light rail

Orange County is lucky that Walt Disney chose Anaheim. Besides building an amusement park, Walt also wanted to suggest things that would help us in the future. For that reason, Walt Disney built a Monorail system not only in the park, but to the D-Land Hotel as well.

In his dreams, Walt wanted to extend the monorail system to Knott's Berry Farm, the Convention Center; and Anaheim Stadium would have been in his plans. read more→

As our county and region continues to grow and expand, it’s a no brainer that alternative modes of transportation would be sought after.

Therefore, it shouldn’t be a surprise that rail is back in the news here among the orange groves, and this time, I mean smack-dab in the middle of the orange groves.

Initiated in March, the Southern California Association of Governments (SCAG) has begun a several month long Transit Alternatives Analysis (AA) for the Pacific Electric Right-of-Way / West Santa Ana Branch Corridor. This study is a large collaboration between SCAG, LACMTA (Metro) and OCTA, with SCAG hiring the consultants (AECOM Inc.), paying the bills ($1.8 million), and publishing the preferred alternative, which will then be presented to the Metro and OCTA Board of Directors.

In the AA, SCAG will determine whether or not potential transit service along the corridor is a viable option to improve intercounty travel, improve transit accessibility, support regional goals and reduce congestion at the same time. Here’s a little background information from SCAG’s fact sheet:

The Pacific Electric Right-of-Way (PE ROW) / West Santa Ana Branch Corridor is a railroad right-of-way that extends for approximately 20 miles between the City of Paramount in Los Angeles County and the City of Santa Ana in Orange County. The railroad corridor was once part of the Pacific Electric Railway, or Red Car, system that provided mass transit service to Southern California from 1901 to 1961. Much of the corridor has been abandoned and is not currently used for mass transit purposes.

SCAG goes on to elaborate on what they will be researching:

The AA will evaluate a broad range of alternatives, including bus rapid transit (BRT) with dedicated bus lanes, light rail transit (LRT), commuter rail, and high speed rail, along with “no-build” and Transportation Systems Management improvements.

As you can see on the map, the PE ROW runs through many OC cities, including Cypress, Anaheim, Stanton, Garden Grove, and Santa Ana, just to name a few. On the north end sits the Metro Blue line and Green line, while the Santa Ana Depot sit on the south end. Can you imagine the possibilities of having a quick, convenient transit connection between these destinations and many more? Well SCAG can! The final question is… can Orange County? read more→

The ride is smooth, and even better. Crowds have turned out in mass for OCTA's CenterLine Phase I project — an 11.4-mile elevated light rail system running from the City of Santa Ana, through Costa Mesa, to Irvine — is finally ready for its grand opening in 2009. The project is just the start for the county-wide system. It currently links UC Irvine, Irvine Business Complex, John Wayne Airport, South Coast Plaza, the Santa Ana Civic Center, and the Santa Ana Amtrak/Metrolink Station. Construction is already underway for extensions to Cal State University Fullerton, Cal State University Long Beach, and the Irvine Spectrum, in an effort to relieve congestion on the 5, 22, and 405 freeways.

This month marks what could have been the opening day of light rail in Orange County. Unfortunately, the ill-fated CenterLine light rail project was successfully defeated by Orange County's voters under the influence of John Kleinpeter and FAIR — Fund Alternatives Instead of Rail — in 2003. (A similar movement is underway in Los Angeles to stop transit improvements: wealthy homeowners in Santa Monica are pooling together resources to stop light rail in Los Angeles in two groups known as "Neighbors for Safe Rail" and "Fix Expo".)

So today, instead of enjoying quick travel times, travelers must endure a 59-minute slog between Irvine and Santa Ana. And, it's still a pain in the ass to travel in Irvine. Good job, Orange County.

Here's the system you could have had, from Fullerton through Anaheim, Santa Ana, and South County...

...that was shrunken to just Santa Ana to UC Irvine...

...to nothing.

The project began planning in 1990 as part of a county-wide tax measure. According to lightrailnow.org, "Despite the fierce opposition, rail supporters did win a major victory in 1990 when, as noted above, Orange County voters passed Measure M, setting aside a special transportation improvement tax. However, 75% of this tax goes to support highway development, while only 25% was earmarked to fund a rail transit system for the county."

To compensate for the termination of light rail, OCTA was supposed to use funds for 30-minute Metrolink service (to be open next year), "bus rapid transit", and Go Local projects. However, it's been 20 years since the start of Measure M now and we've yet to see any of these projects come to fruition. Go Local, in my opinion, has pretty much been a front for funding neutered shuttles in Irvine that duplicate old OCTA routes. The Bravo! bus rapid transit has been watered down to limited-stop buses that still get stuck in automobile traffic. And much of the money has been sunk into "transit improvements" like building bridges to separate road and train traffic — which actually does nothing to improve transit.

So what do you think? Was it a good idea to cut light rail out? read more→

• More photos of project plans and photographs on Flickr.
• LightRailNow tracks the rise and fall of OCTA's CenterLine project.

Spokker last week attended the Anaheim Fixed Guideway Transit Corridor Study early scoping meeting. In essence, OCTA and Anaheim staff are considering building bus rapid transit, a monorail, a maglev (?!?), personal rapid transit pods, or an automated people mover. The line would run for about 2 miles and cover Disneyland, Anaheim Convention Center, Anaheim Gardenwalk, the Angels Stadium, and the Anaheim Amtrak-Metrolink train station. read more→

Abe Ahn, who writes for the UC Irvine student publication Forest Fire, has graciously allowed me to re-publish his article, which gives some insight into the politics of Orange County's public transit, and dives into the stories of people who ride OCTA.

Santa Ana College professor Roy Shahbazian has not owned a car in over a decade, an impressive feat in a county that embraces private transportation. As a member of the non-profit Transit Advocates, he lobbies city council meetings and citizen advisory boards for improved services. But in Orange County, it’s difficult for Shahbazian to persuade people to leave their cars.

“When I say I’m taking the bus home, people who don’t know me are sort of alarmed and they want to help me out and ask me, ‘What’s wrong? How come you’re taking the bus home?’” said Shahbazian.

This kind of reaction is typical in the county. In the 1990s, transit advocates pushed for the construction of the CenterLine, a nine-mile light rail system running from Santa Ana to Irvine. But in 2005, lack of public support resulted in the suspension of all plans for the rail. Instead, the county reallocated its funds to improve express bus services and the Metrolink train system. read more→

I happened to pick up the September/October 2008 edition of the Greater Santa Ana Business Alliance's newsletter CityLine at The Depot at Santa Ana, and they had a fascinating article titled "Light Rail System Moving Closer to Reality." In essence, light rail will be a reality in five years, from the Metrolink station to Garden Grove: read more→