Streetwise Transit Travelers

Your articles on fixing the traffic problems are great (Opinion, April 17)! It is so refreshing to read opinions on how to fix things, not just opinions on what needs to be fixed. For seven weeks I was without a car and learned how easy it was to take the bus. Before each trip, I would go to mta.net and find the best route for that time of day. Except for weekends and evenings, I was surprised to find out that my time traveling was increased only about 10 or 15 minutes per the usual 20- to 30-minute trip.

I didn’t have to stress out about finding parking or stopping for gas. If I know the parking is expensive where I am going now, I will be much less hesitant to take the bus. It’s really relaxing compared with driving.

More than that, I enjoyed the feeling of being part of a community of other bus riders. The only thing I didn’t like is that on Line 68, the repetitive new announcement is mispronouncing Cesar Chavez’s name. When they fix that, I will be MTA’s most ardent fan.

Mary Jacobs

Los Angeles

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I am a sixtysomething single, white female; for the last 11 years I have relied on the L.A. public transportation system, using it successfully to get me all over the metropolitan area. I couldn’t stop laughing , however, as I read William Fulton’s “A Cool Way to Unclog L.A.”

I can’t imagine the mayor (or anyone who owns a car) being able to navigate the system to get to any desired destination, let alone figure out which buttons to push to purchase a fare when riding the subway. My use of the system is successful largely because I speak three languages: English, Spanish and “Abuse.”

Of course, there are many courteous drivers and some passengers who understand the concept of moving to the back of the bus, but in Los Angeles the concept of “bus etiquette” seems to be largely nonexistent, perhaps because the majority who use the system are not in the least bit interested in a pleasant and efficient ride; instead, they spend their time dreaming of the day they can afford a car.

Ruth Kramer Ziony

Los Feliz

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Fulton recommends that “the winner of the mayoral race should ... focus on express buses and trains and on development patterns” to reduce automobile traffic. How about funding an adequate number of buses so that their schedules can enable us drivers to use public transportation? I badly want to avoid the numbing freeway congestion by using buses to travel from the east San Fernando Valley to the west for a doctor’s appointment.

So I investigated the route by bus. I don’t mind taking the three buses necessary for the trip, especially since bus No. 2 is a Rapid Metro. However, when bus No. 1 runs every 45 minutes and bus No. 3 runs once an hour, why would I spend hours waiting for and riding buses? With even the miserable drive on the Ventura Freeway, I spend a fraction of that time.

A more frequent bus schedule would make giving up the convenience of a car worthwhile for me. And the city.

Hilma Cohn

North Hollywood

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My response to the articles addressing traffic concerns was of disappointment. It seems to me these articles were written by and for the more socially and economically privileged, to find ways of forcing poor people off the streets and freeways to make way for the SUV-driving, cellphone-toting pseudo-elitists.

I take the Metro Rail almost every workday. I drive 2.5 miles to the Gold Line Del Mar station in Pasadena, from Union Station downtown I take the Red Line to the Vermont/Sunset station, and walk (yes, walk!) 1.5 miles to work. I’m proud to admit that there is one less maniac on the road when “I go Metro.”

It seems more of a priority for people to show off their free-moving wheels in the safety of their Hummer in gridlock traffic than have to possibly sit next to someone who might be different from themselves on the bus or train. Public transportation can be slow, confusing and frustrating. To help pass the time on this arduous task, you might want to read a book that someone is hawking in the Opinion section or read T.J. Simers in Sports.

Neil Starrett

Pasadena