A Critical Review of Los Angeles Metro’s 28 by 2028 Plan
By Thomas A. Rubin and James E. Moore II : reason.org (excerpt)
The Los Angeles County Metropolitan Transportation Authority has a history of over-promising, failing to deliver, and ultimately making things worse for transit users.
The Los Angeles County Metropolitan Transportation Authority (Metro) is the surface transportation planning and funding agency for the largest county (by population) in the United States, and is the operator of the nation’s third-largest public transit system.
Metro is considering the adoption of 28 by 2028 — a plan to complete 28 major transportation construction projects prior to the beginning of the 2028 Los Angeles Summer Olympics. This proposal would accelerate eight projects for completion by 2028 in addition to the 20 specified in Measure M, the 2016 County transportation half-cent sales tax ballot measure.
Metro has a history of over-promising and then failing to deliver on such projects, ultimately making conditions worse for Los Angeles transit users. The 28 by 2028 proposal appears to repeat the pattern.
This is the first brief in a series of summaries that examines Metro’s record, and those of its predecessor organizations, over the past several decades.
This history, additional facts, and economic logic show that 28 by 2028 is unlikely to succeed. Metro’s attempt to accomplish too much too fast has a high likelihood of making transit in Los Angeles County worse for transit riders and other users of the local surface transportation system. The implications are worst for the most vulnerable group: the very large number of low-income and otherwise disadvantaged residents who are strongly dependent on public transit in their daily lives…
Thomas A. Rubin, CPA, CMA, CMC, CIA, CGFM, CFM, has over four decades of experience as a transit industry senior executive, consultant, and auditor. Media Contact
James E. Moore, II, Ph.D., is a professor of Industrial & Systems Engineering, of Civil & Environmental Engineering, and of Public Policy and Management at the University of Southern California, where he serves as director of the USC Transportation Engineering program and of the Systems Architecting & Engineering program. Media Contact
More to come. Comments at the source and on social media are encouraged.
Originally published at sfceqa.wordpress.com on March 4, 2019.
