Member Statements: David Duarte

I was born and raised in Southern California. I remember as a child in the early 1960's the last street cars running down Santa Barbara Ave(Now MLK Blvd). This was later replaced by  RTD #5, now MTA #40. I remember in the early 1970's Kenneth Hahn's instution of the 10 cent Sunday bus Fare and  25 cent weekday fare. I was in junior high school and living in Carson then.  My family used to take Sunday drives and one Sunday we decided to take RTD #37 to  downtown Los Angeles.  I eventually got to know almost every  RTD line by getting bus schedules at the ARCO Plaza and  traveling most of the the lines.  In college at USC,  I also took the bus every day from Carson. Eventually a dream come true, I was a driver for the RTD out of Division 3 in 1980-1981.

In 1981, I was accepted into Medical School in Boston.  Every day for the first two years I took the T (MBTA) from Hyde Park MA to Boston. I noticed that the east coast had a warmer comradery than the west coast.  East coast were true brothers. One Red Line driver let my son hold the control handle  as we riding under Boston.I came back home and lived in Long Beach in 1985 and was very happy to have the new Blue Line come to my city. I was very happy  to meet your group at the Western Red Line Station when it opened. I was a member, then lost touch and was happy to find SCTA at the Hollywood Red Line station with your new transit guide.

I remember back in 1980 when I was a driver, that the half cent sales tax was approved.  It passed becasue of the recent oil embarge and the 1-2 hour lines at the gas stations. At that time you were allowed for several months to buy gas on odd/even days depending on your lisence plate. At that time, the RTD told me that if the measure did not pass that there would be lay offs.  I dare say that even though I am a strong transit advocate, that if any measures were put on the ballot today for any for of rapid transit, that it probably would not pass.

I am happy to see the progress in  the rail projects. I am happy to see progress in Metro Rail
I am unhappy that: the Green line was not finished to the LAX terminals from Aviation Station; there is no non-stop train using Blue/Green line rails for non stop service Downtown to LAX;
the Green line does not go truely down to Redondo Beach that it could have if it used the old Santa Fe right of way; the heavy bus ridership of East  LA were denied use of the Red Line that they so deserved; and that the MTA spent close to ONE HALF BILLION  dollars in construction of their building.

Issues as the above has stirred my interest in So Cal Transit Advocates.

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