LA Metro services
I have been commuting by train for a little over 10 years, which makes me an oddity in car-obsessed Southern California. I’ve commuted to jobs in Los Angeles and Orange County, from the Inland Empire, a region made up of Riverside and San Bernardino counties. Commuting is common for Inland Empire residents, since the property values are much lower here. However, most commuters choose to make the trip by car, which can be tortuous. On a good day, a round trip takes two and a half hours, on a bad day it can be more than three hours. My decision to take the train was a political one. I’m probably more comfortable with public transport, having lived in Nigeria and Britain. Don’t get me wrong, I love cars. I go to the LA Auto Show and always look out for the latest models, but I think public transportation is the future because it reduces pollution and congestion. If you have to move thousands of people from point A to B, it makes more sense for them to use the train, than for each of them to get in their personal transportation units (cars) and clog up the freeway. In SoCal, it’s not unusual to see traffic stretching to the horizon filled with single-occupant vehicles. This creates toxic pollutants. You also have to build huge parking structures for cars. In downtown LA, parking can cost up to $15 per day and you spend forever circling to find a spot. I know using public transportation is seen as un-American. Some Californians were surprised when I told them I commuted via train, and didn’t even know there was a rail service to LA and Orange counties. Cars have their limitations. Sure, they are great for personal transportation and you don’t have to build your life around train and bus schedules, but cars are expensive to run. Car payments, gas and insurance all add up. If you’re paying about $300 for a car payment, $150 for insurance, and $300 per month for gas, that’s a good chunk of your paycheck. A monthly train pass will cost you about $250. When gas was expensive, I was spending about $100 per week on a one and half hour round-trip commute. I also decided to take the train because I didn’t want to deal with SoCal’s notorious traffic. Even though the round trip on the train was two hours, I was free to read, sleep, check messages on my phone and write articles. When I was regularly commuting, I went through one book a week. I have commuted by car and it’s frustrating being cooped up behind the steering wheel, with only the car radio for entertainment. Apart from being a better choice for the planet and my pocketbook, commuting is also a better choice socially. Actor Sir Ian McKellen once said the reason why SoCal residents unfriendly is because everyone is confined in their cars and no one talks to each other. Riding public transportation forces you to be social. You quickly learn to ask directions from fellow travellers. Also, if you’re talkative, like me, you strike up friendships with people. I’m still friends with people I met riding the train eight years ago. Safety is rarely an issue. Most of the train riders are professionals, students or senior citizens. In 10 years of riding the train, I have never seen a fight or been accosted. Things can get sketchy when you ride the bus in LA though, which has its fair share of homeless passengers. But, public transport is a very democratic experience. You get to rub shoulders with people you might never meet in your everyday life and that can’t be a bad thing. I have had some fascinating encounters on the train. I once saw a group of Asian Christians start proselytizing in the middle of the carriage. I also met a Hurricane Katrina evacuee who had been relocated to California. She was having a bad day, so I gave her a ride to her front door. It took some convincing that I wasn’t a serial killer, but eventually she came along. Just recently I saw a group of deaf people who were communicating in sign language. Most commuters are now equipped with the latest technology to help kill the boredom. Everyone has smart phones and a lot of people use tablets. I saw my first e-reader while riding the train. I have tracked the development of my cell phones while riding the train. First, I had a basic Nokia phone that didn’t even connect to the web. Then I moved to a flip phone, with a tiny screen, and then opted for a BlackBerry, because it allowed me to check my email. Now I have an Android phone, which has impressive web-browsing capabilities and apps galore to keep me entertained. I have a Kindle app with about 50 books saved on it. I also commuted with my laptop, although the trains don’t offer wifi yet. Public transport does have it’s limitations. There are some gaps in the service. On my first day of commuting to Orange County, I mixed up my bus schedule and missed the last train to the Inland Empire. I ended up having to take a cab all the way from Tustin to Riverside, which cost me about $70. In SoCal people know public transportation is the future. People are being forced to move to suburbs and exburbs to find affordable housing. Most of the decent jobs are in LA and Orange County, but it’s so expensive people can’t afford to live there. It’s not just me who realizes this. California Gov. Jerry Brown plans to spend $9.9 billion on a high-speed rail project that will shoot passengers from LA to San Francisco at 220 mph. Tech entrepreneur Elon Musk, the brain behind Tesla and SpaceX, is developing the Hyperloop, a technology that will transport passengers in reduced-pressure tubes from San Francisco to Las Vegas. The Hyperloop is expected to reach speeds of more than 500 mph. We need to embrace the future and the future is public transportation. It’s better for the planet, your mind and your pocketbook.
