The Los Angeles Metropolitan Transit Authority (sometimes referred to as LAMTA or MTA I) was a public agency formed in 1951. Originally tasked with planning for rapid transit in

Los Angeles, California Los Angeles ( ; es, Los Ángeles, link=no , ), often referred to by its initials L.A., is the List of municipalities in California, largest city in the U.S. state, state of California and the List of United States cities by population, sec ...

, the agency would come to operate the vestiges of defunct private transit companies in the city.

History

Formed in 1951,Alternate Link
via

ProQuest ProQuest LLC is an Ann Arbor, Michigan-based global information-content and technology company, founded in 1938 as University Microfilms by Eugene B. Power. ProQuest is known for its applications and information services for libraries, provid ...

.Alternate Link
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. LAMTA's original mandate was to do a feasibility study for a

monorail A monorail (from "mono", meaning "one", and " rail") is a railway in which the track consists of a single rail or a beam. Colloquially, the term "monorail" is often used to describe any form of elevated rail or people mover. More accurat ...

line which would have connected

Long Beach Long Beach is a city in Los Angeles County, California. It is the 42nd-most populous city in the United States, with a population of 466,742 as of 2020. A charter city, Long Beach is the seventh-most populous city in California. Incorporat ...

with the

Panorama City Panorama City is a neighborhood in the city of Los Angeles, California, in the San Fernando Valley. It has a generally young age range as well as the highest population density in the Valley. Ethnically, more than half of its population was born a ...

district in the

San Fernando Valley The San Fernando Valley, known locally as the Valley, is an urbanized valley in Los Angeles County, California. Located to the north of the Los Angeles Basin, it contains a large portion of the City of Los Angeles, as well as unincorporated ar ...

via

Downtown Los Angeles Downtown Los Angeles (DTLA) contains the central business district of Los Angeles. In addition, it contains a diverse residential area of some 85,000 people, and covers . A 2013 study found that the district is home to over 500,000 jobs. It is a ...

The agency's powers were expanded in 1954, authorizing it to study and propose an extensive regional transit system.Alternate Link
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. In 1957, another expansion of the agency's powers authorized it to operate transit lines, and it subsequently purchased the bus and streetcar lines then being operated by Metropolitan Coach Lines, which had taken over passenger service of the

Pacific Electric Railway The Pacific Electric Railway Company, nicknamed the Red Cars, was a privately owned mass transit system in Southern California consisting of electrically powered streetcars, interurban cars, and buses and was the largest electric railway syst ...

in 1953, as well as the bus and streetcar lines of the Los Angeles Transit Lines, successor to the Los Angeles Railway.Alternate Link
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. Both companies, as well as MCL subsidiary Asbury Rapid Transit System, were acquired for $34 million (equivalent to $ in ). The MTA began operating the lines on March 3, 1958,Alternate Link
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. and continued to do so until the agency was taken over by the Southern California Rapid Transit District on November 5, 1964.Alternate Link
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.Alternate Link
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. During the MTA's tenure, the last remaining rail transit lines in Los Angeles were abandoned and replaced with bus service, the last former Pacific Electric line in April 1961,Alternate Link
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.Alternate Link
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. and the last former Los Angeles Railway lines in 1963.

Services

Rail lines

Trolley bus

Bus

References

External links

Mass transit plans in Los Angeles since 1951 (2.6MB PDF file)Photo of MTA 1543 in Compon, 1960
{{Pacific Electric Railway 1951 establishments in California 1964 disestablishments in California Government of Los Angeles History of Los Angeles Transportation in Los Angeles Defunct public transport operators in the United States Public transportation in Los Angeles County, California Passenger rail transportation in California Electric railways in California Bus transportation in California Transit agencies in California

History

Services

Rail lines

Trolley bus

Bus

See also

References

External links