First of all, the subway is not the only possible type of rail transportation. There are several types of rail transportation which don't seem to be mentioned.
Surface rail is usually the least expensive to build and takes the least amount of time to complete. I say 'usually' because the construction of the Blue Line was way over budget. Even going over budget, the Blue Line cost about one sixth the cost per mile as the subway is currently costing. The drawback to surface rail is that drivers of automobiles complain if they have to wait for less than a minute for the train to pass.
Elevated rail costs more than surface rail, but still much less than subway. When built using steel supports as in the eastern United States, the noise from the trains is amplified causing complaints from the people around the tracks. Using cement encased steel supports, the noise can be cut back to about the same as the noise of a bus. The advantage is that there is never a time where an automobile driver must wait for the train to pass. This still costs much less than the subway to build.
Monorail was estimated as costing $55 million per mile in 1992 while the subway is costing over $300 million per mile. This means that for the cost of the very short subway segment which only goes a little way into the San Fernando Valley a monorail segment could be built from Hollywood to the Burbank-Glendale Airport with a segment continuing almost to Van Nuys along Sherman Way. Adding in the cost of the proposed subway extension to the 405 Freeway, a surface rail line could extend along Sherman Way all the way to West Hills!
The cost comparison of $55 million per mile for surface rail or monorail against the $300 million plus cost per mile of subway does not take into account the additional costs of repairs due to improper construction, like large holes in the ground, or the cost of defending against and eventually paying settlements to persons who are and are going to bring suit against the MTA for damage to their property. After this is figured in, the cost of the subway will nearly double!
The $55 million per mile figure is for 'normal' monorail construction. This figure is based on building a sensible monorail along a usable route over reasonably flat land. This figure is not for the unworkable idea of building a monorail in the middle of an already small and crowded freeway such as the 101 freeway. High cost, long construction times, and traffic delays make a freeway version of the monorail out of the question. The placement of this route in the extreme South valley drastically reduces the accessibility to riders going to and from the North portion of the San Fernando Valley.
It was stated that rail transportation will not serve Los Angeles. Well, if the people who are currently planning it continue to be in charge, it won't. But with a group of people dedicated to serving the needs of the people and not going after the largest political contributions, the rail system could be the backbone of a great public transportation system. We also need to stop listening to small but outspoken 'associations' who attack many things which were in the community since before these people were born, but by now calling themselves an association, they wish the rest of us to believe that these few people speak for all of the community instead of just for themselves. These 'associations' do not look at the big picture and do not take into consideration the impact on the whole community when they speak out against rail which borders their postal zone or an airport which is not even within their postal zone. These same people have a large noisy freeway going through the middle of their postal zone, but because they use it they do not complain about it.
With a good rail line extending across the center of all of the San Fernando Valley the connection time by bus would be 10 minutes or less in most areas of the valley. By making most points in the valley accessible in such a short time, more people could use public transportation. Current south valley subway plans do not address the lengthy connection times to much of the San Fernando Valley which would make most people continue to use automobiles for transportation.
L.A. once had 1000 miles of interurban rail lines which carried millions of people. At the peak this system ran over 5000 trains each day. When this system and the extensive streetcar system were considered together, one could get to almost any location between the west San Fernando Valley, San Bernadino, all points along the Pacific Coast between Santa Monica and Newport Beach (Balboa) and almost every point between those locations. The best part of the old system was that a person could get to almost any point in the Los Angeles Area in about the same time as it takes to complete a multi-bus trip within the San Fernando Valley. Rail transportation worked for Los Angeles then, and if done again properly it can serve L.A. now.