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| NCL and Monorails in LA (Was:Re: Monorail On Second Ave ?) (41086) | |||
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NCL and Monorails in LA (Was:Re: Monorail On Second Ave ?) |
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Posted by willD on Fri Jan 21 18:35:55 2005, in response to Re: Monorail On Second Ave ?, posted by BIE on Fri Jan 21 14:11:11 2005. National City Lines was by no means a friend of the monorail. Remember, NCL was out to kill the trolley, replace them with buses made from conspiring companies, and ensure that people bought cars from the companies which had a stake in NCL. By no means was NCL out to make new fixed guideway rapid transit lines, undoubtedly SOME people would use them, and the last thing NCL wanted was to have some line of theirs either turn a profit or prove to be popular with the customers.Indeed NCL, along with Standard Oil, succeded in getting two very serious proposals for monorail systems pigeonholed in the 1960s. Alweg, the maker of the 1962 Worlds Fair monorail in Seattle, proposed monorail systems in both Los Angeles and Seattle, as well as potential plans for systems in Dallas, Atlanta, and Phoenix. Sadly both systems were shot down, but the Los Angeles system made it closest to becoming a reality, as is chronicled in an article on Monorails.org. In what would likely have been one of the first Turn-Key transit systems, Alweg would have designed, built and then turned over a fully operational 43 mile long monorail rapid transit system for the city, with 105 million dollar construction cost to be repaid out of the profits made in running the system. This was shortly after NCL had liquidated both the LARy and the P&E lines, so it's likely that people in the Los Angeles basin weren't completely car dependent yet, and a heavy fixed transit solution would have found it's market and perhaps made a profit. Unfortunately Standard Oil and the operators of the Los Angeles bus system involved themselves in the process and the entire plan went down the drains with so many schemes which big oil and the auto lobby find competitive. You may ridicule the monorail as your experience with them dictates all you want, but surely clean, quiet, electric powered trains gliding 1000 passengers apiece into the city at 70mph must hold more in the way of attraction than 20 buses doing the same in rush hour traffic at 35mph tops. Just imagine how the Los Angeles basin would be different today if in 1965 Standard Oil and the remains of NCL had minded their own business and kept out of Alwegs plans. Undoubtedly by now a few more lines would have been added, and Los Angeles would potentially have a world class transit network comprised of monorails. As Ray Bradbury said in 2001: "...let us pour 10,000 tons of cement into our never-should-have-been-started, never-to-be-finished subway, for final rites. Its concept was always insane, its possible fares preposterous. Even if it were finished and opened, no one could afford to use it. So kill the subway and telephone Alweg Monorail to accept their offer, made 30 years ago, to erect 12 crosstown monorails--free, gratis--if we let them run the traffic. I was there the afternoon our supervisors rejected that splendid offer, and I was thrown out of the meeting for making impolite noises. Remember, subways are for cold climes, snow and sleet in dead-winter London, Moscow or Toronto. Monorails are for high, free, open-air spirits, for our always-fair weather. Subways are Forest Lawn extensions. Let's bury our dead MTA and get on with life" |
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