Originally Posted by
Dahon.Steve
LA like a lot of cities are redirecting their transit subsidies to rail instead of bus. The bus is the poor mans motorcar and used exclusively by minorities, the tendency today is to defund it.
I have to disagree with this characterization of bus travel. I see people of all races on the bus when I ride one, but the overwhelming majority of them are white.
I do hesitate to use buses, though, and it's not because of the other riders. It's because I absolutely hate having to travel on someone else's time table. This is true for both buses and trains, so even when they finish the light rail system in Seattle, about the time I die of old age, I will probably use it only to go downtown or the airport. Actually, I won't even use it to go downtown. Even when trains are available, going downtown on my bike will still be cheaper, way more convenient and about as fast as anything else.
That said, I still advocate the construction of as much light rail as we can afford. It's expensive, but not more expensive than more freeways, and it leads to more livable urban areas.