‘Why You Ride (or Don’t Ride)‘ is a series where you, our faithful readers, share your transportation routines in L.A. and your thoughts on how to make things better – read more about the concept here.

Want to share your story? Take the survey here if you ride transit regularly, or take this one if you don’t ride.

Who You Are:

Name: John C
Occupation: Bartender
Location: Santa Monica

Your Transportation Routine:

How often do you drive and for what purpose?

Twice a week for work.  I bike to my second job in Santa Monica.

Where are you typically traveling from and going to?

Santa Monica to Downtown.

How many vehicles do you or your family have?

1

How long does your commute typically take?

45 minutes during the day, 15 minutes at night.

Briefly, how would you describe your typical driving experience? Love it, deal with it, or hate it?

I hate it. There has to be a better way.

On average, what do you spend each month on transportation?

$100 – $300

Do you use any forms of alternative transportation?

Bicycle.

Why do you drive?

No other way to get there without taking 2+ hours.

Your Perspective:

Have you tried to use transit before? What was your experience?

Yes.  The Purple Line, Red Line and Blue Line are all great. Haven’t been on the Gold or Orange Lines.

What could local transit agencies do to encourage you to take transit more often?

Extend the lines.  A light rail that followed the 405 from the Valley to Long Beach, along with the current improvement in the pipeline, would change the face of transportation in LA.  It would cost billions of course, but it’s the only true solution to that jammed corridor.

How do you feel about buses?

I probably wouldn’t ride a bus.

How do you feel about rail?

I’d ride rail if it there was a route that served my needs.

Given limited funds, how would you address L.A.’s transportation issues?

Rail is the only real solution.

Until we as a city make a commitment to do what ever it takes financially to create a truly widespread rail system we will never deal with our traffic issues.  Traffic costs LA millions and millions ever year in lost possible man hours.  The cost on quality of life is a hard to measure factor, but an important one.  We need to bite the bullet and save our city.  Its just to big and too packed full of people for us to keep pretending another lane on a freeway will work.