Author: Sarah Mofford
“Believe it or not, there was a time when Los Angeles had a world-renowned public transit system.” I had to read the “Lost Public Transit in Los Angeles” blog twice when I saw that. Turns out, Los Angeles once had a bus system (founded in 1887) that resembled San Francisco’s bus system. No one knows for sure what happened to the L.A. transit system, but it has never fully recovered back to its 1887 reputation. However, the transit system in Los Angeles is not as bad as rumors say it is. The transit system is, in fact, pretty good, if you are willing to do the research.
I know one thing people complain about is how much time the buses take. Buses usually come every half hour to 40 minutes, and in the L.A. mindset of constant movement, that is apparently too slow. Then once you’re on the bus or train, it takes forever to get where you want to go, and maybe buses don’t even go there, right?
Well, actually, buses probably do go there. If you’ve done your research, you can take a bus to almost anywhere. And if the bus is just not your style, the metro is only a step behind. Choose anywhere downtown and the metro will take you there. Blue line goes to Long Beach, Purple line and Red line go to Hollywood and Gold line goes to Pasadena. These are only a fraction of the lines in the metro system. The farther downtown you go, the more trains and buses there are! It’s a fabulous world just waiting to be discovered!
Don’t believe me? Well, according to the “Freakonomics” blog in the L.A. Times, “[L.A.] 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.” Eleventh! That is pretty good considering California education is nationally ranked second to last.
What’s more, the blog also says, “In the last two decades, Los Angeles has been on the nation’s most ambitious rail-building program, spending $11 billion dollars (around $1,000 for every resident of Los Angeles County) on five new rail lines. At present, Los Angeles has the sixth most extensive heavy and light rail network in the nation, and several new extensions are in the works.”
Also, using L.A. Transit can actually lower travel time. So while you’re sitting on the freeway stuck in traffic on the 110 (because there is ALWAYS traffic on the 110) heading to Hollywood Blvd., the red line will go zipping past you, probably before you’ve even spotted your exit. Even if the bus next to you is stuck in the same traffic, at least it’s not contributing to the L.A. smog because it’s probably part of our large fleet of cleaner burning compressed natural gas buses.
Don’t get me wrong, compared to the extensive highway system, the transit system looks puny. But it is important to know that taking public transportation is actually easier. In terms of cost, most metro trains and buses are about $1.25 and a day pass is $5.00. That seems like a fair price when you consider what a hassle it is to park in downtown L.A. or Hollywood. You either have to drive around in circles hoping people will leave or you have to pay an absurd amount of money to park your car.
So if you’d like to save some time and money, take a bus to Venice Beach! The trip can be interesting (people-watching!) and cheap. Thinking of Malibu instead? There is a bus for that, too. You may have to transfer or walk a couple blocks, but are those couple blocks really that bad? Best of all, go to http://www.metro.net/index.asp and metro will plan your trip for you! So go out into L.A. and test out the transit system! Chances are you won’t regret it. And if you do, you can go back to your car and sit in traffic for another two hours because someone’s radiator overheated a mile down the road, whichever you find more enjoyable.
Sarah Mofford is an undeclared sophomore. She can be reached at smofford@oxy.edu.
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