Math Doesn’t Suck: Economics Of Mass Transit
By Walter Moore, Candidate for Mayor of Los Angeles, WalterMooreForMayor.com
Do you ever get the feeling that the only people who go into government are really bad at math?
Here’s why I ask.
One of the latest Villaraigosa photo-ops was a ground-breaking for a new stretch of light rail called the “Expo Line” that will run from USC to Culver City. Shovels and smiles abounded in TV new reports on the event, but no one discussed the numbers involved.
Luckily for us, two reporters from the L.A. Times, Rong-Gong Lin II and Jeffrey Rabin, dug up and presented the numbers in an article entitled “Work begins on light-rail line from downtown to Westside.” The Expo Line will:
-- Run just 8.6 miles
-- Cost at least $640 million (i.e., over $74 million per mile)
-- Take three years to complete
-- Travel no faster than buses do right now (“under 30 minutes” to traverse the 8.6 miles, versus 25 minutes on a bus).
Wow! This math problem was much simpler than, “One train leaves New York for Philadelphia, and another leaves Philadelphia for New York at the same time. . . .” But they STILL got it wrong!
Seventy-four million dollars of your money per mile, for something that’s no faster than buses, and travels between two points that will do you no good.
August 15, 2007
So what’s my solution? Glad you asked. It’s called “bus rapid transit,” and it’s a cost-efficient way to get mass transit throughout the entire city now, not five, 10 or 20 years from now. It’s already in use in various cities around the world.
We would convert parking lanes on key streets to “bus only” lanes, and buy enough buses so that people won’t have to wait long for the next bus. We would also have enough security guards to make sure the buses are safe and inviting.
Compare the costs. A new bus costs $325,000, and there are 1,760 yards in a mile. If you took the $640 million for the Expo Line, and instead used it to buy buses, you could put one bus every 100 yards along the 8.6 mile route, and have over $590 million left over. Doesn’t that sound like a better deal?
We need people in City Hall who understand at least basic math. If you’d like a Mayor who will run the numbers before spending your hard-earned money, I’m your man. Click here to contribute.