I was driving home during rush hour on Wilshire Blvd. which must I admit is quite the task. I was stuck behind the “big blue bus” and began analyzing the advertisements pasted along the sides of the bus. On the back of the bus, which was directly in front of me, was an animated sign that illustrated the advantage of public transportation. The message to the public was simple, drive your car and you will experience stress due to the overwhelming traffic in Los Angeles, or take the bus and find relief. The drawing essentially had two separate sides. On one side was a picture of bumper to bumper traffic with vehicles, and underneath the drawing read “stress.” The other drawing was a bus and below it read “relief.”
I found this message quite ironic because as a driver in Los Angeles i feel that the bus system, although great for the environment, actually causes more stress and anxiety for a driver. We as drivers are forced to manueavr around the bus and must avoid being side swiped due to the drivers inability to look before pulling out (or they hope that they will not hit us because we must move). There have been numerous times when i have feared an accident with a bus because they merge into traffic from their stops with the notion that we will stop our own vehicles to make room for them. The sight of that large blue bus makes me nervous every time because they do “own the road,” as one of my friends put it.
So in essence i have found that transportation throughout LA has really done the opposite for me; it has caused me stress on the roadways. Moreover, they advertise this message because they want more people to switch to public transportation for the well being of the planet, economy and for the rate at which we reach our destination. However, I have personally found that the bus takes much longer to reach the final destination than it would for me to drive my car.
I support the system but found it rather humorous that the government chose to advertise their service in this manner.
