The Issue with Los Angeles’ Public Transportation
“Walking in L.A., nobody walks in L.A.” - Missing Persons
Why is Public Transportation Important in Los Angeles?
Due to living in the car centric city of Los Angeles there will be a need for public transportation to maintain accessibility and mobility of the people throughout the city. These are all alternatives to driving and walking, which is helpful in cities that are difficult to walk due to the distance between areas. The city of Los Angeles total area is about 502 square miles while the county is 4,753 square miles. Lastly, there are people who do not own a car, are elderly or disabled who rely on public transportation to get around.
What Does Los Angeles’ Public Transportation System look like?
Los Angeles Public Transportation system includes Metro Rail, Metro Buses, and DASH Buses. Metro rail includes both Metro light rail and metro subways. LA Metro is the Los Angeles County Metropolitan transportation authority which operates rail, bus, and bike services. DASH is operated by the Los Angeles Department of transportation.
Additionally the cost to ride is reasonable ($1.75 1-Way) with many options for free or reduced fare for K-12 students, college students, low income, the elderly and disabled. Passes can also be purchased for unlimited rides for a select period of time ranging from $7 for a 1-Day Pass or $122 for a 30- Day + Z1 Pass. On certain event days people can get fare completely free such as on Election Day as well as during some special events like the opening of the K Line.
Demographics of Riders
A majority of the riders in 2022 are Latinx/Hispanic at 58% followed by Black/African American at 14%. While most riders are between the ages of 25 and 64.
Why has Ridership been on the Decline?
In recent years there has been a decline in ridership for LA Metro, most had come as a result of Covid-19, but others have been to the other unaddressed issues with the current transit system. In a Customer Experience Survey conducted by LA metro it has shown that safety concerns has been one of the major issues among female rail riders, specifically regarding concerns over sexual harassment, crime, and racial/ethnic harassment. Other improvements in the same study that were noted were for addressing homelessness, cleanliness, and running on time.
What Can Be Done?
In Los Angeles the way to help with the public transit would be by pushing for the reallocation of funding from the Highways in order to invest into public transportation. Additionally holding our leaders accountable to any promise they have on improving the system to ensure they are truly realized and accessible to the people. Not only will this help with reducing the greenhouse gases produced in the city and state overall, it can improve the overall health and connection of all communities.
Why is this Issue Important to Me?
One of my personal beliefs is making things accessible to everyone, and one of the major things related to this would be mobility throughout the city. This can mainly be through public transportation by establishing connections between different communities. Additionally, seeing how different our systems are compared to other countries felt a bit disheartening in terms of how far behind it is, even with in the waiting areas of bus stops and stations.
Why did I Choose this Issue?
I choose this issue because I have many friends who use public transportation daily for them to go to work or school, and they would always talk about the issues the have while riding on the bus or train. Additionally other countries tend to have better public transportation systems because they were not built as an afterthought and were integrated into the community, unlike most of the United States were suburbs and the highway system made it difficult to public transit to be available. Additionally, for a period of time in the United States for about a few decades there hadn’t been any major rail projects in the United States which is why the overall infrastructure is behind.
The following questions were asked to members of the community about their thoughts on the Los Angeles Public Transportation system
“Why do you or did you use public transportation?”
“What are some improvements you would like to see in public transportation?”
“Are there any negative experiences that have occurred while you were using public transportation?”
“On a scale of 1-10 how would you grade Los Angeles’ public transportation system?”
Because only one of my parents drives and I have to go to school and work
For them to be more accessible and having routes be more frequent than every 30 minutes. Also to stop when someone is trying to get on the bus.
The busses are overcrowded as well as my mom waiting for the bus had been waiting for a long time because it was late and got assaulted
A 4 for them being bad and somewhat dangerous when it comes to them driving alongside cars almost recklessly sometimes.
Amanda S.
I don’t have a car and can’t afford to have one with the gas, insurance and payments.
Better infrastructure to help relieve traffic, if there were a fast train that can get me to Riverside for my classes
Yes, I’ve missed trains and buses for being full all the time and have been physically harassed after a guy said something and slapped me. Another thing is that the presence of the police being on the train to give everyone a ticket, as well as some rude bus drivers are just a few.
I would give maybe 5 or a little more because of them leaving me all the time when going to work.
I don’t have a car and it’s also more convenient and cheaper than paying for gas, on top of that my college gives me a free metro pass
The cleanliness, they don’t keep up with that also more drivers.
No, again it’s just the cleanliness I haven’t seen anything too crazy
ID say a 5 it’s gotten better but there is still a lot to improve like the amount of buses they run and how many they run
References:
Metro, L. A. (2022, October 27). Results of our 2022 customer experience survey. The Source. from https://thesource.metro.net/2022/10/27/results-of-our-2022-customer-experience-survey/
Metro, L.A. Fares, passes and discounts: Metro. LA Metro. from https://www.metro.net/riding/fares/
Missing Persons. (1982). Walking in L.A. [Song]. Spring Session M.
Salas, E. (2022, March 21). La Transit Authority's annual ridership, by mode 2021. Statista. from https://www.statista.com/statistics/1297553/lacmta-network-total-annual-ridership-by-mode/
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