Railing On About the Red Cars

Like so many others, Patt Morrison has found a way to entice us out of our cars (“Say a Prayer for the Red Car Survival,” SoCal P.O.V., Nov. 29). But the trouble is that after $350-plus billion of public transit subsidies since the mid-’60s, U.S. transit use (per capita) is at an all-time low. In Los Angeles, we have spent about $7 billion on rail to encourage people to ride, but transit use is way down here, too.

Many others, it appears, have had breezy ideas for spending other people’s money without any real thought. How about a reality check before we shoot from the hip again?

Peter Gordon

USC School of Policy,