10 Reasons to Use Mass Transit

10 Reasons to Use Mass Transit | Travelin' Local

10 Reasons to Use Mass Transit

On Thursday morning, another sunny and beautiful Los Angeles Spring day greeted me, so I decided that I wanted to go to a museum.

I then checked the list on the Free Museum Days link on Travelin’ Local, and discovered that the Skirball Cultural Center, is free to the public every Thursday.

Although I’m going to the Skirball, I’m not driving there. Instead, I’m taking the Metro, and the Big Blue Bus.

More often than not, I just don’t want to drive and enjoy the freedom of not having the ball and chain of my automobile all of the time. Taking the bus affords me much more than that though:

10 Reasons to Use Mass Transit

1. Getting to be outside, walking, in touch with your local environment

2. While waiting for the bus, you can talk with clients, friends, and family uncluttered by having a steering wheel glued to your hands.

3. Read a book, magazine, or even a Kindle.

4. Save time because many buses have their own bus lane. Plus, if you’re stuck in traffic, it’s much more relaxing to sit back and let someone else do the driving.

5. Save money—Just think, no parking fees, no meters, no high gas prices, and less wear and tear on your car.

6. It’s easy – with a monthly Btap card.

7. The opportunity to be independent and free.

8. Added time to work or play on your laptop; or to just relax and daydream.

9. To save the planet by reducing carbon emissions, reducing pollution, and reducing smog

10. Set an example for others in your community



Learning by doing is sometimes just a cognitive step toward change; but for me it feels natural and right. Hopefully more and more people will get used to Los Angeles’ continuing mass transit system upgrades; though not yet perfect—it can and does assist you to be more productive and less stressed out.

If more and more people started to realize that it’s actually easier to ride the bus than to drive, the point of taking mass transit would be more astute—it’s just easier and more fun.

For example, on this trip I was able to write and edit an entire story about Malibu’s Adamson House, from my previous notes.

streetsblog.net

There are two sites that already do a great job of covering the numerous bills, committees, plans, and other energy, public infrastructure, and additional issues of Metro news that affect us all here in Southern California, totally categorized, often explained or even advocated at Los Angeles Transportation Headlines, and at LA StreetsBlog.

For most intent and purposes we have the mass transit infrastructure in place, but often times, it’s underused or not used at all.

The objective of these Metro Monday stories is to provide readers with actual real world experiences by various Metro rides and information.

Today’s Jaunt

I didn’t start with Metro, as I usually do, but started with the Big Blue Bus.

What is the Big Blue Bus?

It’s the bus system run by the City of Santa Monica. Some of their routes are Santa Monica exclusives; however others cross into LA proper. In this case, I needed to get from Santa Monica Boulevard to the corner of Westwood and Wilshire, so I could connect to Metro’s 761– which would and did take me to the Skirball’s front entrance.
Big Blue Bus




Interestingly, out of a fleet of 210 Big Blue buses currently operating, 43% are powered by Liquefied Natural Gas (LNG) which is 77% cleaner burning than diesel-fueled buses.

I didn’t have to walk too far before getting on the Big Blue Bus, so it was easy. Because it stops every 3-4 blocks, most people should be able to board the bus with relatively ease. I have a Btap card for Metro–which is what I use most of the time. For the Big Blue, the Btap card doesn’t work, so I drop $.75 into the money taker.

And off I went as I sat down and enjoyed the ride toward my destination—the Skirball Cultural Center high atop the hills of Mulholland Drive. It didn’t take long before I got off to transfer to the Metro 761. For those astute folks, the green bus in front of the big blue bus in this photo is part of Culver City’s bus system, the Culver City Bus.

The Metro 761 Bus

Metro Trip PlannerAlthough, I’ve never ridden the 761 before, and it raised my level of respect for Metro drivers as the bus ride traversed Sunset Boulevard, our driver had to navigate the curves, hills, and turns that every driver knows can be a challenge just with a car, but for a bus driver to navigate this famous and infamous twisting and narrow street with an expanded bus is applauded and appreciated.

The Metro Trip Planner

Before starting today’s trip, I consulted the Metro Trip Planner; so I knew exactly where, when, and how to properly plot a course for today’s trip. Some people state for the record that the Metro’s reputation for not being on time is legendary, but for me, this trip arrived right on time.

As I disembarked, I immediately took a mental and visual look at this:


The 405 from the Hills

And then a thought quickly reared into my psyche–I realized that my destiny lies in my ability to utilize those things that my civic community has invested into, which provides me the ability to lead a better life. And so my day began not with a headache sitting in traffic; but by easily jumping on the bus with a tad of planning, making good use of my time while traveling to my destination, and being able to spend a wonderful and gorgeous day at the exciting, meaningful, educational, and wonderfully esthetic, and historic Skirball Cultural Center.