Riverside to San Diego Commuter Train

Michael H. Momeni, PhD

@avocateElectricTrain

Hop on, East Ontario-Riverside to San Diego Using Commuter Train

As you might be aware, we have been pushing for the creation of a commuter electric train connecting Riverside and San Diego through the Temecula Valley. But why are we strongly advocating it?  A list of the significant reasons would include:

A. Jobs and Commuting:  We need an adequate income to support ourselves and our families, ideally working in a position commensurate with our education, training and experience.  We need more than a minimum wage to pay for living expenses such as rent or mortgage, transportation, food, and various types of insurance.  Many higher paying jobs are located close to major urban areas. Unfortunately, our region provides only a fraction of the jobs needed to support our population.

B. Housing and Schools:  The cost of housing in metropolitan Los Angeles and San Diego is extremely high. Many of us opted to live in the Temecula Valley region because the cost of housing was still affordable.  Families could live in an area with good schools and easy access to stores and medical facilities. 

C. Societal Impacts: When we commute by car to our employment a significant distance away, we pay a high price in terms of time away from family, friends and the community. Some of us commute in excess of three hours each day and also put in eight or more hours at work. Our time on congested highways exhausts us, depletes our energy and often robs us of our patience and good humor. When we allow ourselves to think about being away from our families for eleven or more hours a day, five days a week, we might feel resentful but also helpless to change the routine. Moreover, commuting is expensive; the costs of a personal car, fuel and maintenance can be a large share of our income. However, commuting allows our families to live in better homes and surroundings, so often the trade-offs seem necessary. 

At present, many of us have no choice but to use our personal car to commute to a job a far distance away. We simply don’t have feasible alternatives. 

D. Environmental Impacts:

We must also consider the physiological costs that a polluted environment incurs when cars on our congested highways spew toxic exhaust. These pollutants damage our personal health, including heart, lungs and nervous system. It is a well-documented fact that automobile exhaust is responsible for many medical and psychological diseases we have been experiencing in our modern society.  Aaron Reuben’s article, “This is your brain on Smog (July/August 2015, Mother Jones), provides a highly persuasive assertion that pollution contributes to inducing many neurological problems, including dementia. The recent article in Los Angeles Times by Tony Barboza and Jon Schleuss (March 2, 2017) indicates that “L.A. keeps building [dwellings] near freeways, even though living there makes people sick.  Are you one of the 2.5 million Southern Californians already living in the pollution zone?”

We need to consider how the Bullet Train (http://www.hsr.ca.gov/) will impact this problem . It is the system now under construction that will connect San Francisco to Los Angeles with a future option to connect to San Diego through the Inland Empire. By design, the Bullet Train will have infrequent stops and would connect only major cities on its route. Otherwise, it wouldn't be capable of reaching the intended speed and travel time of 220 miles per hour. It will reduce travel time between Northern California and Southern California, supplementing air travel. Because of its high speed and infrequent stops, the Bullet Train cannot be considered a regional commuter train.  

A Commuter Train is a Necessity in the Inland Empire

A commuter train system would ideally serve each city from Riverside to San Diego and would need to operate frequently between early in the morning to late in the evening. 

Benefits:

It would stimulate economic development within the corridor. It would reduce the use of Interstate 15/215 by single commuters.  It would link to the existing commuter train services both in San Diego and Los Angeles counties.  It would improve air quality within the region by removing a large number of commuter cars from the highways. It would improve the safety and quality of life for commuters.

S70 Norfolk, Virginia

Many cities already have opted to provide a mass transit system to commuters. Rapid electric commuter trains are common in many major cities in the world and some of our own major cities.  What does it take to create such a system operating between Riverside and San Diego?  

We must demand that our elected local and the state government officials start planning, designing and constructing an electric commuter train system connecting East Ontario/Riverside to San Diego. 

Note: I gratefully acknowledge suggestions and review of this article by Maryellen Garcia.

A recommended article:
 http://www.dot.ca.gov/californiarail/docs/Rail_CAEconomy_Book_Report_V28_LowResPages.pdf