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Southern California Transit Advocates is a non-profit organization dedicated to the promotion, development and improvement of public transportation in the Los Angeles metropolitan area.

Bryan Allen's draft proposal to support a study of commuter rail in the Valley

Mr. Allen's proposal was discussed but not adopted by So.CA.TA.


So.CA.TA supports the concept of studvina a regional rail or commuter rail service on the MTA's ex Southern Pacific Burbank Branch right of way in the San Fernando Valley, such as is embodied in motions of L.A. City Councilman Hal Bernson which are pending before the Los Angeles City Council and MTA's Board of Directors.

So.CA.TA supports such a study because building a bare-bones commuter rail line there is the only financially plausible and realistic rail passenger proposal in the foreseeable future for the corridor of travel stretching from Warner Center, Van Nuys, North Hollywood to Burbank. A fast rail passenger line which could actually be ridden by passengers, even if inadequate, is clearly preferable to useless, endless false hope for a subway which will never be built. Because its service would be infrequent and limited primarily to daylight hours, a commuter rail line probably would be environmentally superior to all competing non-subway rail proposals, not worse as many have imagined.

. Moreover, a busway in this corridor, if built as proposed, is fraught with problems of environmental impact and feasibility which have not yet been properly recognized, and building it would probably be much more expensive than a commuter rail line with an equal passenger-carrying capacity and impact upon cross-street traffic.

However, this position favoring study in no way modifies So.CA.TA's previous positions upon what express transit projects should or should not be implemented in the San Fernando Valley. So.CA.TA's final position upon that question will await the outcome of studies and our evaluation of them.

So.CA.TA offers these two suggestions to address in a reasonable way some complaints leveled against the Burbank Branch commuter rail proposal:

  1. The city of Los Angeles, MTA and SCRRA should explore the idea of an agreement between the city and the implementing agency/ies guaranteeing that upgrades to the commuter rail line would be continually funded for many years, with the possibility of a final upgrade to a light rail line.
  2. The environmental effects of different limits upon the frequency and hours of service should be documented in the first feasibility study, with the object of developing warrants for upgrades which might be funded before service becomes more frequent or extended over more hours.