Quick How-Tos

So you live in L.A. and you’re thinking of riding the bus. What are the three most important things to know?

1. Have exact change. The machine takes coins and dollars, but it doesn’t give back if you over pay.

2. If you need to transfer to another bus as part of your trip, ask for a transfer slip from the first bus driver as you pay. He or she will tear one off for you (it’s about the size of a bookmark). Hand it over to the second bus driver when you board.

3. Exit from the back. When your stop is announced and you’ve pulled the cord above the windows and you’re ready to leave, do everyone a favor and exit from the rear doors (you have to push them open like saloon doors). This helps keep things moving, because the people getting on the bus obviously have to use the front door so they can pay.

All sounds easy and logical, right? Trust me, if you follow those rules, you’ll be doing better than most.

Dissed twice!

This morning all seemed normal as I waited for the Culver City 6. I was reading my book (“Dogtown” by Mercedes Lambert) and glancing up intermittently for my chariot to arrive. It approaches, and I stand near the curb. It pulls up, slowing down slightly. I move after it, figuring it’s just edging to the end of the street, but then it just keeps going and leaves me behind in the dust!

What the hell?!

Two people saw me get denied! It was embarrassing and I couldn’t figure it out. Did the driver not see me? There was no “out of order” sign flashing. It’s not like once the bus fills to capacity they stop accepting more passengers (trust me). I didn’t really mind waiting for the next one, as I would have been way too early to work had I used it, but still. It was troubling.

SO THEN!

On the route home, I pull the stop chord at Wilshire/Veteran, and the moving electronic reader accepts my request and broadcasts it, and the bus pulls over and slows down…but the back doors don’t activate when I push them, and it drives on as I stand there gaping and holding onto the pole! The bus swerves three lanes to the left to turn at Gayley or something. I was like, “Where the hell is it taking me?” but I figured it wouldn’t be too hard to back track a few blocks. A kind-seeming guy behind me assures we’re just turning up a side street. As it turns out, it’s closer for me to exit there if I want to catch the bus at Westwood, yet I feel bereft because I I don’t like the flip-a-coin aspect of wondering whether it’ll drop me where I want to go, and I rather like the transfer walk at the end of the day. I don’t get there in time to catch the immediate West 20, so I just start hoofing it all the way down to Selby.

It’s nice to know I’ve got a few options; the neighborhood’s not remotely scary, so depending on how I feel I can always walk more or less at the transfer.

Tomorrow I’ve got a screening at 7:30 in Beverly Hills, but I can still take my usual route home and just exit earlier, assuming the bus doesn’t ignore me twice like it did today.

(Do they still let you into a screening if they know you traveled by bus to get there?)