Because this city was designed with cars and car consumerism in mind.It s actually well documented that GM killed the street cars about a generation ago, so that they could generate car buyers here.And the city was developed with cars in mind.It s a car culture here and the subway/train doesn t reach eveywhere as easily as it does in New York or London.
Very simple answer..Because it is rather new. In other cities the subways have been in place for many many years. Generation after generations are used to using the system. Out here we have only had this system in place for maybe less then 20 years. That isn t even a generation.You can not expect everyone to stop using their cars and all of a sudden jump on the subway.And for your information, the subway is very popular out here. It s just not as popular as it is in other cities. It would be like me asking why isn t the car very popular in NYC.
Actually, the LA subway is the 9th most heavily ridden rapid transit system in the US. The reason more people don t use it is because it doesn t go enough places. There are only 2 lines (red and purple) with 17 miles of track, as opposed to New York, which has 26 lines and 200 miles of track.
Actually a lot of people ride the subway, the Red Line averages about 150,000 riders a day. http://transittalk.proboards.com/index.c�� Get on the Red Line during rush hour and you re not gonna find a seat.But still, most of us drive to work because our rail system does not go from where we live to where we work. We are in the midst of building a more complete system though, slowly but surely. LA County voters even raised their own taxes by passing Measure R which allocates funds towards rail. Build it and we will ride!
It s pretty popular, but it doesn t go enough Places yet. It s not very long...
because the railing system is not big like new york,.