Do you like and enjoy a wild hay wagon ride? Then I would suggest that you ride the Rapid buses. These Rapid line buses, especially those that bend in the middle like an accordian provide the most wild, and bumpy rides in town. These buses could easily take a prominent place in any thrill ride at one of the amusement parks in the area.
I had the experience to ride the no. 720 Rapid bus that runs down Wilshire Blvd., and let me tell you that I had to hold on for dear life. The bus would seem to hit every bump and rut in the road and my teeth would chatter and I would have to rise out of my seat just to give my sore butt a break. I kid you not that a ride on these highly touted public transportation vehicles is just not for the weak at heart.
The mayor of LA is constantly heaping praise upon these behemoths that travel up and down the streets of the city of the stars. Of course the mayor does not need to travel to work in such a fantastic machine because he has got his own favorite and certainly more comfortable form of transportation. Yet he urges every worker to ride to work in one of these red cars.
I have solved the problem to the bumpy ride in one of those buses. I have got to believe that the manufacturer forgot to install shock absorbers. That is the only explanation that I can come up with. What do you think?
And, if all these wild moments were not enough, I found yet another reason to be excited. Yes, just as a reminder of how uncertain a ride on the blue ribbon transportation system of Antonio Villaraigosa let me point out the vagaries of travel. Because no two bus operators will drive at the same speed. Once I happened to be on a 720 bus headed west, and the driver was driving at a very leisurely pace although most of the route ahead was clear. No, I think he wanted to set a new record on stopping as much as possible. Truly, I think that he was timing himself to reach an intersection just as the light turned red.
Another time, I was on yet a different 720 bus that arrived at the stop at Grand and accross from the LA central library. Well on some unseen signal all the passengers moved off the bus. And as I missed the signal, I moved to the front to ask the driver for clarificaion. The female driver said that she was having mechanical problems with a door and that the 720 bus behind her would pick me up. There was no problem to worry about, said she. I must point out here that the driver gave me no proof that I had paid the bus fare such as a transfer or a note of any kind. So when the next driver asked that I pay upon boarding his bus, I explained that the bus ahead of him had unceremoniously dumped me, and the rest there. Thereupon the other passengers chimed in to confirm my story. "Okay". And I continued on my journey.
Yes, it is a blue ribbon transportation system that Antonio Villaraigosa has wrought, but not of efficiency but of disarray and confusion. Let us give the mayor of Los Angeles a resounding cheer!
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