Blogging Social Difference in L.A.: Week 2- The Big Blue Bus

This week I decided to take a couple of friends and go on the #2 Big Blue Bus from UCLA to Santa Monica. Once we got settled into our seats I looked around to see our travelling companions.   It was clear that bus riders are not from one type or one group of people. There were men and women of all ages and people dressed from formal office wear to casual social attire. But everyone basically kept to themselves and kept themselves busy in a variety of ways until they reached their destination. Some were reading a magazine or a book, others were listening to music while some were texting or speaking on their cell phones.  These distractions serve as a way to pass the time because the bus, having to constantly stop to pick up and drop off passengers, takes a little longer to reach the various destinations. So seasoned bus riders plan accordingly. The drive that usually takes me 15-20 minutes in my car took about 45 minutes. Riding the bus is something that is done out of necessity and not pleasure. In Los Angeles if you have a car you drive it. I was grateful to have my friends with me because at first the bus system can be confusing to navigate and had I been alone I probably would have taken the wrong bus. Los Angeles is not a city known for its public transportation, and the bus routes and schedules are not as efficiently coordinated as other cities like San Francisco for example. In the future as the need for public transportation grows in Los Angeles then perhaps a better system will be put into place.

            Those who ride buses either don’t have access to a car or find it difficult to pay gas and even more difficult to find and pay for parking.  Most people on the bus were alone and didn’t seem too happy. Very few people talked or even looked at the other passengers. The bus that I took was relatively clean with very little advertisement. The majority of the time that I was on the bus it was nearly empty with only a handful of the seats occupied. Compared to the other buses that I've taken this one was quiet and my friends and I were not disturbed during our ride. I got on board at around 12:30 pm so the people on the bus seemed to be either students getting to or from class or people who needed to run errands, because by this time most people were already at work, which would explain the number of empty seats. The further along we got between Westwood and Santa Monica the neighbourhoods got dirtier and more dilapidated. Also the further down we went the more crowded the bus became. Most people tried to find a section of the bus where they could be alone as opposed to sharing a seat.

            In the reading by Durkheim we discussed the division of labour and how our society was fixed around this new idea of wants and materialism.  We now live in a society that has divided tasks according to the abilities and strengths of individuals. Since these neighbourhoods cannot meet all our needs we find ourselves having to travel further and further out to find work or food or materials for our daily lives. Public transportation can be an effective and efficient method to move the population to the areas that can supply them with the materials they need. The bus routes for example enable people to go where they can either purchase goods or work in order to purchase goods.  We passed by all kinds of shops, boutiques, and restaurants, which promote a sense of communal working.

The bus was like a mini Metropolitan Los Angeles.  The riders were from different economic and ethnic backgrounds.  Their reasons for riding the bus were are varied as the number of people on the bus, each person with a unique need and reason for choosing this method of transportation. It was really interesting to observe how functional and helpful the bus system can be for those who truly depend on it.