Orange Line buses often get stuck at red lights, slowing transit times. Photo – Steve Hymon/Metro
The Los Angeles County Metropolitan Transportation Authority’s (Metro) board has approved a staff recommendation to study proposed safety improvements that could lead to converting the Orange bus-rapid-transit (BRT) line
Note that absolutely nothing here mentions conversion to light rail, only that the measures to be taken would be useful or necessary if rail conversion is done in the indefinite future. Notice how no details of the ‘unsolicited proposal‘ have been brought up since March?
More positive light-rail-like optimizations have long been touted as beneficial for BRT on dedicated busways; the gates in particular may aid in higher practical speed, and it should be only slightly more expensive to ‘bridge’ the two bottleneck crossings with rubber-tire suitable decking than with rail. I note also that the New York bus story mentions specific technology that would help the ‘red light’ problem at the beginning of the story.
Is it the highway culture that inhibits the installation of preemptive traffic light operation on the light rail routes? I was in L. A. for my granddaughters graduation from USC and noted the trains along Figaroa waiting at street vrossings for the traffic lights. Took a ride on the Gold Line from Union Station to Azusa & back and except for a for a few grade crossings in Passadena, where the moterman had to wait for gates to lower, the trains seemed to have the ROW to roll.
Also noted the high stations on the Silver Busway and all the flyovers for the busses. WOW. GD said people don’t ride the light rail because it is slow stopping for the street crossings but the Gold line was SRO when I rode it and was fast.
This is due to the, ahem, prejudices of the LA City transportation engineers. Downtown LA is a real nightmare for both buses and light rail that has yet to be sorted out. In addition, Metro totally wimps out on managing the effects of construction and special events on their services. The Silver Line is a great example; it flies on the mid-freeway section but crawls once it hits surface streets - very difficult to reach LAUS on schedule.
Once your train leaves the city of LA it usually has priority. I’m always surprised at how fast the Expo Line trains move through the grade crossings in Santa Monica.
There is that 1 mile Red Car Trolley Tunnel and Terminal that still was built in the 1920s in downtown LA