De-car-ing week: rail

This week's eco-topic: De-car-ing.

Rail is so quiet and calm and clean! I went down to the Aquarium of the Pacific in Long Beach yesterday via the Blue Line and ended up getting a lot of reading done because I didn't have to deal with all the starts and stops and lurches and bumps I do on buses. Plus, Metro rail costs just $1.25 a ride -- the same as a bus ride.

Unfortunately, aside from yesterday, I never get to take rail. It's nowhere near me! I see L.A. Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa take the subway, I watch laughing kids swing on subway poles, and I read all manner of subway stories -- but I almost never get to actually ride it.

Which is why I've been going to all these Metro meetings for the Expo, Red, and Purple lines. If all of them happen, my neighborhood will suddenly become a rail-heavy area -- although by "suddenly" I mean the next decade or so....

One snafu with the Blue Line: Something was happening between the Imperial and Compton stations -- construction maybe. We all had to get off at Imperial, get on special shuttles that took us to Compton, then climb back onto the Blue Line. That lengthened my trip quite a bit; it took about an hour and a half to get from downtown L.A. to Long Beach, compared with the usual hour.

The shuttle situation was very well organized, though, with people smoothly directing passengers on and off the orange buses, all labeled "600 Special" -- which I think will make a great title for a NaNoWriMo novel --

Photo by Siel