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    « Fun On A Sunday, While Awaiting A Bus. . . | Main | Bus Bench Service Alerts. Sept 2. The location of South LA has changed. »

    09/02/2008

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    Comments

    Metro still has tokens? DAMN... I haven't used them since I got a monthly pass in 2003. Back then, tokens were actually worth the cost. A 90 cents token covered a 1.35 bus fare! Now a token cost the same as a fare? Damn, I'm surprised.

    Metrolink tickets are NOT honored
    by Santa Monica Big blue buses
    even though they are part of the EZ pass program

    You are right Mark. I'm working on a Big Blue section tonight and I'll make the changes. As car drivers share tips on secret ways and good parking we must share the secrets of good transit.

    That was some good transit Mark!!

    Browne

    I've riden the MTA since I was 8 years old. I'm 21 now & I still ride it at least six days a week. Usually going to work at 6am. I really wish MTA would run 24/7. Things would be a lot better. Hell, I think it would even save lives. You'd be able to just hop on the bus or metro & not have to worry about driving your car under the influence. I remember getting stranded outside the universal city station & having to wait from 1am till 5am outside till the subway started running again, not a fun time.

    Also you forgot to mention that every bus has at least one mentally insane person on it. Usually they talk to themselves outloud or urinate/defecate in their seat.

    I hear ya, Alex.
    I was faced with the same ordeal right after the Red Line opened up that way nearly a decade ago—when for a brief period I made residence on Wilcox Place over the Dragonfly, and made the mistake of attending some dim "film" up the hill at Universal—and when I realised I had missed the night's final Red Line run, I walked under the 101 to catch the 126 (146?) or somesuch line, outside the Subway sandwich shop.

    On the Metrolink and missing your train front, you should probably mention that if you have a monthly pass, and you are traveling between two stops that Amtrak Pacific Surfliner also stops at, your Metrolink pass covers the Pacific Surfliner as well (along the Orange and Ventura county Metrolink lines, within the same stataions).

    That's some good transit Matthew. I've made the notation (and I added yours too!! Mark)

    Browne

    Today I took the Commuter Express instead of Metro to work. That meant I had to wake up nearly 2 hours earlier, but the 549 goes straight from my residence at Sepulveda/Ventura to my office at Pass/Alameda. It seemed all worthwhile when I got on board and discovered the plushy seats, air-conditioned comfort and quiet clientelle.

    Then the Commuter Express failed to show up in the evening. There I was, sitting at the stop marked 549 Encino. I stood there for 45 minutes, a period of time that, according to the schedule, two different buses were supposed to arrive, and eventually just gave up and walked over to the Metro 96 stop down the street. That bus, of course, showed up - and on time, I might add.

    What gives? Is there someone I can complain to about this? It sucks to be stranded! Is this what you meant by "outside of downtown LA it's extremely unreliable" in your post?

    Nancy,

    That sucks and I say that having been stranded. I'm going to write a post write now explaining this in more detail. LADOT (which runs the Commuter Express) had a complaint line, but then they changed it. I callled LADOT and I think it was because people started calling them on the BS of them constantly NOT showing up. Or showing up insanely late and this was in regards to just the Dash. I will find a number for you, because it's not on the website.

    But know this complaints via phone tend to go in a blackhole and complaints via handwritten letter tends to go in a pile somewhere.

    http://lacitydot.com/busforms/admin.cfm?page=ladot_bus_complaint1c.cfm

    Here is the complaint form.

    Thanks, Browne!

    I submitted my feedback using the URL you provided. Hopefully they step up with service.

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    About The Bus Bench

    • The Bus Bench is published by Browne Molyneux. The editorial consultant is Randall Fleming.

      The Bus Bench’s roots are in Social Ecology.

      The Bus Bench takes a satirical and editorial approach to dealing with the issue of mobility in Los Angeles. The emphasis of The Bus Bench is public transportation, but we also discuss the environment, class, race, gender and Los Angeles.

      In commenting on The Bus Bench we do not mind if your opinion differs than that of an opinion of a writer on a particular post. We welcome discourse. We only ask that you be respectful. Do not be violent with your words.

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    • Browne Molyneux is a freelance journalist. She formerly wrote a transportation column for LA City Beat: Tracks and is a contributor to LA Eastside. She is a feminist and is LA bred. She does not own a motorized vehicle, but she does have a bike.

      RANDALL (BusTard) FLEMING has spent two decades working in most every facet of publishing. A former magazine publisher (Angry Thoreauan, 1987-2001), he has also contributed to a great many books, periodicals and newspapers in Los Angeles and New York: New York Post, Brooklyn Spectator, Discover Hollywood!, Ben Is Dead, Flipside, Los Feliz Ledger, Sabotage in The American Workplace (Pressure Drop Press), Notes From the Underground: Zines and the Politics of Alternative Culture (Verso), and several of the Unreinforced Masonry Studio books about Los Angeles.