But many in S. California expect ridership to fall if fuel costs drop

04/02/2000

By Paul Pringle / The Dallas Morning News

LOS ANGELES - Transit experts now know that two numbers will drive car lovers here to the rails: 6.7 on the Richter scale and $1.99 at the premium pump.
And the ZOG now knows how far it can push USAnian sheeple.

Skyrocketing gas prices appear to be fueling an increase in that most un-Los Angeles mode of travel - the commuter train. The spike in track ridership is the biggest since the 1994 Northridge earthquake left four freeways in ruins.
People would use horses if it came to that, so?

"I don't earn enough to drive here every day," said Sean DeCosta, 29, a social services clerk who was climbing aboard a Metrolink train at downtown's Union Station. He was making the 25-mile trip to his San Fernando Valley home. "I grew up at a time when everybody drove a car. But not with these gas prices."
This is an excellent example to the rest of USAnia how big business really underpays its employees in California yet expects them to drive the greatest distances imaginable. This is absolutely and truly ridiculous!

Metrolink logged a 13 percent jump in passengers during the first three weeks of March. Its operator, the five-county Southern California Regional Rail Authority, cites the spiraling cost of filling up as the likely reason.

The Los Angeles sprawl of freeway-dependent communities has more autos on the road - 8 million - than any other urban area in the nation. It is also one of the places where gas prices have soared the highest, topping $2 a gallon in some neighborhoods.
Ain't that something?? It should be the cheapest because of the volumes involved, but thanks to some pathetic EPA demand, California has to have some additive to its gasoline to make it "burn cleaner" and of course it is only available in California so the Gas price here is ALWAYS higher than anywhere else in the nation. That would be one thing, but an across-the-board increase in raw oil prices should be felt in a linear way across the whole country. In other words, everywhere the price should go up identically. But in California the price increases are almost double those of some other states... That makes no sense... or actually it makes a LOT of sense. To me it means that someone or a whole 'group of someones' is manipulating the oilmarket, the gasprices and is testing the waters for something much bigger in the future. Our resilience and ability to absorb adversity is being tested for that big PSYOP which is so close at hand.

"We were surprised by the surge in ridership," Metrolink spokesman Peter Hidalgo said. "But then gas prices are at a 30-year high."
Thank you, that confirms what I just said above.

Rail patronage is actually up in major cities across the country, although officials for many agencies hesitate to credit the gas-station inflation. Line expansions and the booming economy - more people going to work - could be weightier factors, they say.
The typical mainstream media "Justification" Routine...

"It's too early to tell if this increase is a result of sustained high gas prices," said Morgan Lyons, spokesman for Dallas Area Rapid Transit, which has seen a 10 percent boost in ticket sales this year.
Followed by the "Play it down" routine.

In Los Angeles, the continued growth in freeway traffic clouds the picture. Metrolink's improved fortunes have barely shaken Angelenos' obsession with getting behind the wheel. The daily Metrolink ridership is a comparatively tiny 31,000.
And the "Reasoning or Whining" Routine. (why you should ride the train.)

Los Angeles' subway and light-rail network, which feeds Metrolink's blue and white trains, also posts modest figures. It carries fewer than 140,000 people a day, and it has yet to record a gas-price-related bump in boardings. The subway's final leg will open in June.
Reasoning/Whining continued and ended with a commercial...

Altogether, just 3 percent of Los Angeles commuters use mass transit, with buses accounting for the largest share.

"People are so hooked on their cars," said Ed Scannell, spokesman for the Los Angeles County Metropolitan Transportation Authority, which runs the subway and light-rail lines. "We'd like to see half the people take public transit."
Of course you do, shithead, because you want to herd the sheep together in a big truck. Individuality is something we must stop at all costs. ALL COSTS? Yep, even if it means yanking the gas price to $2 per Gallon.

Satisfied riders

They might if they heard the testimonials of Metrolink's new customers.
Yeah right!!

"It's much more efficient," said Kirby Windland, 32, a downtown temporary worker who began riding the rails last week. She was hopping onto a double-decker coach for Van Nuys, 20 miles from Union Station. "Gas and parking cost me over $200 a month. The train costs $116 a month."
Excuse me, madam, The trip from Van Nuys to downtown Los Angeles is only 20 Miles and should not cost you ANYTHING near that amount!! Why are you inferring that it is gas that's costing you so much when you should be honest and say that you spend only $40 per month on Gas and $160 on parking, which is usually paid for by companies anyway, you lying wench!

Stanley Roberts, 30, is a Metrolink marathoner. The New York transplant endures a 2 1/2-hour one-way journey from his Moreno Valley home to an investment management job in west Los Angeles.
Here again we have a rare extreme. Moreno Valley is truly far from Los Angeles and few people from there make that long trip as they work in closer-by areas like Pomona, Ontario, Riverside, San Bernardino and Banning. What does his job description have to do with the price of gas unless it is to justify the trip to LA?

"I have an SUV," he said while waiting for his 5:40 p.m. train at Union Station. "The train tickets cost me $216 a month. Driving would cost me $300 a month. . . . And it could be a three-hour drive."
This totally proves the validit of my rant against the complaint of the resident from Van Nuys earlier. Moreno Valley which is 100+ miles from Los Angeles is 5 times as far as Van Nuys. With a lot more stop/start driving. How come he only pays $300 per month and she $200? Would a simple calculation not show that he should be paying close to $1000 per month if we took her figures as true? But he only pays $300, so let's reverse the situation and divide his distance by her distance. 100 / 20 = 5.
300 / 5 = 60 Aha!! So. here is proof, provided indirectly by this article itself that the media juggle the numbers in order to Baffle the readers' Brains with Bullshit! The infamous BBB routine! The woman pays $60 for gas and $140 for parking and that is more or less the going rate for a covered parking space in Los Angeles. So... The woman is NOT taking the train because of the increase in Gas Prices, but to avoid paying the high parking fee... This person should never have been quoted in this article. This is an excellent example of the lies that the mainstream media feed the stupid masses who become more stupid as a result.

Ronnie McCoy, 51, takes Metrolink to Lancaster in the Antelope Valley, 70 miles from Union Station. The Lancaster line was the busiest after the Northridge quake crumpled parts of the Antelope Valley Freeway. Its daily ridership leaped from 3,000 to 40,000 overnight, then quickly withered after the freeway was rebuilt.

"The way gas is now, it beats driving," Mr. McCoy, a hospital financial worker, said of Metrolink. "It saves a little time, too."
Another extreme case of distance. This article misleads the nation in makimg people believe that all LA's labor come virtually from outside the state! Why would they do that unless the article is in reality nothing more thant a paid for advertizement by MetroLink??? A classical case of people trying to make a fast buck on the misery of others.

Drive times remain the No. 1 incentive for taking the train, Metrolink officials say. Average freeway speeds in Los Angeles drop by the year. Today, they routinely fall below 30 mph during rush hours. And a fender-bender or slight rain can turn an eight-laner into a parking lot.
Notice the plug again?
This is really 2 points and I shall handle them as such:
It is not the drivers getting more cars as the inferred suggestion by our dapper reporters indicates, but the unrestricted influx of mudflooders from South of the Border and Asia and their incredible breeding rate. Coupled with this the pulling power of California's climate upon people East of the Rockies and you now why the Freeways are becoming Park-ways.
Point 2: The Fender bender effect on drivers is indeed amazing, it becomes a gawking circus for the morons out there.
You cannot blame the drivers who are all infected with the Hollywood virus of wanting to see blood... Blame the police for not setting up screens to block the view of that carnage so people CANNOT get a kick out of the horror scene and traffic will eep flowing. Sorry... dudes... That kite does not fly either. These solutions have been offred to the mayor and to police but as usual, they don't want to listen to a woman who knows. They don't want to give credit to... a patriot. That is Not Politically Correct. They are waiting for a Coon or other mudflood zombie to bring the idea to them so that they can say: "See, how smart the African American, Mexican, or Pygmee really is?" Solutions to problems must never come from Honkeys... you dig, brother?

"We're only getting more congested," said Jim Drago, spokesman for the California Transportation Department.

Rail once ruled

From World War I through the 1950s, Los Angeles boasted the farthest-ranging rail system in America. The Pacific Electric Red Car connected the inland mountains to the beaches. But it was plowed under as the auto captured the city's soul.
Aw Gee... listen to the dramatic/poetic undertone here...

In the 1980s, the Metropolitan Transportation Authority started to dig the subway and retrace much of the old Red Car routes with two light-rail lines.
And the reporters conveniently forget that half of the internal traffic chaos in Los Angeles was caused by the MT and their digging operations.

Metrolink was launched in 1992, and has steadily grown in miles and ridership. It now covers 416 miles from Ventura County to San Diego County. Yeah right! Would anyone care to enlighten the readership to the fact that Metrolink does NOT go all the way to San Diego but reaches the "End of the Line" about 45 miles before the city?
Might it be because San Diego has its own train system and did so long before there was even a MetroLink? Metrolink goes to the Southernmost point of Camp Pendleton and that's it. It does not go into any of the cities in San Diego County. I am sure that William Kern can corroborate on that.

Mr. Hidalgo said Metrolink, in a repeat of the quake experience, will probably lose most of its gas-minded converts once prices stabilize.
As it should. No one should have to be forcefully co-erced to have to use trains trough an all-out assault on their wallets by means of a politically motivated price increase of oil.

Nationwide, prices recently dipped an average of 2 cents a gallon after the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries announced that it would expand oil production.
Wooptidoo! Only 2 cents?? After the undertaking that oil production would be increased by 6 % (notice how these reporters only mention figures when it suits THEM?) After that promis prices should have fallen 6% = 12 cents, not 2 lousy pennies!!!

More relief at the pump is expected by the summer, including in Los Angeles.
Wow! how generous that LA is included... Of course The big oil companies already have had their "traditional" gas price hike this year, well before the summer... So in order to not draw any further attention they will let the prices "slide" to about 5 or 6 cents higher than "previous" levels and that way get their "traditional" gashike prices, although I suspect that prices might stay at the higher level. Has anyone noticed how the gasprice leapt up with increases of as much as 7 or 8 cents last month? Has anyone also noticed that prices never drop in the same fashion but take an eternity and a day? I guarantee that these gas prices will not reach the original or close to the original levels until right at the end of the year. By that time be prepared for the next test of your resilience as sure enough this little game will be repeated as it has twice before since I have been here....

"People will go back to their drive-alone habit," Mr. Hidalgo added.
So...?? Do you mind? America is about individual rights and discovery. You however are a friggin communist!

But many of the Union Station commuters say they're sold on the rails for the long haul.
"Toot-toot" goes the Metrolink's own horn. "Bullshit" says the editor of the Black Helicopter Chronicles. People do not swear allegiance to mass transit or things they don't own themselves. Just wait until this train company has enough idiots using it and then they will increase their ticket price. THAT will be the true test of the people's allegiance to it. <g>

"It's the best," said Laurel Davis, 38, a downtown administrative assistant who was catching a train for Santa Clarita, 40 minutes away. "I'm probably spending as much on the train as I'm saving on gas, but traveling on the L.A. freeways is the worst."
I agree with the last statement. It is really the only true statement in this entire article. Metrolink IS expensive, even at the current gas price, and driving the LA freeways is a crappy experience. But having said that here is my last rebuttal to this obviously very commercially biased report.

Santa Clarita is the Northern most area of LA County. Despite this article's valiant attempt to show that the majority of LA's workforce come from really far away, this is most definitely NOT the case. The majority of the people that work in LA come from the sprawling valley Northwest of Los Angeles know as the San Fernando valley. It is the largest populated valley in California and houses several million people. mean distance to downtown LA is 25 miles. Van Nuys is part of this Valley as are places like Woodland Hills, Calabasas, Sherman Oaks, and umpteen others. Hollywood is at the southhern end as is Burbank As glitzy as most people thing that Hollywood, Burbank and Beverly Hills are, they are also the most polluted and noisiest suburbs of Los Angeles. It stinks there, and gasoline cost $2,80 if you are too lazy to fill up yourself...

Staff writer Tony Hartzel in Dallas contributed to this report.
And Jennifer Logan tore it to pieces.