One of the several unfortunate myths about Los Angeles is the statement that there is no public transport. Even locals say that. You've probably read me going on about this fact here on blog before. People come to LA expecting that they can't do anything unless they drive. I meet several people who are here from elsewhere (such as postdocs, students, others) who just don't enjoy the city because they don't have a car and think that there is therefore nothing to do. They have believed what everyone says about there being no public transport and miss out on the tremendous wealth of things to do here. People who hate LA (and gosh, there are many aren't there?) usually hate it because they don't know it. From the car they're in, they see highways, and strip malls, and think that's all there is. The great stuff is best seen on foot, or by bike, or moving at the slower, deliberate pace afforded by a city bus, on real city streets instead of highways. Yes, it is a myth: It is not true, that thing they say about public transport. Some evidence:
Further evidence can be found at MTA's website, where you can find that map and zoom into it and see a great deal of details. There is remarkable coverage by all kinds of buses. They run to a schedule, (reasonably reliably, but yes, there are screwups, like in any city) there's a part of the website where you can plan journeys with a smart planner, and you can even call a number from anywhere in the city to say where you are and where you want to go and a real person will tell you what the nearest bus stop is and what bus to catch. And there are other bus companies that make that map I showed above a bit denser if you include them too. (The cute little Dash system of buses, for example, gets you around several neighbourhoods for a 25c flat fee.) And yes, there is a subway system. People deny its existence, but it is there, with underground trains and light rail lines above ground. The subway stops are beautifully designed, and if any one of them was on the London Underground system, for example, they would be one of the flagship stations (click on station images here). Shiny and clean, due to underuse, and designed for a capacity that is undershot by two orders of magnitude. Please check out the interactive tour of the Redline stations that can be found here. It is actually fun. Those who know that the subway exists say that they don't use it because "it does not go anywhere". For a lot of people, this is actually true, since it is not yet a very extensive system (but you can improve coverage by combining with buses), but I've learned that a lot of Los Angelenos won't ever use a public transport system because (a) With a car, you live your own little celebrity lifestyle, only poor people are supposed to use buses and trains. So witness the stark racial and class divide between those on buses and those in cars; and (b) "it does not go anywhere", means "the stop is not just outside my front gate, I can't stop at any store I like, and it does not stop outside the building in which I work". Well, (b) is a slight exaggeration. But you get the point. The car is a a pretty sweet deal, and highways are amazing. You can cross vast distances most times of day in remarkably short times. So people want the same convenience as a car, and it is hard to go back to having to wait for a bus for a bit, plan ahead, walk to a stop, etc. And sure, to cross the whole city using a bus can take a long time, even for the express buses. The system is not perfect and people demand too many stops on the line (hardly anybody here likes to walk, even a little) and so the buses make less headway than they ought. But one might hope people would use them for shorter journeys, and leave the car parked...but no. Even with the convenient bike racks on the front of every bus that could make quick shopping trips, or changes of neighbourhoods, relatively painless. It is very sad. I have seen a slight improvement of ridership recently, and I think it might be because of the gas prices. I am not sure. But I have seen more people who don't fit the standard description getting on the bus in the mornings and disembarking (I guess soon people will say "debussing"?) at USC. Similarly for the subway. But it could be my imagination. I have some hope that -maybe because of gas and traffic congestion- people will soon learn to use the existing transport and by their numbers demand that it gets better. Ok. Returning to the subway and train system, there is some exciting news. Unless something goes wrong a month from now (final policy decisions to be voted on), next year they will start work on the next branch of the main city's subway system! But it gets better. It will run right next to USC! This is very exciting. Here is the map showing where it will run (blue dotted line):
They had a community open day over the road in Exposition Park at the Science Museum, where we could go and look at maps, posters, diagrams, models, etc, of the proposed new Mid-City/Expo line (which will follow the line of the Exposition Line of old), and ask questions. It was very exciting. It was nice to meet a few other enthusiasts about public transport, too. You can visit the website and get more details here. There, you'll learn that they plan first to bring a line from downtown to USC and the Exposition Park.
So there'll be easier access for the city's visitors to USC and the Science Museum, Natural Hirstory Museum, etc, and easier access for USC people to the cultural hotspots downtown, and the growing residential, club, bar, restaurant and entertainment scene that is going on down there, as part of the rumoured renaissance of the area. (It is pretty easy now -at least during the day- but again, people don't use the existing buses.....and so night service is poor.) There'll be at least two USC stops, possibly a third. Then the line will be extended in the next phase to take it out to Culver City, another excellent part of Los Angeles, where there are all sorts of fun things to do (Jazz Bakery, Museum of Jurassic Technology, Sony Pictures Studios, Pacific Theatres are just four examples off the top of my head.... there are of course tons more, and a whole lot of fantastic restaurants, clubs, and bars). At the open day, they had some lovely artist's imaginings of some of the stations on view, and I was pleased to see that alongside the lovely drawings of SUVs on the streets (yes, they included such details!), there were cyclists, in lovely wide cycle lanes. I do hope that those make it to the final plans.
The long term plan is to eventually extend the line all the way to Santa Monica or Venice. This is great news indeed. So I'm excited, as ultimately this means that I'll be able to step out of my office, walk the two minutes to the stop, and take the train all the way to the beach. Excellent. There are also longer term plans to connect downtown directly to the West Side by extending the Red Line along Wilshire. Then you'll be able to get off your deck chair on the beach, change, and take the subway/train directly to the Disney Concert Hall for a concert of the Philharmonic. I can't wait. That will be so great. Not for a while.....but one day. -cvj
