Hollywood. It opened there in 2000, completing a “Red Line” that ran from downtown to Wilshire and Western as a spur, and up to Hollywood along Vermont and then North Hollywood. 2000‐2008: Resurgence With the last segment of the subway opening in 2000 and the Pasadena Gold Line in 2003, rail construction in Los Angeles was quiet. The Blue Line to Long Beach was the most successful, becoming the most heavily used light rail line in the country. The Green Line was largely a failure. The aerospace industry had collapsed, and the route did not serve a densely‐populated area. Worse, its location in the middle of a freeway left its station areas largely unwalkable and unpleasant. The Red Line ridership was decent but not an unqualified success. And because rail planning had been disconnected from land use planning, many of the station areas did not allow for high‐density development to maximize walkability and ridership. Searching for new transit options, Supervisor Yaroslavsky and Mayor Riordan took a trip to Curitiba, Brazil to view that city’s low‐cost and clever mass transit solutions. They came back ready to build a “bus rapid transit” line in the San Fernando Valley, which was essentially light rail cars on tires, at one‐fifth of the cost. The “Orange Line” dedicated busway opened in 2005 along the right‐of‐way that planners originally wanted for light rail. It traveled from Canoga Park to the subway station at North Hollywood. Ridership on the line was high and the MTA opened an extension from Canoga Park to the north in 2012. Then after almost a decade of turmoil, new leadership brought the MTA’s fiscal picture finally under control. CEO Roger Snoble took the lead to bring light rail to the Eastside, where the subway would have gone. With supportive local politicians, the Gold Line Eastside extension began construction in 2004, passing through Little Tokyo and Boyle Heights. Light rail to Culver City and Santa Monica also became a reality. Despite homeowner opposition, a citizens group called Friends4Expo advocated for light rail along the right of way. By 2006, their efforts helped ensure that construction would begin on the “Expo Line” from downtown to Culver City, with a planned extension to Santa Monica. With traffic worsening on the Westside, the subway also received renewed support. In 2005, a new mayor took office promising a “subway to the sea.” Antonio Villaraigosa made an extension of the subway down Wilshire a priority, and with a traffic‐choked constituency, Representative Waxman finally relented. He agreed to reverse his subway ban, although he was unable to cite any changes in engineering technology that made him comfortable with tunneling in his district now. Political realities had made his ban highly unpopular. Now subway advocates just needed money to extend the line.
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