks at the MTC stop, but nothing compared to people in cars.)

There are a pretty good number of buses going from Montebello to Downtown, but, some of them are very, very crowded. A train would help them. Transferring at Atlantic, to take the train north, then westward, would take a load off these buses.

Eastside Extension... to

Submitted by Todd Kunioka on Wed, 02/20/2008 - 12:19.

It would access the Crossroads development near the 605 and 60.  That means all those office buildings, and, of course, Fry's.

Compared to Wilshire Blvd and the 720 buses, there aren't a lot of people heading into downtown from Montebello on buses (nor from Sierra Madre Villa or points east via bus or rail--but I've said that before).

My suspicion would be that there's more ridership along the proposed Whitter Blvd route would be heavier (because those packed 720 buses that ran from Santa Monica to downtown continue eastward along Whittier Blvd--but I've never rode a 720 bus east of downtown, so I don't know from personal experience if they are as crowded east of downtown as they are west of downtown).

Eastside Extension... to

Submitted by night reader on Sun, 02/24/2008 - 04:42.

The 720 east of downtown is like a sardine can. Service workers get on the bus on the westside, and ride it home to East LA. Along the way, they pick up more and more people, until downtown. Then, they start leaving them off.until they get to Commerce.

There's also a large group of people who take the MTB 40 bus downtown. I haven't taken that in a decade, but, it was packed in the morning. By packed, I mean there wasn't much room left to stand. MTB also runs express buses to downtown.

A train down Atlantic would cause some riders to do a reverse commute eastward, to get the train, and take the train into downtown, transfer to the purple line, and transfer again to the (now less crowded) 720. Some car drivers would also switch to the train -- a sardine bus is hardly an option if you have a car. Being near the end of the line, it would be possible to get a seat.