Public Transportation in Los Angeles in Not that Bad

“You live in Los Angeles, you must have a car.”

 “Public transportation in Los Angeles is horrible, the city is too spread out.” 

“It takes forever to get anywhere using public transportation in Los Angeles.”

For whatever reason, people will say what they want about public transportation in Los Angeles but the fact of the matter is that public transportation has come a long way in the past decade and Los Angeles is looking to become the next great mass transit city of the 21st century. 

If you really sit down and think about where you are and how you need to get somewhere, there is very little that stands in your way---other than traffic, but if you live in L.A. that is just something to accept. Step out your front door and make your way to any large or main avenue or boulevard and you can be sure there is a Metro bus that will follow that road east and west or north and south.

A study from the Brookings Institute even supports Los Angeles’s excellence in mass transit access in recent years and put the city’s efforts and accessibility near the top of the list, besting states like New Jersey, Pennsylvania and even New York. 

Los Angeles does the best job of giving people without cars access to public transportation, according to the study. 99.1 percent of no-car households in the Los Angeles-Long Beach-Santa Ana area have access to public transit, a figure bested only by much smaller Honolulu, where 99.3 percent of carless residents have transit access.

With the recent additions of rail lines in Southern California, residents and visitors have the luxury of traveling to different cities within the county. 

It Takes too Long Using Public Transportation

Los Angeles is a vast city but there is a misconception that taking mass transit takes too much time out of one’s day. What could be a 30-minute commute by car could take 60 minutes by bus but despite these narrow time differences, consider these 5 great benefits when utilizing public transportation instead of driving.

1)    Gas Savings.  With the high cost of filling up your car, it can be very expensive to have a long commute.  Driving isn’t cheap! A 25 mile commute, might cost somewhere in the range of $10 round trip.  A light rail line or bus fare, for example, would be considerably less expensive.

2) Decrease Wear and Tear on Your Car:  Vehicles incur additional expense most owners don’t consider and they can add up quickly over time. Additionally, the more mileage a person puts on his or her car, the more quickly it depreciates.  For example, a car with 50,000 miles is worth more than a car with 100,000 miles, everything else being equal.  Not much is depreciating when you take public transportation.

3) Less stress.  Let’s face it, not everyone is accustomed to navigating busy city streets or handling the frustrations that rush hour traffic affords. Even the calmest driver can become agitated by those less courteous at these high stress times of vehicle operation. Public transportation affords you the opportunity to sit back and relax and focus on more productive things. Another added benefit to taking public transportation means you do not need to find or pay for parking when you arrive at your destination. 

4) Be more productive.  As a society we have become an increasingly mobile culture. Many of us have smart phones that connect to the Internet and have access to email when on the road, so the potential for getting work or other things done is more than attainable when utilizing public transportation. When driving a car, it’s unsafe to use your phone, its actually against the law and dangerous to you and other drivers.  Something to think about when taking selfies or updating your Twitter account from the drivers seat.  

5) Better for the environment. By taking public transportation there are fewer cars on the road and that means you are helping to do your part to keep the air cleaner.  

 As public transportation becomes more organized and more efficient, consider using it once in a while to see if it betters your quality of life and helps to make your commute more enjoyable.  For assistance, guidance, maps, bus times and other beneficial alternatives such as organized vanpools, carpools or cycling routes, visit Commute90067.com