Now Is the Right Time for Rail

Despite last week’s decision by the Metropolitan Transportation Authority to suspend most new rail construction, the San Fernando Valley should be thinking about rail transit now more than ever. True, the prospects for new rail projects in the Valley are bleak, but the opportunities to exploit current and future lines are great. That should be the Valley’s focus now: leveraging existing Metrolink stops and the two planned Red Line subway stations to build transit-focused communities.

Already, the idea is sprouting at the Chatsworth Metrolink station, where a coffee shop and child-care center have opened in a western-style train depot. In the spring, a bike shop will open at the station, and transit officials and local politicians such as Councilman Hal Bernson envision a range of amenities--from a cleaners and market to a bank branch and post office. That’s the kind of smart development that makes it easier for commuters to use mass transit.

How? North Valley residents who work downtown can drop off their kids, grab a cup of coffee and catch a train to work. On the way home, they can grab the kids, pick up the laundry and shop for dinner. It’s convenient and it cuts down on the short-haul car trips that clog street traffic and generate the most pollutants.

The trick now is to duplicate those kinds of amenities--and even build on them--at stations along the Valley’s two Metrolink lines. The Sylmar station already boasts a child-care center. Like the Chatsworth facility, it gives parents who ride the train a reduced rate. There’s no reason similar facilities cannot sprout at stations in Van Nuys or Burbank or Santa Clarita. Other cities such as San Jose have taken the concept a step further and encourage dense development around stations.

Los Angeles has a similar zoning law on the books, but planners and developers have yet to take advantage of it in the Valley. That should change. For instance, apartments and shops ought to be encouraged around the planned Red Line stops in Universal City and North Hollywood to create neighborhoods that are friendly to pedestrians and provide easy transit access to Hollywood and downtown. Such neighborhoods might also serve as major bus transfer points.

Odds are, the Valley won’t see any new rail construction in the foreseeable future. Given the MTA’s financial condition, that’s smart. But every effort should be made to take advantage of the public’s investment and get the most out of the rails already in place.