BrodyBlog

Dispatch from West Los Angeles
(4 July 2006)

I arrived at the Metro Green Line Aviation station around 10 in the P.M., returning from my Orange County connection at Norwalk and a day spent with the oil tankers on Seal Beach. As the time passed, it became clear that there was a disruption somewhere along the route--the Santa Monica Big Blue Bus that runs through Venice was over an hour late.

When it finally did arrive, the driver, a young flustered black woman, was on the phone with what must have been her supervisor. Shouting. Black people I have noticed, tend to get heated about things rather easily, and this girl exceeded my expectations. Eventually she let us on board, but made it clear that she was only going so far.

"You ain't gonna to get to Venice from here," she said, "uh-uh. At LAX get off and catch the next bus." And I did.

After an hour and a half in a standing-room-only bus, which was forced to detour due to traffic on Lincoln Boulevard, I was dropped off at Venice & Lincoln, nearly two miles east of my apartment.

It was like a warzone. An incredible number of cars packed the roads, and I could only assume that all these people were coming from the beach, or to watch fireworks...or both.

Black Cats tore through the night, while no less than fifty people waited at a bus stop. Busses passed by, full, without stopping. Not that stopping would've done any good.

One black gentleman announced (shouted) to the bus stop that he was "gettin' on the next bus for shure, god damnit. I'm trying to get me somewhere." Another colored gentleman was peddling burned CDs from a grocery sack, and was quite displeased when I declined to review his selection. Sorry, I don't like Chingy.

It was clear that I wouldn't reach the shore via bus before Sunrise, and as such, I hailed a cab. <<

>>FROM POINT A TO POINT MTA

MTA, short for the Los Angeles Metropolitan Transit Authority, boasts having “The Nation’s Largest Clean Air Bus Fleet”, trudging across the vast and endless urban sprawl with over two hundred bus lines. The system--and the sheer amount of ground it covers--is amazing, to say the least. Many of the lines run twenty-four hours a day or with limited night owl service beyond traditional route service times.

MTA offers (traditional) local routes, which have frequent stops every few blocks or so, limited stop routes, which have about half the stops of local routes, and Rapid lines (which have even less stops) that use the Global Positioning System and computer controlled traffic signals for traffic signal priority at intersections.

Rapid lines are hailed by many as a low-cost alternative to expensive subterranean or light rail lines, as it is more cost efficient to outfit existing busses with GPS transponders and install similar devices at traffic signals. Critics of rapid bus service quickly point out that busses continue to share the road with other cars and that intersection signal priority can create more traffic problems.

As gas prices have skyrocketed in recent months (even by Southern California’s standards), MTA has stepped up its advertising campaign, targeting people who have cars—and would otherwise never take public transportation—with newer, cleaner, and faster Rapid Bus Service operating along the busiest of corridors.

Most of the people who ride the bus do so without election, as the high cost of living keeps many from being able to afford a car, gasoline, maintenance, and—of course—parking.

There is a clear racial divide among bus patrons. While it is known that many immigrants do not speak English, those who ride the bus quickly learn the phrase “back door.” Which is spoken to signal the driver to open the rear exit door. Often times this is rather comical, as the person’s pronunciation of the word is horrible, and most black passengers pick up on this, and frequently mock Hispanics.

Few white persons ride the bus, and the majority of bus patrons are Hispanics who do not speak English, and commute long distances to work service related jobs that pay low wages. Busses overcrowded beyond safe levels, and often blow right past stops when they are full.

Getting groceries, or transporting anything larger than a backpack then becomes a problem, and as a result, communities with high levels of bus patronage (mostly those with high density apartment complexes) often have grocery carts strewn about neighborhood streets.

A trip that could take twenty minutes by car can easily take over an hour by bus, especially on the Los Angeles Westside, which is largely more affluent and lacks substantial public transit.

Many communities have developed their own municipality lines, such as Santa Monica’s Big Blue Bus. These municipal bus lines contrast sharply with MTA’s lines, and are generally less crowded and serve a diverse mix of ethnicities. This is largely because these lines rarely extend into mid-city or central city, and also operate a schedule more suited for leisure.

Unfortunately, because the city of Los Angeles is so large and fell prey to urban sprawl during its development, bus service is largely impractical. The subway system is also very small, and there is no easy connection to LAX by rail. Those who wish to commute from Union Station to LAX by rail must make a number of transfers, before ending up at the Green Line Aviation Station and taking a shuttle to the airport terminal.

Still, $58 dollars per month for a transit pass that works not only on MTA buses but on most municipality lines as well is a superb bargain, and cheaper than the cost of a tank of gas for many SUVs. You don’t have to worry about parking, either, which is a complete nightmare in most places.

Busses use clean natural gas, which is easier on the environment than gasoline powered vehicles, and because they can hold many people at once, the waste from the manufacture, transport, and maintenance of each vehicle is reduced. For adolescents not yet old enough to drive (or cannot afford a car) the bus system provides an extraordinary opportunity for exploration and helps to eliminate cultural boundaries as people become more exposed to one another from different neighborhoods.

Perhaps what I dislike most about public transit is the lack of control you have. Busses are rarely on time, and when commuting to work, one must add an additional “cushion” of time to be prompt on a consistent basis. If something is not near a bus line, it may be completely out of reach.

Romantic relationships are almost impossible to maintain without a car. What girl wants to be picked up at a bus stop? If one party is completely reliant on the other for transportation during dates, how does this affect the influence each person has over the relationship? Because there are so few busses running late at night, when clubs and restaurants are most active, it’s often impractical or outright impossible to get to many of these places. A standing-room-only bus is no place to be in high heels or a jacket.

Meeting new people is challenging as well, because implied socioeconomic perceptions about public transit (“only loosers ride the bus”) are challenging.

Friendships are hard to develop, as most gatherings are spontaneous. With the bus, though, routes must be planned and researched in advance.

If MTA wants to attract more casual, affluent riders, they must first take care of the basic needs of their core patrons. This means increasing frequency of many lines that serve late night service corridors (such as lines going from Downtown to Santa Monica, where many restaurants and clubs employ workers with low or sub-standard wages), adding more rapid lines, and increasing coverage across the region.

But there is only so much they can do.