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opinion:
manifesto
OCTA should not
build light rail, but busways
The Orange County
Transportation Authority wisely put the brakes on its CenterLine
light rail project. The train, which if built could have cost
as much as $2 billion, would have run between Fullerton and
Irvine and possibly serve major destinations like Disneyland
and John Wayne Airport along the way.
CenterLine faced
opposition from many cities and business groups in central
and southern Orange County, and cities like Anaheim and Fullerton
demanded concessions from OCTA, such as adding bus service
and staying away from certain communities, before supporting
the train plan. If OCTA tried to appease the anti-rail faction
and please the supporters, CenterLine would have been a disaster.
With $2 billion
available, what can OCTA do to improve transit service without
going forward with CenterLine? I have just the idea: build
busways along the 22 and 405 freeways.
Busways are highway
lanes that allow transit buses to run faster than on city
streets, and have freeway-level stations built in the median
to allow boarding from major streets or locations like malls
or government buildings.
Busways along the
22 and 405 freeways would allow for quick movement across
the county. The 22 freeway is ideal for an east-west busway
because it is medially located in central Orange County and
crosses many major north-south streets. A trip between downtown
Long Beach and Santa Ana would be less than an hour.
The 405 freeway
can be a vital northwest-to-southeast connection between central
and southern Orange County. The diagonal route crosses major
east-west and north-south thoroughfares.
Best of all, buses
do not have to be solely confined to the busway. Buses can
still run along city streets after serving the busway stations.
For example, the 22 freeway busway would be able to serve
Disneyland, The Block, The Mall of Orange or the Santa Ana
train station. Buses along the 405 freeway can serve UC Irvine,
John Wayne Airport and Golden West College. Conceivably, bus
routes can connect the busway with every town in Orange County.
Both freeways feed
traffic onto Seventh Street, so this means Cal State Long
Beach students would have the opportunity to ride busway routes.
Busways also have
advantages for motorists as well since they allow carpools
along with buses. People who rideshare get to travel in the
same lanes as the buses.
These busways would
help bus riders with faster trips and carpoolers with a smooth
way to bypass freeway congestion. The billions allocated to
the ill-planned light rail project should be rolled over to
build the busway and carpool lanes, stations in the freeway
medians and fund the operating costs of the buses that would
run along the 22 and 405 freeways.
Chris Ledermuller
is a print journalism major at Cal State Long Beach.
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