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Re-imagining L.A.'s Public Transportation

Elisabeth Pfeiffer, Author

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Improving Public Transportation in Los Angeles

After having lived in Berlin, Germany for about a year, and now as a student in the Los Angeles area, I am still amazed at how different the two public transportation systems are in these cities. In Berlin, there was never any negative stigma attached to using public transportation. In fact, most people I knew used it because it was seen as the most efficient way of traveling. Furthermore, it was widely regarded as a more environmentally friendly option. I could ride it at nearly all hours, and frequently took advantage of this. It was convenient to make connections between bus and rail, and although Berlin is a large city, I found it was easy to travel to any destination. 

In contrast to my experience in Germany, I found myself in an entirely different public transportation system in Los Angeles. Transfers are much harder to make here, and the transportation system in Los Angeles is nowhere near as expansive and developed as the grid network in Berlin. It is not easy to get to any location in the city without a car, and my experiences riding public transportation in Los Angeles have been frustrating and confusing. On multiple occasions, I have found myself wandering streets that are definitely not made for pedestrians, in attempt to find the next bus stop or rail station. While on my first journeys in the city, I mistakenly believed that it would be easy to walk around Los Angeles, and my stubborn-side refused to give in to the unwelcoming city streets. Moreover, while riding the bus, it was hard to ignore that the other passengers were primarily not white, affluent riders. On one occasion, the bus was held up by a woman who was mentally ill, refused to pay the fare, and decided to yell insults at other passengers on the bus. Eventually she paid, but the image of this angry woman is still imprinted in my mind. 

Why was she so angry? Was there real substance behind her careless insults? Though I too felt frustrated by the public transportation available in Los Angeles, I did not protest and I did not yell. I did not refuse to pay. But a growing feeling in me felt that something was fundamentally wrong with the current system. Why could transportation work so fluidly in one city, but not in another? At what point does a failing public transportation system become symbolic of something much larger? At what point does it become the embodiment of our society's lack of concern for the poor, the mentally ill, the old, and others who are marginalized? And at what point do we reevaluate our reality and strive for change? As I asked myself these questions, I wondered if there was anything I could do. I knew I couldn't bring Berlin's system to Los Angeles, but I wanted to learn more about why these two cities' public transportation systems had developed in such different ways. I thought if I could learn about what choices these cities had made, I would be able to learn more about how Los Angeles could improve its system in the future. 

Ultimately, I chose to research if and how the City of Los Angeles can successfully integrate its bus and subway systems, to provide an effective means of transportation for all. I looked at how Los Angeles could improve its current transportation system so that it would continue and expand access for those who don't have access to cars, while also acting as an effective, appealing alternative for those that do have cars. In my research, I developed a comparative approach looking at viable systems implemented by other cities, such as incentives to ride public transportation and disincentives to drive cars. I focused on the primarily successful transportation system infrastructure in Germany, to see if and how elements of it could be implemented in Los Angeles. Throughout my research, I had to continually ask myself what the purpose of public transportation is. Public transportation in Los Angeles should not be improved solely for the needs of the upper and middle classes, but it also should not be developed mainly for the poor, because in the long-term society needs a system for everyone. Public transportation has the power to bring people of all races and classes together for a common goal: to gain access to their city.  
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