> Over here we have buses. They follow confusing routes. And we have trains. The Coaster goes down to San Diego and makes stops along the way, the MetroLink goes up to Orange County and makes stops along the way, and the Amtrak goes everywhere and makes stops along the way. We have no subway. That's an East Coast Thing. We also have taxis, but you never find any on the streets, or at least not half as easily as you do in movies about NYC. You have to call them up. I've only been in one once, and it wasn't driven by a minority member, the usual stereotype of taxi drivers; it was driven by a nice tall woman.
>
> -eric "but yeah, we have public transportation, shoddy as it is" sleator
> Tue 27 Jun A.D. 2000

We have the light rail (like an above-ground subway, I guess) and buses. The ideal light rail is great because it doesn't get stuck in traffic like buses do. It has stations close to the University, the capitol, and the shopping malls. It simply moves along rails and traffic has to wait for it to cross the roads (just like a railroad crossing). However, the homeless people have discovered that, if they get together some change, they can ride around on the light rail all day long. This works out well for them because it's heated in the winter and air-conditioned in the summer. All of the business people don't like this because the light rail cars start to smell. I suspect they feel that it is beneath them to ride with homeless people, but that's beside the point. So, rather than bend a bit and just ride the darn light rail, the business people (many whom are legislators who drive SUVs and don't care about the price of gas because they can get the state to pay for it) drive to work. They crowd the roads and freeways and cause more accidents. Meanwhile, people like little old me are sitting in traffic in the middle of the freeway, watching the minutes go by and the gas gauge go down.

Hm. How did that ramble happen? I originally just wanted to talk about light rails, but now I'm back on the gas issue. I think I should stop now.

Ell"Guess who was 20 minutes late to work yesterday because she was travelling on the freeway at 2 miles per hour?"myruh