Celebrating LA Metro's 25th birthday and the continuing expansion of LA's rail system to 131 miles is grand! Trains are being tested in Santa Monica as of today! But it also makes you wonder what it was like back when 2,160 Pacific Red Cars ran daily on 1,000 miles of track connecting LA, Orange, San Bernardino and Riverside counties. Those were the days when LA's electric railway system was the largest in the world -- and several decades before all those cars were crushed to make room for buses and automobiles. But the great thing is that the Red Car system is in our very bones. Walkable, bikeable communities were built up around streetcar lines, and we can get back to the future there -- with cleaner air, reduced GHG emissions, improved public health, reduced transportation costs, and less dependence on petroleum.