Last Trains to Equality
by Tony Chavira
Our pal (and former federal transportation auditor) David Deutsch wrote a while back that Los Angeles has a neo-apartheid transportation system: the 'haves' have the means to drive around and do what they want while the 'have nots' are trapped navigating through our Kafkaesque Los Angeles transportation grid. But today, I have seen the true face of transportation equality in an article published in the Global Post titled "Dubai’s Shiny New Train Set." In short, Dubai's $7 billion train system led to an amazing culture shock when the ridiculously wealthy suddenly became aware of the ridiculously poor:
Three-and-a-half years and $7.6 billion later, Sheikh Mohammed, resplendent in royal blue robes and accompanied by the usual pomp and glitz, became the first passenger on the Arabian Peninsula’s first rapid rail transit system.
Built by a Japanese consortium and operated by a British contractor, the fully automated system is technologically and aesthetically dazzling. Its driverless, air-conditioned trains glide silently and serenely along elevated tracks through most of the city before dipping underground in the crowded center.
Only 10 of the inaugural line’s 29 gold-skinned stations were ready for the Sept. 9 grand opening — the rest are supposed to open next year — so it is too early to tell if Dubai’s shiny new train set can persuade the locals to leave their cars in the garage.
But one thing is clear: The metro has already upset the applecart of this rich Emirate’s rigid social hierarchy.
Dubai is a city that caters to the ostentatiously wealthy. Like any arriviste, it has a constant need to puff up its ego with outlandish superlatives — the world’s tallest building, the world’s most luxurious hotel, the world’s fanciest shopping mall. A man-made archipelago, shaped like a palm tree and loaded with luxury villas, is the signature symbol of Dubai’s devotion to showy opulence.
The metro is different. No velvet rope or electrified security gate to keep out the masses. And in the few weeks since it began running, the new ride has turned into something of social leveler: privileged Emiratis suddenly find themselves in the unfamiliar position of competing for rush-hour seats with their Filipina housemaids.
Dubai likes to think of itself as a cosmopolitan place. And it is true, many nationalities do coexist here, but they rarely mingle. More often, the different social strata view each other with scarcely veiled disdain.
Something sort of similar happened in Washington D.C. (of all places) when the wealthy residents of Georgetown realized that a Metro stop would connect their elite addresses to what they perceived were unsavory addresses, I guess. There were never original plans to install a station there anyway, but ultimately that was a lost opportunity for the city of Washington D.C.
In this respect, it would be awesome to see a Red Line Subway cut through West LA and head to Santa Monica. You'd actually be able to take a train from East, North or South LA to work on the Westside and not have to worry about fighting years of traffic in order to get home. As for angry elitists who might oppose the "Subway to the Sea," they could learn something from Dubai's predicament (or by just getting over their issues and visiting the rest of LA already).
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