I never thought to question LA's image as a byword for sprawl until I saw this series on the Freakonomics blog.<p>"According to the Federal Highway Administration, of the 36 largest metro areas, Los Angeles ranks dead last in terms of freeway lane miles per resident."
<a href="http://freakonomics.blogs.nytimes.com/2009/02/24/los-angeles-transportation-facts-and-fiction-freeways/" rel="nofollow">http://freakonomics.blogs.nytimes.com/2009/02/24/los-angeles...</a><p>"But while the situation is far from ideal, the numbers from the California Air Resources Board make it clear that Los Angeles has come a remarkably long way toward cleaning up the air."
<a href="http://freakonomics.blogs.nytimes.com/2009/02/17/los-angeles-transportation-facts-and-fiction-smog/" rel="nofollow">http://freakonomics.blogs.nytimes.com/2009/02/17/los-angeles...</a><p>"As of the 2000 census, the Los Angeles region’s urbanized area had the highest population density in the nation. Yes, that was the word “highest,” not a smudge on your monitor."
<a href="http://freakonomics.blogs.nytimes.com/2009/02/09/los-angeles-transportation-facts-and-fiction-sprawl/" rel="nofollow">http://freakonomics.blogs.nytimes.com/2009/02/09/los-angeles...</a><p>"But compared with the majority of U.S. cities, Los Angeles is not a transit wasteland. The region is second in the nation in transit patronage, behind only New York. Even on a market share basis (passenger transit miles traveled as a share of all miles traveled), Los Angeles’s ridership rate is relatively high: 11th among the 50 largest urban areas."
<a href="http://freakonomics.blogs.nytimes.com/2009/03/03/los-angeles-transportation-facts-and-fiction-transit/" rel="nofollow">http://freakonomics.blogs.nytimes.com/2009/03/03/los-angeles...</a><p>The myths appear to arise from a multitude of factors, such as confusing downtown density with overall density, and viewing the city through the eyes of Hollywood. Also, once a city acquires a reputation (such as NYC and crime), it takes forever to lose it.
100 L.A.s didn't bloom in Europe. The car is similar to other fads, it's exciting and everyone wants one first, but later people start to get tired of it.<p>What's unique about the US west coast is that the cities there were not much older then the automobile, that's why the are so much more car oriented.
The way I see it, if the cities are sprawling (like LA), then cars will rule. If they are compact (like NY), then public transit will at least have a chance.<p>It's not a matter of if they can build the metro fast enough. If you have a sprawling suburbia, you can't effectively cover enough area to make public transit competitive. (I think this applies to all public transit, not just subways.)