Monorail Solution for Valley Transit

* County Supervisor Michael Antonovich is correct to support the use of a monorail in the San Fernando Valley. The monorail is the primary transit system moving hundreds of thousands or people a day in clean, quiet comfort at Disney World in Orlando, Fla., and in Japan.

The commuter lines in Japan move lots and lots of people. They include the Kitakyushu Line, which carries 26,700 riders on an average day; the Shonan Line, 25,000; the Tuyonaka Line, 17,000; the Chiba City Line, 27,000, and the Tokyo Line, 115,000. These are major commuter lines that service a highly transit-dependent population. And monorails transport these passengers efficiently without the operational problems and noise associated with the underground and at-grade lines proposed for the Valley. These are some of the busiest transit corridors on earth. I have been there.

It would be fiscally irresponsible to advocate the construction of another subway system that would cost taxpayers $1 billion more than the locally preferred proposal. It would also be an affront to the communities concerned to expect them to endure the same mismanaged system that has devastated the communities through which this kind of construction has passed. A monorail would avoid the high water tables, toxic gases and underground obstructions, all which continue to plague the system now under construction.

A monorail would be the best transit value for the San Fernando Valley, providing a transit solution for the next century.

WILLIAM J. KOREK

Co-chairman

Citizens Committee for Monorail

Van Nuys