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Thursday, Mar 28, 2024

A Commuter’s Story: Greening of the Orange and Red

“Who knows the city? Those who walk. Those who ride the bus.” Los Angeles Plays Itself More than a month has now passed since the Metro fare increase. The transit agency said it was still too early to tell how ridership numbers will be affected by the change in price for day, weekly and monthly passes. I can tell them there is one passenger not riding the Red Line and Orange Line as much as before the day pass fare rose to $5 from $3. Namely, me. For a year I budgeted $30 for Metro day passes. At the $3 fee, that was 10 passes over a four-week period. With the July 1 increase that $30 gets me only six passes. The question before me is what to do about those other four days. Do I drive to Woodland Hills and put another car onto the freeway? Or do I continue taking the subway and bus? Either way I need to spend an additional $20 on transportation. I know how far that $20 gets me with a day pass. How far $20 in gas gets me is a different story. When I commute by car, my minimum daily mileage between where I live in Hollywood and the business journal office in Woodland Hills is 40 miles. Then add in extra miles for when I do in-person interviews that can be anywhere in the Valley, or as far out as Camarillo, or Santa Clarita or even Palmdale and that $20 in gas goes quickly. Even with the increase it does make more economic sense to continue using Metro as much as I can for my daily commute and save using the car for when I absolutely need it. Riding the train and bus I know I am doing my part to reduce the traffic headaches plaguing Los Angeles. Besides, I get a lot of reading done. Those Orange Line Metroliners have become my reading room on wheels. Transit fan I’m lucky when it comes to using public transportation in Los Angeles. The two biggest complaints I hear and read about mass transit in L.A. is that it doesn’t serve the areas you want to go; and service isn’t frequent enough. The combination Red and Orange lines take me exactly where I want to go: I live three blocks from a Red Line station in Hollywood. The Business Journal office is across the street from the Warner Center Transit hub the end of the line. I don’t need to catch the train or bus at a specific time. I leave early enough to get to work by 9 a.m. If a Metroliner pulls away from the NoHo stop while I’m on the other side of Lankershim, no problem. Another one will pull up within 10 minutes. I realize that’s not the case for everyone. Other riders have connecting buses to catch. They have places to be at certain times. I realize that the question of whether using my car more or shell out an additional $20 for day passes was not one many Metro riders face. There are those who have no choice but to pay the higher fare. I ride alongside them, trying not to bump them with my knees as they make their way down the bus aisle. Not being a Los Angeles native, I’m not averse to using public transportation. I am not wedded to using my car for even simple errands. I haven’t completely adopted the “Los Angeles Public Transit Lifestyle” promoted by Fred Camino of MetroRider LA (http://metrorider.elhay.net/) because work reasons necessitate I have a car but I do make the effort to use Metro whenever possible. The ocean and beachfront are a ride away using the No. 4 Santa Monica bus. Ditto for Glendale and Pasadena using the No. 181 bus. I’ve used the Red/Blue/Green line to get to LAX. Or at least as close as I could get before having to hop on that shuttle bus. When the Cubs were in town in May to play a Saturday afternoon game with the Dodgers I (naively?) took the bus to Dodger Stadium. Or at least as close as I get could get before making that walk up the hill to the park. It can’t compare with taking the el to Wrigley Field but at least I got the satisfaction of a) not putting another $15 into Frank McCourt’s pocket; and b) seeing the Cubs win. (The next day I went to the game by car. The Cubs lost. Stupidly. Perhaps there’s a lesson there.) Using Metro remains an option for as long as I can afford to live in Hollywood. Get on the bus This column started out with a quote from “Los Angeles Plays Itself,” a documentary on the social history of the city as it’s been depicted on film since, well, since film began. That may not be the exact wording used in the narration but it catches the spirit of what filmmaker Thom Andersen wanted to say about those who use public transportation and their connection to the city. Within the film’s three hours Andersen addresses Hollywood’s nostalgic treatment of the streetcar system (using clips from “Who Framed Roger Rabbit”) and challenges the notion the major automakers were behind the demise of the Red Cars in order to build more freeways. A mention of the Red Cars is a reminder that Los Angeles has always had mass transit yet it’s deficient in a commuting culture and the unspoken rules that go along with it. I’ve seen riders do things here that would never be done back in Chicago. On the Red Line trains, riders on the platform tend to crowd directly in front of the doors at the stations when a train pulls in rather than standing to the side to let people off. On the Metroliners, the standing riders congregate directly in front of the doors and move in only when forced to. They do slightly better when it comes to walk-on-the-left, stand-on-the-right when using the escalators. To create a better commuter culture there needs to be more commuters. But that doesn’t happen by increasing fares, reducing service and consolidating bus lines like Metro has done in the Valley and other parts of the city. I suppose though the biggest help is getting across the message to cut down on using a vehicle. Even if for just one day. I admit there is a certain comfort to being in your car. After using the train and bus multiple days in a row, I like having that personal space. But once on the 101 Freeway and traffic slows up near Woodman or Coldwater Canyon or at the junction with the 405, that is when I think to myself, What is it about this commute that I miss? Staff Reporter Mark Madler can be reached at (818) 316-3126 or by e-mail at [email protected].

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