Paul's Comments

I've had various passes for bus service over the years. Basically, it's the same as the article below on amusement parks: you buy a pass because you're a frequent user and a pass is cheaper than paying cash every time.

I even went so far as to take one class once a week in college back in California, which I wasn't really interested in but I did it in order to get a student pass which cut the price of bus travel in half. (I am a messy cheapskate.)

I remember when RTD, the bus company for Los Angeles and vicinity (now called LACMTA), had a special bus pass, which was, I think $20 for three months, for students, and gave unlimited use anywhere in Los Angeles County. I had thought it was system wide, and bought it. They actually put your picture on it. Well, as it turned out, the bus drivers were apparently as uninformed as I was, because I used it once to take a trip all the way to Riverside (about 50 miles) and come back. So I did get my money's worth over that summer.

I remember that the bus stopped in front of the Riverside Greyhound terminal, and I went inside - to use the restroom if nothing else - and looked around. A few years later, I had the opportunity to visit Riverside again, and this time there was a bus-bay system for everything: RTD, the local Riverside county transit, and Greyhound, and the Greyhound terminal had been closed. Funny thing is, I took a look inside, and in the shell of the former station, I could remember from years back how it had looked.

I later ended up having a full-time job in La Mirada, which is about as far as you can go east in Los Angeles County and not end up in Orange County. In fact, down about five houses and across the street was a 20-foot chain-link fence - to keep golf balls from ending up flying off the property - for the back of a golf course which was located in Orange County. The fence didn't always work, however. Occasionally a golf ball came out of the golf course; the place where I worked - which was a private residence - would have golf balls land in the backyard or on the roof from time-to-time. One time someone came by to visit, and when they walked out to their car, parked on the street, discovered their car had changed from the way they originally parked it, with a shattered windshield and a golf-ball sized strike in the center. It was suggested they contact the golf course. I think the golf course did pay for the replacement windshield. Which makes sense, it's probably cheaper - and keeps good relations with the neighbors - to pay a legitimate damage claim than to try and wuss out of it.

[Update 5-17-2010] I found out that Google Maps has street view where they took lots of pictures and can now show you what a place looked like when they took them, probably within the last year or so. I have since discovered the golf course isn't there any more; it's now condos. I probably should have expected this, I was there in 1987; after over 22 years it's bound to change.[End Update]

I digress. Anyway, La Mirada is right on the county line, so there are two ways to get there from Long Beach. First way: take Long Beach Transit to the end of the line on Alondra Boulevard in Norwalk, then either RTD or Norwalk Transit to La Mirada. The other way: take Long Beach transit either to Cal State University, Long Beach, or to Seal Beach, in Orange County (I forget which), then take OCTD (now OCTA) to Knott's Berry Farm, then another OCTD bus from there to Beach Boulevard, which runs next to the county line, and walk three blocks on La Mirada Blvd back into LA County. Another way was to walk five blocks from where I lived at 4th St. and Orange Avenue, to Ocean Blvd. and Orange, then take RTD express to Disneyland, and transfer to the bus that goes on Beach to Malvern St. near La Mirada.

The problem in this is it requires using (at least) two different transit agencies. None of which accept each other's monthly passes, meaning I'm basically a cash customer who gets a transfer to use on the other agency's line. (You can't get an interagency transfer if you're a pass holder, which basically makes a pass worthless to me.)

It's also a long trip, about two hours each way. And woe to me if I missed the RTD bus going down Alondra Blvd. or the Beach Blvd. bus from OCTD, if I'm too late - which is about 6 on weekends or about 7 on weekdays - the only other option is to walk about a mile north to the nearest regional bus, the RTD that runs on Rosecrans Blvd. That runs until about 10 or 11, and at least twice I had to walk it. A couple of times my boss drove me up to Rosecrans so I could work late. Two times she had to drive me all the way home: once when we had to work really late, and the time when she bought me a computer so I could now work at home - and have my own computer - and only have to come out on weekends. Oh I didn't get it for free: she took $10 a week out of my check to pay for it. And that took 18 months (a no-name XT clone really did cost $700 back then). I had that computer for six years, I think, before it was just too weak and underpowered to use for current applications. Basically I wanted to play Wolfenstein 3D, and it required a 286 at least. But I got a lot done with that machine while it was useful.

Again I digress. Anyway, now, because I have Metro Access, which grants me use of the handicapped van service, I get free use of any local transit except Alexandria Transit, which does not give any discounts, it's full price for everyone including seniors and disabled. Actually, Metro is the only one requiring a special ID; Prince George's County The Bus and Montgomery County Ride-On give free transport to senior citizens and disabled. I think Fairfax (City of Fairfax and Fairfax County) in Virginia does too, but I have not used either in a long time.

It's rather interesting that they're relatively generous that way here. Both Richmond and Baltimore as well as the MARC commuter rail do have discount fares for disabled and seniors but they don't offer free service. I remember back when I lived in Long Beach - which would be about 25 years ago (personally I don't remember; my brother remembers the exact date - and the day of the week, no less! - that we moved here) - that Long Beach Transit did offer free trips to wheelchair patrons. I just looked it up; what was RTD and is now LACMTA charges disabled and Seniors about 1/2 price (55c for one trip, $1.25 for an all-day pass), Long Beach Transit charges seniors and disabled 1/2 price but wheelchair patrons still ride free.