‘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 Moss
Occupation: Unemployed
Location: Santa Monica

Your Transit Routine:

How often do you take transit and for what purpose?

Daily. For job hunting, medical appointments, social outings, shopping – pretty much everything.

Where are you typically traveling from and going to?

Between Hollywood and Santa Monica. Occasionally other parts of the county.

What lines/routes do you take?

Metro: 704, 4, 720, 920, 217, 780, Red Line, 305, 2

Santa Monica Big Blue Bus: 1, 5, 10

How long does it typically take?

30-45 minutes depending on traffic.

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

I deal with it.

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

$50 – $100

Why do you take transit?

Don’t have a car, and even if I did, driving in LA is too stressful. It’s far cheaper to take transit, and despite its flaws, it gets me where I need to go.

Other Transportation:

Do you use any other forms of alternative transportation?

No.

Are you car-free? If so, why? If not, why not?

Yes. Being single, owning a car does nothing positive to my financial situation and only increases traffic and pollution.

Your Perspective:

If you could make one change to improve your transit experience, what would it be?

Definitely real-time arrival info. I lived in Portland where TriMet offered Transit Tracker. The most annoying thing is to be standing at the bus stop with absolutely no clue when the next bus will arrive.

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

Make improvements to infrastructure. Clean up the graffiti, lock the turnstiles, and go ahead with paper TAP tickets. Cubic offers the technology – why isn’t Metro taking advantage?

Do you think L.A. transit is better or worse since you started riding? What’s changed?

Worse. Line 4’s service in particular. Since Metro stopped using articulated buses on this route, buses are severely crowded in the evenings and are more frequently behind schedule.

How would you encourage Angelenos to use transit?

I OFTEN DO. The more people use transit; the better it will get.