Metro Rider Approves of L.A.'s Public Transit System
As a Gold Line train rushes out of the Lincoln Heights/Cypress Park Metro station, 36-year-old Eddie Vaughn eases himself into a seat and dives deep into the pages of a good novel.
It is 10:45 am on a Tuesday, and Vaughn is on his way to work.
Vaughn has lived in Los Angeles his entire life and has been a regular rider on the Metro for the past five years.
“Metro works out well for me because the Memorial Park stop is only a two-minute walk from where I work,” says Vaughn, an employee at a telecommunications company.
Vaughn rides the Metro from his home in El Segundo to his work in Pasadena every day. His reason for doing so is simple; he wants to avoid traffic and save money on gas.
“I have a truck at home, but it’s a gas-guzzler. A huge gas-guzzler,” says Vaughn of his lifted Ford F-250 pick-up truck. “Sittin’ in traffic in that thing ain’t no fun either!”
On average, Vaughn’s daily commute to work takes him an hour and twenty minutes. His route requires him to transfer four times. He takes three different Metro lines, and one bus line to get from his home to his work.
“Occasionally when I am running late, or on a day like today when trains are running single-track because of repairs, I will drive to the Lincoln/Cypress station and catch the Gold Line from there,” Vaughn explains. “That way I don’t have to transfer. And they have free parking at the [Lincoln/Cypress] station.”
Vaughn is fairly content with Los Angeles’s public transportation system. His only request is that they add more Metro stops.
Safety has never been a concern for Vaughn while riding the Metro. He feels perfectly secure on LA’s public transit, but does point out that different lines draw different crowds.
“The Blue Line is what you would call the ‘vendor train,’” says Vaughn. “There are always people trying to sell you candy, sodas, CDs, and other nick-nacks.”
Vaughn continues, “The Gold Line is probably the nicest line. The trains are newer and the passengers are usually all headed to or from work.”
Vaughn is newly engaged and is a die-hard Dodger’s fan. He admits that he also rides the Metro anytime he attends Dodger’s games because he can’t stand the parking situation at Dodger Stadium.
“I’m actually headed to the game tonight,” he says. “After work I will take the Gold Line all the way back to Union Station and then catch the Dodger Stadium Express from there.”
Vaughn has been impressed with the convenience of Los Angeles’s public transportation system since he first started riding it, and wonders why more people don’t take advantage of it.
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