Alternatives 1, 3 are monorail.
Alternatives 4, 5, 6 are heavy rail.
👉 https://www.metro.net/projects/sepulvedacorridor/#overview
Here’s a great video comparing the alternatives:
My thoughts from it were 5 or 4 are likely the best balance of cost for public good. 6 is the best long-term option, but the most expensive, and 1 and 3 cost basically the same as 4 and 5, but are just far less effective in terms of improving ridership.
Lived in LA (or surrounding area) for a decade. One of the reasons I wanted to get out was because of how shit it is to get to/from literally anywhere in the city.
This would definitely help things, but no single train line is going to fix the problem. LA is way too huge and sprawling, and requires a large network of rail to become a viable alternative to cars. And there’s way too many NIMBYs with that Hollywood money in key areas of town to make that happen.
Well good news there then. LA and the rest of the valley have a huge amount of transit plans moving forward. This video covers it really well.
The same youtuber has a great video breaking down the above project as well. He recommends alt 4. Huge ridership, fast trip, modern stations that tie into current networks well and the best cost/rider ratio. Average trip time is under 20 min end to end, which beats a car even if the rode was impossibly empty.
That’s great news! …but I’m never moving back. Been in San Diego for a decade now and love it here
I mean this unironically. I understand the drawbacks of monorail, but I just love it so much.
The only reason it’s being pitched here is that literal billionaires want mass transit to stay on top of 405 and not cross their eyeline. They also have an issue with elevated rail, and I’m not kidding here, bored tunnels deep under their mansions. They hate all transit of any type being near their fancy enclaves.
Luckily, it looks like the monorail options cost more than heavy rail, have 50% the ridership, take 30% longer on an end to end trip, have much worse stations that dump passengers off on literal highway onramps, and likely move so little people they wont qualify for federal grants anyway. Those options are probably dead, billionares be damned.