✆ “Closing two lanes on Wilshire Boulevard would create a monumental traffic mess for Santa Monica residents. The city has already narrowed the street with its beautification islands project. Closing two more lanes for buses would bring traffic to a standstill and take away valuable parking meters for people visiting local businesses. I’ve ridden the buses on Wilshire and they move well enough in Santa Monica, where the streets are narrower than they are in West LA. The bottlenecks are from traffic getting on and off the 405 and from heavy traffic in Westwood, which would not be affected by closing traffic lanes in Santa Monica. I doubt that this move would increase rider-ship on the buses and I won’t hold my breath until Bobby Shriver gets out of his Mercedes for public transit to and from his office.”
Originally published in the Santa Monica Daily Press print edition on February 26, 2005. Read the original PDF.