Mass transportation in los angeles - Essay Example

Mass Transit in Los Angeles MASS TRANSIT IN LOS ANGELES The Metro bus system serves almost the entire Southern and Central LA County, which is inclusive of LA City. Many residents who do not own personal cars have to utilize the bus as their main transport mode. Buses normally operate with normal frequency in the central region from Santa Monica to the west, Pico Boulevard to south, Downtown to the east, and Santa Monica Boulevard to the north (Shanks, 2001). However, once one leaves corridor, the bus service becomes less frequent.

In LA, metro buses are of three main types, which are express that is blue in colour, rapid that is red, and local that is orange. The express buses do not stop often and normally drive on the freeways where it is possible to cover the shortest distance, which means that it skips various stops and areas. The rapid buses normally travel and pick passengers on local streets, although they do not make as many stops as the local buses and, therefore, can be considered as better when it comes to beating the traffic.

However, one is advised to review the schedules prior to travelling since these buses change routes and, during the late hours, their frequency is reduced. Fares for a weekly pass are $20, for a day pass one has to pay $5 and $1.50 for a single ride (Shanks, 2001). Metro buses in Los Angeles also use the orange and silver rapid transit lines to operate metro liners, which are present on the metro rail map due to the fact that, along majority of their routes, they operate transit-ways (Shanks, 2001).

The Department of Transportation In Los Angeles also operates white buses on top of the Metro on local lines so as to supplement their bus service Downtown and in other areas with high population densities. In addition, cities that neighbour LA also operate bus systems that extend their routes into LA and charge different fares. These buses overlap with the Metro bus networks. Some of these bus systems also run rapid line routes, which are parallel to local routes but have fewer stops. Some of these include the Big Blue Bus that is operated by Santa Monica City and serves Santa Monica, Venice Beach, Brentwood and other West LA districts, LAX, and downtown LA.

The Culver City Bus serves Culver City, LAX, Century City, Mar Vista, Rancho Park, Marina Del Rey, Palms, West LA Transit Centre, UCLA, Venice, Westwood, and Westchester (Bottles, 2011). The Burbank Transit operates around North Hollywood and Burbank, while Torrance Transit operates around Torrance to Long and Redondo Beach, downtown LA, and LAX. The Foothills Transit also operates a bus system in the LA area. Some of the areas it covers are Claremont, Montclair, San Dimas, Pomona, Pasadena, El Monte, Industry, West Covina, Covina, Montebello, east of LA, downtown LA, and San Gabriel Valley (Bottles, 2011).

Finally, the Long Beach Transit system serves the area in and around North Long Beach, Compton, Signal Hill, Paramount, Lakewood, and Cerritos, while the bus #11 travels to the airport at Long Beach. However, unlike majority of cities in the United States that possess a maximum of two systems of bus transit agencies that are comparable with regards to the fares they charge, the LA area has several agencies for bus transit that have fare structures with little interchangeable functions. When transferring from one agency’s bus system to another, one is required to pay more money (Bottles, 2011).

ReferencesBottles, S. L. (2011). Los Angeles and the automobile: The making of the modern city. Berkeley: University of California Press. Shanks, T. H. (2001). From horse car to red car to mass rapid transit: A century of progress. Virginia Beach, Va: Donning Co.