There's something about getting on a bus in Los Angeles that turns transportation (in the mystical, joyous sense) into transportation. I take public transportation a lot, but this week I've been riding the bus even more than usual. I have traveled from my home base in Mar Vista to Encino, Montrose and Panorama City as I continue my quest to play tennis in all public courts in Los Angeles County. I have also gone to the gym and physical therapy in Culver City; a book club meeting at the Rancho Park library; a bar in Chinatown where the DJ played soul classics with vintage audio; and a mutual aid pop-up at a homeless encampment in West Los Angeles
For me, bus travel is more than transit. It is a creative adventure. This is how I open my mind to see Los Angeles as a city of buses instead of a city of cars.
Use the bus stop as a launching pad.
The adventure begins as soon as I leave my house and pass by my car. “I'm a world traveler,” I often say to myself, as if I were a character in a sci-fi epic and not just a guy walking to the bus stop. This is because I'm not just a guy walking to a bus stop. I am a traveler on the planet.
The phase before the bus stop is also the time to plan the route. Map apps are one of the greatest blessings of the Internet. They tell you where to go and when the bus will arrive. It is no longer necessary to stay on the street and look sadly at the horizon; At least not when you're waiting for the bus.
Open my mind to new visions of goodness.
I also use my phone to pay the senior rate, something new for me after turning 62 in July. Seventy-five cents for travel in high season and 35 cents in low season helps me appreciate aging as a bargain.
I greet the bus operator warmly, although they rarely match my enthusiasm. I wasn't offended. Bus operators have a lot on their plate. They not only drive, but also maintain order and serve people with different types of mobility. Every time a bus driver lowers the ramp to let someone who uses a wheelchair pass and then makes sure that person is safe, it is a public performance of care and kindness.
(Ryan Johnson / for The Times)
There are no bad seats
After paying my fare, I walk down a hallway full of people sitting, mostly with their eyes fixed on their phones. My goal is usually not to hit anyone with my gigantic tennis bag. People don't like being pushed on the bus, nor should they.
The closer I get to the back of the bus, the more likely I am to encounter an empty, orphaned fifth of vodka or a 40-ounce can of beer. The back of the bus is also where you're most likely to encounter a passenger rolling a joint once you're seated. Rarely or never smoking, but very often rolling, tenderly. That's their way of enjoying the trip.
My path is different.
Feel the Noise
Rumbling, gasping, moaning, roaring, hissing, tinkling, banging, creaking and repeating: this, for me, is the beginning of bus daydreaming. I feel relieved to be moving without any responsibility for doing anything other than sitting there. doing nothing, one of my favorite pastimes. I sunbathe quietly while my seat vibrates subtly.
Look away from my phone to see the big picture
If I resist the lure of the 4-inch phone screen, I can immerse my senses in an undulating panorama of Los Angeles 40 feet or more. This is always great but of course not always pretty. Camps, tents, tarps, tattered people staggering down the street. The bus is a self-guided tour through misery and inequality. I can't say I love this, but I hear a call to action.
At the same time, there is splendor from the rainbow-colored umbrellas of the fruit vendors to the shade of the magnolia trees and the glass bricks of the Streamline Moderne houses. Each bus ride is a massive, continuous take on Los Angeles, including everything that breaks your heart and makes your spirit soar above this city.
(Ryan Johnson / for The Times)
Take the road not taken
I love it when the bus follows a route that I would never take in my car. Put me on the 761 Sylmar bypassing the 405, taking Sepulveda, passing under the freeway and climbing into the rugged foothills of Bel-Air, the dense chaparral that recalls the ecology of the land before the city.
These smart bus routes show that the way things are is not necessarily the way they have to be. I am inspired by the G Line that runs along almost secret bus lanes from east to west through the Valley and the Silver Line that runs incognito parallel to the 10 from City Hall to the El Monte Transit Center , where there is a giant statue of a bumblebee.
Find the light from the inside out
Another mind-altering element of bus transportation is how the interior lights of the bus reflect in the window when you look outside. This light from the inside out reminds me of blues musician Reverend Gary Davis Jr. singing, “As long as I'm in this world, I'll be the light of this world.”
This effect is especially powerful at night, for example when the interior light of the 71 heading downtown from Westwood passes through Beverly Hills, accentuating the ruby red glamor of the Beverly Hilton sign and highlighting the platinum of the Waldorf Astoria.
Move forward with enthusiasm
The impulse to travel by bus has taken me to 135 of the 240 public tennis courts in Los Angeles. County, and every time I ride the bus, I feel like it's not only possible, but oh yeah! that I will successfully publish a book about these adventures.
When have you ever driven somewhere in Los Angeles and felt more confident, enthusiastic, optimistic, and able to achieve a long-awaited life goal?
The bus makes me feel like this every time.
(Ryan Johnson / for The Times)
Adapt when you are upset
I bring a book and especially headphones for when I need to compensate for the only thing I really don't like about riding the bus, which is when someone talks on the phone or plays music too loud.
One day, I was traveling, feeling so in awe of the bus that I wondered what would happen if I emailed the Los Angeles Philharmonic and asked for classical music suggestions that replicated my beloved bus noises. What happened was that the orchestra emailed me a Spotify playlist of transportation-themed instrumental music.
I'm enjoying it right now while the rude person in front of me enjoys his rudeness.
Say thanks
Many are thoughtful passengers who thank the bus operator as they get off. You'll often hear the bus operator call you back: “You're welcome.” This courtesy made me wonder if I could talk to a bus driver about things he notices that passengers don't think about. When I asked, LA Metro put me in touch with Juan Navarro, a bus driver with 25 years of experience and three-time champion of Roadeo, an annual skills test for bus operators.
He told me that what passengers probably don't notice is how the bus driver tries to stop about a foot away from the curb, not so close as to blow a tire and not so far away as to allow an oncoming truck to pass. I took away the mirror. . At the same time, the operators take care of their passengers. Navarro is especially concerned about getting older passengers seated before he accelerates. He says, “I don't want anyone to fall.”
