car strike
2022: the year of hot people on public transportation
It’s been two months since i arrived in Los Angeles: City of Cars, and i still have no car! i do have a bike, a yearning to learn about public transportation, and many conveniently located friends. between gas prices, maintenance costs, insurance and supply chain shortages, i’ve made the decision that having a car will not add $600/month worth of value to my life, especially as long as i can continue working from home. therefore: car strike.
it’s more fun to politicize my carless-ness than to struggle to try to keep up with the traffic fetish out here. it’s even more fun because so many people are coming out as anti-car. it feels like a cultural moment - though i guess cultural moments are individually cultivated in the age of superabundant information. i’m a part of the NUMTOT facebook* group (new urbanist memes for transit oriented teens), and every time i drive down a highway in LA i think of this meme:
it’s like a mantra - if i miss a highway exit*, or i’m stuck in traffic, or i notice the layer of smog that hangs out below the mountains surrounding LA, i can’t help thinking to myself: “it’s never too late to admit you made a mistake”. then i imagine the 12 lane 405 turned into one highly efficient metro, rows of shops, bike lanes, and elevated gardens that stretch through the center of the city.
here’s the part of my car strike that i’m embarrassed to admit, but that would be dishonest if i left out - i have only taken public transportation once, so far. people in LA talk the most shit about public transport, and after growing up here, it’s seeped so far deep into my mind that it’s become an (il)legitimate fear.
it was the same in Boston - everyone said that the bus was horrible and unreliable, so i never took the bus, only the T and ubers. but once i started taking the bus, my whole world changed. it took twenty minutes to get from Northeastern to Cambridge on the 39/1, whereas it took at least 45 minutes on the green/red lines.
i think the car lobby is colluding with google maps - it constantly says that it takes two hours to get anywhere. i’ll keep you posted as i start taking public transport more (i have $12.50 loaded on my TAP card app!) but i think my approach is just going to be taking my bike with me, so if the bus is late, i can zoom zoom on two wheels instead.
the one time i DID take the bus, it was beautiful - and so fast??? like, the bus was speeding and i was worried we’d get pulled over. it took 40 minutes to get from Union Station to the cross street by my mom’s house in Lomita (after i took the bus 3 stops and 8 miles in the wrong direction), which is the same amount of time it takes driving.
and then there’s the whole climate change thing - California is pushing really hard for electric cars, but we really just need efficient public transport. it’s a chicken and egg problem, though - if there aren’t enough people taking it, they won’t build more, and if they don’t build more, people won’t take it.
at the same time, highways and car infrastructure effectively serve as a massive tax on the working class - most people need cars to get to work, and need to work to pay for their car. insurance costs are brutal, especially for young people, and if you get in a car accident, you’re still basically fucked. LA also has a long and depressing history of public transport being systematically dismantled by corporate pro-car losers. re-watch “who framed roger rabbit” and you’ll see it. here’s a video i found on tumblr doing the analysis - watch it before or after, i don’t care, but do at least one or other. i watched this video, and then the movie for the first time in december, and immediately stopped searching for a car.
i have the privilege to work from home right now, so i get to actually choose how and when i’ll get around. my choice: become a public transport influencer, for the people. make 2022 the year of hot people on public transport. join me! even if you’re not hot - once you get on public transport, you have the right to declare yourself a hot person. it’s 2022, there are no rules and everyone is good looking. except for the ugly politicians who build freeways instead of trains.
new thesis: trains > > > cars. don’t be ugly. take the bus. have a good day! i love you!
*you thought facebook was out, didn’t you? actually, facebook is in because there are buy nothing groups on facebook. more info on that to come in a future newsletter. instagram, however, is out. newsletters are also in, for the record. i’m very hip and trendy, so i know.
**i should clarify - i have driven in LA. my car strike is against (my) personal car ownership - i think car sharing would be great, and i hope LA comes up with a more robust car sharing model. i also have many very kind friends who will pick me up or drop me off.