The road to nowhere.

WILL CALIFORNIA voters let themselves be taken for a ride on November 37 Proposition 156 would authorize $1 billion in bonds to fund more fixed-rail transit--a sure way for taxpayers to get tied to the tracks.

Boosters of rapid transit promise breathtaking reductions in smog and freeway dog, with armies of motorists bolting from cars and elbowing their way onto sleek commuter trains. An alluring serenade, except that it jars with awkward but insistent facts. Because of fatter paychecks, relatively low suburban land costs, and smaller families, Americans no longer reside cheek-to-jowl in central cities. With the decentralization of communities, rapid transit has become a dreamer's response to traffic and pollution woes, more than anywhere in the far-flung suburbs of California. Except for those who live near one rail station and work dose to another, most people will remain in their cars.

Yet still the planners bring forward their rail projects, and taxpayers are shaken down again and again. Never mind that the percentage of commuters using mass transit has actually fallen over the past decade- even as more transit systems have come on line. Indeed, new rail projects consistently end up with lower ridership and higher costs than promised. That's been the case in San Jose, Baltimore, Detroit, San Francisco, and Atlanta--and, most recently, on the new Blue Line from Long Beach to Los Angeles, which rumbles along with near-empty cars.

Then there's L.A.'s Metrorail subway, being built at a cost of at least $250 million per mile. Even with heavy ridership--which is unlikely, according to independent studies--the construction costs would be enough to buy every patron a limo.

An alternative would be congestion pricing, charging drivers by the time of day they travel. Singapore does that, reducing rush-hour crush by requiring special stickers for peak-time drivers.

But in California, taxpayers are being asked to cough up more for rail systems. This is truly a technology for the Ninties--the 1890s, an era of confined, crowded cities where disposable income was minimal. In their wisdom, the politicians and planners are keen on building a fast track to the past.