SOUNDING OFF:Light rail would be good route

Been riding the bus lately? Probably not, as there has been a strike. I must say, having those smelly behemoths in front of me while I drive about in my convertible is not something I have missed much. But then I am fortunate in that I don’t have to ride the bus. If I did, I think I’d rather be dead.

I have ridden the bus. When I attended UC Irvine many years ago, there was a special bus that stopped near my home and took me right there. And sometimes I’d hop on the No. 1 bus and ride down the coast.

Life in Southern California is possible only with a car.

I am not against public transportation; I’ve been to cities both in the U.S. and abroad where the public transit systems are wonderful. In New York or London, you can ride the subway or the tube. Go anywhere you like, no problem. Don’t try that here at home.

I hear that Irvine is planning the first leg of a light rail system linking the Irvine Transportation Center with the Irvine Spectrum. Likewise, Los Angeles has a few lines going here and there. Many oldsters may remember the Pacific Electric line, which went all over Southern California, including a line down to Balboa Peninsula. It was so good they ripped it up. I think it was a plot by the auto companies.

If there was a light rail system of a comprehensive nature going around town, you bet I’d use it. But that’s the hitch: a comprehensive system. Walk a few steps from my home, get on, go to the Pavilion, shop on 17th Street, dine out at a restaurant along Mariner’s Mile, go to work and even the dentist. Zip along at high speeds, unimpeded by the auto traffic.

Yes, I’m dreaming. It will never happen; it’s too good of an idea. And it would also involve too much money, too much road construction and too many people wouldn’t use it. They would rather drive their flashy cars.

A former Costa Mesa mayor once complained that there wasn’t enough traffic on Newport Boulevard. Was he kidding? No. He, like many people, probably thrived on being stuck in traffic at all hours of the day. And now that the strike is over, the buses will be stuck there with everybody else.

LENARD DAVIS lives in Newport Beach.