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Los Angeles - post modern transport system

Archive - Originally posted on "The Horse's Mouth" - 2013-11-27 23:37:38 - Graham Ellis

I'm in the USA for Thanksgiving... Los Angeles, a modern city where public transport was ripped out in the 1960s as we progressed forward to the life of the private car. The old red car routes have gone - to be reused as green bands and keep fit tracks in cities like Hermosa Beach.



But look around more closely, and you'll find that LA is moving forward. The red cars may have gone, but blue and green and yellow and gold are back. Traffic has become a nightmare downtown and one of the options is to take the tram again.



It's now post-modern. Perhaps the red car had a trailer. But on the blue line - seen here between Long Beach and LA - you're looking at 3 articulated cars and that's the equivalent of 6 coaches. Bus interchanges, so I could make my way from Hermosa Beach to Sunset Boulevard and the Santa Monica Freeway using a mixture of modes. The bus stops at the station, the ticket bought on the bus (my "Tap" card) also works for the trams and the red line metro too.

Wiltshire was modernised in the 1960s too. Stations closed in Melksham and Calne, Devizes and Marlborough, Woottton Basset and Ludgershall, Corsham and Porton. And many lines were ripped up. But we're starting to see a post-modern revival - with an improved TransWilts service from the end of next week. Let's look forward to when all the buses call at all the stations, and to seeing over coming years if and how trains lengthen, frequencies go up, and perhaps a wider network might (re)open. I'm making no forecasts here - just looking forward and learning what can be done from elsewhere in the world.