Subway needs student support

Los Angeles is infamous for its traffic. We rank first
nationwide in time lost to traffic ““ 82 hours a year, to be
exact. For UCLA students, that’s a lot of reading that could
be done.

As a student, it would be much more efficient to use public
transportation. You could hop on a subway and go from downtown Los
Angeles to Santa Monica in 20 minutes. Or downtown to Beverly Hills
in 15.

What if you barely used your car because most of the time it
would be easier not to? You’d have real, physical mobility
across Los Angeles.

People could go from point A to point B and everywhere in
between easily and affordably. If we had access to an efficient
public transportation system we could have a Los Angeles without
traffic.

An extension of the existing Red Line subway would be the most
momentous step Los Angeles could take to creating that reality.
Continuing the project would extend the line further west along
Wilshire Boulevard to Santa Monica Boulevard.

Concerns over construction delays, noise, methane gas and
funding shortfalls are creating a huge political bottleneck to the
project. But it is absurd when something that makes so much sense
for so many does not have the political capital to move
forward.

Politicians, bureaucrats and the populace have become complacent
with the current state of affairs and do not realize the difference
they could make. But politicians have listened to a few opinions,
namely from the Westside, the constituents whose monetary resources
give them a louder voice.

The concerns about construction, noise and funds are valid, but
they have become an excuse for politicians, bureaucrats and the
ones we often forget ““ UCLA students ““ not to take
action to make this happen.

It is far too easy to stay out of the fray and be defeated
before you even start. It is too easy to think that, as students,
we don’t have a say.

Every day 90,000 people hop onto the 720, the limited-stop Metro
Rapid that travels from Commerce to Santa Monica Boulevard.

If public transportation wasn’t used and every commuter
drove to work, 698,301 more cars would be on the road in Los
Angeles, in addition to those who already drive. Imagine how many
fewer cars would be on the road if we had an efficient subway
system.

If you share this vision, you can do a lot to create an
environment in which the power players will have to move. We have
infinite resources at our fingertips.

Get informed by going to community Metro meetings, talking to
professors or engaging with other groups, such as the
Transportation and Land Use Collaborative of Southern California
and the Surface Transportation Policy Project. Form groups of your
own. Then talk to your city councilman, Jack Weiss, and anyone who
will listen. As members of the UCLA community we have an important
say in what goes on.

For too long, we have not realized our untapped potential as
advocates. Remember the Big Blue Bus? Some didn’t want the
program to continue, but we made some noise.

The subway extension has not been permanently scrapped. The
ideas are there. They’re just waiting for us to pick them up
and make them soar.

Le is the undergraduate representative to the UCLA
Transportation Services Advisory Board. Vardner is the
Undergraduate Students Association Council Facilities
commissioner.