Subway or Monorail? LA Metro Weighs Options for Easing Congestion

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LAist’s coverage of competing proposals to ease congestion in the Sepulveda Corridor features Jacob Wasserman of the UCLA Institute of Transportation Studies. Wasserman explains the pros and cons of two alternatives under consideration by LA Metro: a monorail and a subway. Increased capacity for riders and shortened travel times are advantages of the subway, but some homeowners object to tunneling beneath their properties. A monorail would require little or no tunneling and lower the cost and duration of construction, but one potential disadvantage is noise and air pollution. Wasserman also speaks about the benefits to people who work and study at UCLA, which has “one of the biggest concentrations of jobs and, unique to the Westside, a big concentration of people without cars.” All of the subway proposals would have a stop at UCLA, while only one of the proposed monorail routes would stop directly on campus.

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Lawsuits Throw Shade on L.A.’s Long-Awaited Bus Shelters

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A Los Angeles Public Press article about the delayed installation of thousands of bus shelters and hundreds of shade structures throughout Los Angeles cited Jacob Wasserman of the Institute of Transportation Studies (ITS) at UCLA Luskin. Although approved by the Los Angeles City Council in 2022, the 3,000 bus shelters and 450 shade structures have been held up while a number of California Environmental Quality Act (CEQA) lawsuits are pending resolution. This type of delay is not unusual, according to Wasserman, a research program manager at ITS, noting that transportation projects such as new rail lines are often delayed by CEQA lawsuits. “It is often done by the vocal minority of people who don’t want a project — a housing development or a transit line. And I think it’s complicated,” he said. CEQA lawsuits are also a way for residents to challenge gentrification and displacement in their neighborhoods or force negotiation with developers, Wasserman pointed out.

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New Delays for LAX People Mover

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A Los Angeles Times story on delays in the construction of the $2-billion Automated People Mover at LAX cited Jacob Wasserman of the UCLA Institute of Transportation Studies. The 2.25-mile elevated train, which will move people to and from airport terminals, parking lots, a rental car facility and the Metro connector, was originally expected to wrap up in 2023, but new forecasts point to an opening in fall of 2025. “The transit connection to LAX has been the white whale of L.A. rail transit. Some of that has to do with the kind of unique politics and financial structures of airports and transit agencies,” Wasserman said. “There are federal rules for [the] Federal Aviation Administration that say airport money has to stay at the airport.” Wasserman also told KNX radio that the People Mover’s opening will be welcomed but would not necessarily fix congestion issues on the airport’s notorious traffic loop.

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UCLA Report Examines California Public Transit Agency Labor Shortage

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A report co-authored by Jacob Wasserman, a research project manager at the UCLA Institute of Transportation Studies at the UCLA Luskin School of Public Affairs, was highlighted in a Streetsblog article about labor shortages and their impact on public transit systems in California. Wasserman and co-authors Allie Padgett and Keenan Ky-An Do studied 20 California transit agencies, interviewing a number of workers, to understand ongoing labor shortages at the state’s transit agencies and efforts to attract and retain transit workers. “Raises may not prove enough to alleviate [labor] shortages, given rising costs of living, competition from other sectors and years of prior wage stagnation,” the authors wrote. They cite worker responses including California’s long commutes and high housing costs that make it difficult for them to work close to home. “Hard working conditions on transit push people away and out, even [though] pay and benefits in transit may be better,” they wrote.

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Paying for the Proposed Inglewood People-Mover

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A Los Angeles Times article about the financing of a proposed elevated train that would connect SoFi Stadium and other entertainment venues with the Metro K Line cited Jacob Wasserman of the Institute of Transportation Studies at UCLA Luskin. The Federal Transit Administration has pledged up to $1 billion for the people-mover designed to ferry riders through downtown Inglewood. The remainder of the project’s $2 billion price tag must be raised to lock down the federal award. While some officials noted that providing transportation is the job of government, Wasserman said a good case can be made that the owners of the entertainment facilities, including SoFi, the Kia Forum and the soon-to-be-opened Intuit Dome, should offer a financial contribution. “It is going to serve the customers there who pay money to go see events and games,” he said. “All transit serves businesses, and it’s a public service, but I think that this is disproportionately focused on these event venues.”

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Wasserman on Transit Agency Ambassador Programs

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Jacob Wasserman, a research project manager at the UCLA Institute of Transportation Studies, commented in a Washington Post story about the nationwide growth of transit agency ambassador programs designed to reduce crime and augment security on public transportation. The civilian ambassadors provide additional “eyes and ears” for law enforcement, report maintenance and safety issues, and provide enhanced customer service, according to the article. While transit leaders say the programs have had some successes, the overall effectiveness is not yet clear since the positions are relatively new. The article also cited a 2021 University of California study that found that service referrals made by outreach workers, ambassadors and other aid workers were more effective, for example, at directing homeless people to shelters or treatment programs than referrals by police officers. “This is not what police want to be doing or are trained to be doing,” said Wasserman, co-author of the study.

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How Transportation Departments Can Help the Unhoused

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Jacob Wasserman, researcher at the UCLA Institute of Transportation Studies, spoke to Streetsblog USA about how state departments of transportation (DOTs) can help unhoused people. Researchers from the institute created a meta-analysis of how transportation officials respond to encampments on government property. “DOTs do tend to frame [this issue] as a safety problem, and they’re not wrong; these are often dangerous environments, particularly for unhoused people themselves,” Wasserman said. “But there are benefits, too. [Highway overpasses] are often sheltered environments where people can congregate, find community, have eyes on the street.” The report stressed the importance of baseline training for front-line transportation workers on how to interact with unhoused people in humane ways. Wasserman added, “When it comes to making repeat visits to encampments, building trust with unhoused people, giving [them] proof that your interventions are actually going to put them on a path to stability — that work is probably best done by service providers.”

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Wasserman on San Francisco’s New Subway Line

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Jacob Wasserman, research project manager at the UCLA Institute of Transportation Studies, spoke to the San Francisco Standard about the new Central Subway, the long-awaited transit project connecting eastern San Francisco to Union Square and Chinatown. Among major U.S. metropolitan areas, San Francisco has been one of the slowest to economically recover from the COVID-19 pandemic, raising questions about the current demand for ridership on the new subway. To date, the project is $375 million over budget. Wasserman said that time and cost estimates tend to be highly inaccurate from planning to opening for public transit projects. “Ridership projections are often much higher than ends up being the case, costs overrun by orders of magnitude.”

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‘Transit Has to Bear the Burden of Other Social Policy Failures’

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A Washington Post story about businesses departing Union Station in Washington, D.C., over safety concerns cited Jacob Wasserman, a research project manager at the Institute of Transportation Studies at UCLA Luskin. The presence of homeless people and those suffering mental health crises has become more pronounced at the station, even as officials report that serious crime is down. Meanwhile, rail traffic has struggled to reach pre-pandemic levels. Union Station’s situation is not unique. Public transportation was one of the few climate-controlled options that stayed opened as the pandemic emerged, a time when public libraries closed and shelters implemented capacity restrictions, Wasserman said. “Transit has to bear the burden of other social policy failures, from housing to public safety,” he said. “And that’s hard for transit hubs because they were not designed for housing people … but it has become their issue, their responsibility by necessity.”

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Transit Is an Essential Public Service, Wasserman Says

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Jacob Wasserman, research project manager at the UCLA Institute of Transportation Studies, spoke to Yahoo News about the state of public transit. Transit ridership was in decline even before the pandemic, due in part to expanded access to cars and the growth of ride-hailing apps like Uber and Lyft. During the pandemic, public transit plummeted overall but still served as an essential service for those without car access who didn’t have the luxury of working from home. “The pandemic showed that public transit is an essential public good, even if it’s not always profitable,” Wasserman said. Now, many once-frequent commuters are hesitant to return to public transit due to concerns about violence and crime. Even with decreased ridership, public transit remains essential to millions of Americans who lack access to other modes of transportation or for whom owning a car doesn’t make financial sense, Wasserman said.

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