11 Million Riders LA Metrolink on 388 miles of route vs MBTA Boston Purple Lines with 35 Million Riders and also 380 miles of routes. Could it be that Bostons Downtown core is bigger? Could it also be that LA Union Station Location is not condusive to commuter rail (BTW its right next to the jail)
Could be the the rail commuter is a long existing reality in the Boston area and a new ‘toy’ in LA. Any service takes time to build it’s cliental, mass transit is no exception.
Nobody works in Downtown LA (dump) …nor the same dynamic as MBTA and Boston…more like going burb to burb, skipping downtown.
Balt is on the right track.
Boston is an in close community with not every house having 2 cars. The LA service area seems to have a parking problems at many of their stations. Also a longer drive to a station in LA. Different lines in Boston are much closer than in LA. Just look at the number lines in each area.
An interesting study might be a comparsion of the number of passengers from out lying stations. Again with no passenger mile figures it is really difficult to compare.
Just read the Latest trains issue and saw system by system breakdown
It’s long been my opinion that what destroyed many transit systems was the decentralization of commerce. The big employers used to be concentrated in certain areas - chiefly downtown and in industrial areas. Mass transportation catered well to that, gathering people up and taking them to those concentrated areas. The major retailers (department stores, etc) were also downtown, meaning the occasional trip “into town” for special shopping.
The grown of the suburbs, with malls (and smaller strip malls / shopping centers), as well as the exodus of businesses from city centers meant those trunk lines were no longer viable. As was mentioned, a lot of people now need to go “across town,” as opposed to downtown.
That’s not to say that all cities have gone that route, but I suspect that it really complicates planning for newer transit systems. The hub and spoke just isn’t as relevant as it used to be.