It’s too bad the LA Times didn’t ask a seasoned bus rider to write about taking a trek to LAX or the Burbank Airport. I would have gladly volunteered.

While LA Times Editorial Writer Dan Turner was putting the finishing touches on his February 5 article on how getting to LAX by public transit is as challenging as an expedition to the South Pole, I was embarking on a similar trip with far different results. Maybe it was luck. Maybe it was planning. Maybe it was my starting point. Whatever it was, I have a different tale to tell.

I started at my office in downtown Los Angeles at 5:30 p.m. on a Wednesday in late January and was at the ticket counter at LAX an hour later – with my luggage. I even managed to finish reading the morning paper along the way. My trip bore no resemblance to a trek to the South Pole and it didn’t involve driving our notorious freeways at rush hour.

This is how I did it. I walked a half block from my office on Spring Street where I picked up a local bus within a couple of minutes. I’m not sure which one because I have a monthly bus pass which I can use on any Metro bus, Rapid Bus, subway, light rail or DASH that passes through downtown. I’m accustomed to jumping on the first bus that is going my way.

The local bus dropped me at the 7th Street Metro station where the Blue Line and Red Line cross. I waited five to ten minutes for the Blue Line to whisk me away. Once at the Rosa Parks station, where the Blue Line and the Green Line intersect, I walked up the stairs just as a Green Line train was pulling up.

When I got off the Green Line at the Aviation Station, I boarded a waiting bus. Within minutes we were approaching LAX’s terminals. I got off at Terminal 6. When checking the departing flights, I noted that it was 6:30 – just one hour after leaving my office. I had settled on the Metro’s light rail because I thought it was the best option for getting there on time during rush hour. I was right.

The cost of the trip was included in my $52 monthly bus pass. Without it I would have had to buy a $3 daily pass. This was a fabulous deal considering the cost savings in frayed nerves, parking, and time.

I don’t actually think I’m a better transit rider than Dan Turner. But I do have three things working in my favor: location, location, location. I work downtown where walking and taking transit are the most sensible ways to get around. I live in Highland Park which has both the Gold Line and excellent bus service.

The point is transit works better when the service is frequent and when it doesn’t get stuck in traffic (light rail, subway, dedicated bus lanes.) The Metro can only afford to give us frequent service when there are a lot of riders. There are a lot of riders where the city is the most built up – downtown with its office buildings, or Hollywood with its apartments, restaurants, stores, movie theaters and clubs, etc. We will never be able to afford frequent public transit service in the Hollywood Hills, where Turner started his trip.

Most transportation experts agree that we will not be able to solve our traffic problems by building more freeways, roads or parking lots. Los Angeles outgrew the horse as the way to get around sometime in the last century, although it’s still a good way to get around Griffith Park. Likewise, we have outgrown the private automobile as the way to get around many parts of our city. If it’s mobility we care about, we can still have it. But only if we relinquish our death grip on the car.

Footnote: For those of you who have read this far, I feel obliged to reward you with one of my favorite public transit secrets: How to get from downtown to the Burbank Airport on Friday afternoon for a 7:00 p.m. flight. People who know Los Angeles are apt to say, "You can't get there from here at that hour!" My solution: take the Metrolink from Union Station to the Burbank Airport in 20 minutes for $4.75. The train stops at the airport. That’s right, the train stops at the airport. The terminal is about two blocks from the train stop, closer than most of the parking. Bon Voyage!

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