Could Para-Transit Work in Los Angeles?

11:25 AM PDT on August 29, 2008

This week, New York Streetsblog featured a five part series about the potential benefits of investing in a para-transit system written by Streetsblog publisher Mark Gorton. Anyone looking for some additional reading materials over the weekend,
after all LA Streetsblog won't publish after today until Tuesday, or
interested in a discussion of what para-transit can do to urban areas
should check out Gorton's series, which can be found below.

Wikipedia describes para-transit as:

...an alternative mode of flexible passengertransportation that does not follow fixed routes or schedules.Typically vans or mini-buses are used to provide paratransit service,but also share taxis and jitneys are important providers. Paratransit services may vary considerably on the degree of flexibility they provide their customers.

Gorton explores what benefits a city that invests in para-transit would experience and what it would take to bring such a system to New York. I'm interested to see what readers here think about para-transit and Los Angeles? Can a city that's still struggling to figure out what to do with transit, bikes and cabs embrace a system like para-tranist? After reading Gorton's series, feel free to leave a note in the comments section.

Part 1: Smart Para-Transit: A New Vision for Urban Transportation

Part 2: Peer-to-Peer Mass Transit: How to Make it Work

Part 3: Eliminating Congestion Through Smart Para-Transit

Part 4: Smart Para-Transit + Car Sharing = No Reason to Own a Car

Part 5: Smart Para-Transit: Working Out the Details