Week 8: Yet Another Response

This week I have decided to comment on a blog post by my classmate Peter Do who took a bus trip through Orange County starting at the intersection of Euclid and Edinger in Fountain Valley. His post can be found here: http://petertdo.blogspot.com/2012/11/bus-adventures.html

Hi Peter. I find your thoughts on public transportation to be particularly interesting because your trip took place in Orange County, a region within the LA metropolitan area that is particularly scattered in terms of spatial arrangement. This idea was touched upon by Olin Kling and Poster in The Emergence of Postsuburbia.        

On your trip you noted that the ridership was comprised primarily of minorities and the elderly. I imagine this is a common theme across public transportation systems throughout metropolitan areas that exhibit a polycentric spatial arrangement as Orange County does. Orange County offers an interesting way to look at institutionalized discrimination as it is expressed through public transportation because of the way that everyday life there is dependent upon the automobile. I think you’re correct that there is a stigma attached to the usage of public transportation in Southern California, and as a result those who are either too poor to afford their own vehicles and those unable to operate them are unfairly judged and looked down upon.

As I read your commentary on this experience I started thinking about how these issues might be different in regions that formed during the third urban revolution. Decentralization in the LA metropolitan area can largely be attributed to the huge change in transportation that came about through expanded ownership of automobiles in the post-war era. Without the automobile, decentralization probably wouldn’t have occurred. What do you think the makeup of public transportation looks like in say Chicago or New York City? Do you think it reflects what we see here in Southern California where these systems are primarily used by minorities and other vulnerable populations, or is it more mixed?

Having never lived in a city that started off as a major industrial center before the advent of the automobile I can’t really comment on how similar or different they are to our system. I imagine that any differences would depend upon the demographics of individuals you see within the cities and the suburbs. I have however lived in two cities (Houston and Colorado Springs) that have public transportation systems that are much worse than those found in Los Angeles and I can tell you that in those areas it is again minorities and vulnerable populations that are affected the most. It is quite tragic as public transportation is one of those issues that often gets mixed into arguments over the proper role and scope of government with many on the right wanting to cut funding to these essential services.