Public transport

In my first few months in LA, I got around by bus - and didn't think much of it. For sure I became aware of the sorry state of the US pedestrian, as I struggled to reach my bus stop across six lanes of impatient traffic. But the act of taking a bus was surely nothing out of the ordinary?

In fact, it seems that it is. I have casually mentioned it a few times in polite society here, and have been met each time with a sort of sympathetic wince, as if my life must have known some truly dark days. A note of caution enters the conversation, like I might go on to reveal that I had just got out of prison, and the subject is quickly changed.

In London, the tube and bus system is a standard way of getting around the city, for just about every layer of society. Amongst the hordes of people cramming themselves onto a rush hour tube, you are  just as likely to trip over the umbrella of an investment banker earning millions, or be wedged into the armpit of a member of parliament, as you are to jostle with the city's lowlier workers.

Looking back, I realize that an LA bus is quite different to a London tube. The passengers tend to be Hispanic and, if truth be told, look more like they are going to office buildings to clean them rather than sit in them. There are school kids, and pensioners, and the occasional oddball like me who doesn't know any better. But in the end, the message could not be any clearer - in LA, you drive a car. Plain and simple.

This contrast between London and LA is to a certain extent a result of area and population. London is trying to move many more people across a much smaller space, so there is some logic to packing everyone into larger units. But I think there is more to it than that. To an LA resident, a car means freedom and self-respect, and with that much of what it means to be an American. However bad the traffic gets here, it is not likely that public transport will ever be able to compete with that.