I call the Orange bus line a failure because it did not and can not do what it was intended to do. It is at saturation and can not be expanded and many people are driving because the Orange bus line can not do its job. Running busses on improved streets with signal preemption could do almost the same job as the busses on the former Rail Road right of way and saving (wasting) the money to pave the right of way.

So what I am trying to say is that the MTA made a big mistake thanks to Zev and his friends in making the Orange line a bus line instead of a LRT line and they should NOT make the same mistake again by spending all of this much needed transit money on a boondoggle that few will ride,

Of course the Orange Line should be LRT, but to call it a failure is ridiculous. That was a failure of politicians who made poor decisions that led to the Orange Line being what it is today.

How’s that legal requirement to convert to light rail or repay lots of state money going?….

The Orange Bus Line was a failure from the start. It could not begin to handle the required ridership. The busses are small and cramped inside though very heavy, rough riding and very difficult to handle a wheelchair. Capacity can not be increased do to blocking traffic of the cross streets. It now takes twice as long to make the trip that it would if it were a light rail line. It cost three times as much to carry a passenger on the Orange bus as it does on a LRT train. LRT trains use electricity and not require oil based imported fuels including CNG. The costs to service the busses and maintain the right of way is also higher than if it were a rail line. Now the MTA in their infinite wisdom wants to extend their bus line to Chatsworth at many millions of dollars. Again at a cost that is higher than if were a LRT line where the bridge over the Union Pacific would not be required but the line could run along the south side of the tracks until it reaches the Chatsworth Transit Center. The idea of throwing good money after bad for this ill conceived extension is bad. If there is such a need for this service why isn’t the Orange Bus Line running now on Canoga Ave to the MetroLink Chatsworth transit center? How much time will be saved by running the bus on the right of way instead on Canoga Ave? If after the Canoga Ave service proves to be necessary then maybe the Orange bus should be extended.

Because the busses are full, cramped and uncomfortable, many people who would be riding an Orange Line LRT train are now driving. The Orange bus line is a failure, not the successes that it is touted to be.

The Orange Bus Line needs to be upgraded to a LRT line or extend the Red Line to Canoga Park and Chatsworth at grade. Not one more cent should be spent on this bus line; it needs to be upgraded ASAP. There are many other rail projects that are in line and need to be ahead of the Orange bus line or upgrading it to rail. Salt Lake City, Phoenix and Denver are building new LRT lines around 30 million a mile including cars and maintenance finicalities we can do the same.

The Red Line can run above ground and even have grade crossing as many heavy rail lines have across our country and around the world. If a LRT line, it should run from the Burbank MetroLink station to the Chatsworth MetroLink station.

As always, the number of lines or service patterns isn’t a measure of service quality, it’s a measure of service complexity. If we’ve turned one line into three, the downside of overall complexity weighs something against the clear benefit to the Chatsworth market.

Metro has to negotiate with the city of Los Angeles before it can increase the headway of the Orange Line, as LADOT would have to retool traffic signals.

For all practical purposes, chances of converting the busway to rail are slim and none.

On MetroRiderLA, I have posited my own solution to the crowding and transfer problems. I call it the Miami Option, and it involves routing north-south buses on the busway and getting passengers to wait for the buses they transfer to under the present service. The busway-local buses would be supplemented by an all-stops Orange Line, only with a service level of about 15 minutes.