Why I Love Riding the Bus

I’ve only really started taking advantage of public transportation here on the Westside this quarter. A few weeks ago my friend Amy, a seasoned bus rider, encouraged me to take the bus to Santa Monica Public library (another great public space and resource!) rather than pay for parking. Since then I have become hooked. I am grateful that I get to ride the efficient and user-friendly Santa Monica Big Blue Bus. Here are some reasons why I love it:


1. It’s cheap, efficient and safe. With the swipe of my BruinCard, I pay 25 cents for a ride to the beach, 3rd Street Promenade, the public library - just about anywhere in Westwood of Santa Monica. I rarely wait more than 10 minutes, and I have never felt unsafe even when riding alone at night.

2. I get to see and interact with people who aren’t doctoral students or professors. People of all races, classes, and ages take the bus to get to work, to shop, to attend a protest, to go to church or temple... It’s a beautiful and refreshing thing to be around men and women who I would not typically see in my grad school bubble. When I drive alone in my car from onramp to exit on the freeway, it’s so easy to lose sight of the neighborhoods and people surrounding me. Public transportation has become my antidote for the isolation and fragmentation inherent in the greater Los Angeles landscape.

3. Perhaps most importantly, the Big Blue Bus demolishes my stereotypes about the Westside. Each time I ride the bus I am amazed by the friendliness and goodwill of both the drivers and passengers. One driver a couple nights ago made a conscious effort to wish each rider individually a good night as they left the bus. Today a Santa Monica College student helped an elderly man figure out how to open the handicapped seat while the bus was moving. A Latino man gave his hand and arm, to a disabled white woman as she climbed aboard the bus guiding her toward a seat right next to him.

I’ll have to admit, I wasn’t completely psyched about leaving the easygoing neighborhoods of Eagle Rock, Pasadena, Glendale, and Highland Park for Westwood, Beverly Hills, Brentwood, and Santa Monica. All I could picture, and all I really saw for the first few months, were pretentious white executives in their fancy cars, cutting people off on Wilshire on their way to their high-rise office building. And while there is some truth to this, it is only a piece of the puzzle. As I become more acclimated to this side of town, I am learning to look for the "other side" of the Westside - whether it's the Mexican market where the janitors and gardeners of Westwood grab lunch, or the community car washes organized by the residents of the housing projects in Mar Vista.

Where I expected selfishness, entitlement and homogeneity I have seen selflessness, humility, and diversity. I am grateful that I have been proven wrong!

Thank you Santa Monica Blue Bus!




PS I feel like my new-found love for public transportation definitely pegs me as a “white person” as defined by the website Stuff White People Like - if you haven’t checked it out, you really should.