New Los Angeles subway stations confirmed as part of subway service expansion
Wilshire/Fairfax Stop is near attractions like the Los Angeles County Museum of Art and the Academy Museum of Motion Pictures.
LOS ANGELES (Reuters) – If you thought the highest pump prices since the outbreak of the Iran war would help relieve Los Angeles’ notoriously congested freeways, think again. Drivers in this traffic-clogged city (where regular unleaded gasoline costs well over $6 a gallon) appear accustomed to sticker shock, according to data provided to Reuters by government officials.
Vehicle miles traveled across major highways in the Los Angeles area have not significantly decreased since the U.S. and Israeli attack on Iran on February 28, the California Department of Transportation (Caltrans) said in an exclusive Reuters analysis.
The analysis, which covered about eight weeks ending April 23, looked at traffic data on highways including Interstates 405, 10 and 5. These highways are some of the busiest highways in the nation and have become part of the country’s cultural fabric, influenced by Hollywood movies and national headlines such as the 1994 O.J. Simpson low-speed police chase.
Traffic volumes on major sections of the highway only rose and fell slightly, but some sections saw an increase of almost 9% or a decrease of almost 3% during the analysis period.
“I think we’re immune,” shrugged Los Angeles resident Marco Falcon, 44, when informed of the discovery.
The data supports more than two decades of research showing that U.S. gasoline demand is nearly inelastic. That means drivers are unwilling or unable to change their habits even as prices soar.
In fact, a paper published in 2006 by the National Bureau of Economic Research found that driver habits changed far less during the 2000s’ high gasoline prices than during the oil shocks of the 1970s.
The average price of a gallon of regular gasoline in Los Angeles on Monday was $6.07, up about 28% from a year ago and 36% above the national average, according to data from Automobile Club AAA.
No one likes paying more for gas, Falcon said, but Los Angeles drivers understand that gas prices, some of the highest in the nation, are just part of life in car-obsessed California.
“You have to understand what your priorities are,” Falcon said. Falcon continues to drive because the cheaper buses take three to four times as long.
“For me, time is money.”
Total weekday bus and train ridership in March and April combined increased by 1.6% year over year, and passenger miles increased by 0.8%, according to data from the Los Angeles County Metropolitan Transportation Authority (LA Metro).
Higher gas prices may have contributed to the increase in profits, but the network also added new stations and expanded into new areas, an agency spokesperson said.
“People don’t change their behavior very much,” says Brian Taylor, a researcher at the Transportation Research Institute at the University of California, Los Angeles.
Taylor said traffic in Los Angeles sometimes seems light because there are fewer vehicles on the city’s near-capacity highways, creating a big change in flow.
“A 10% reduction in traffic can result in a 40% or 50% reduction in latency,” Taylor said.
(Reporting by Lisa Bertline; Editing by Andrea Ricci)
