1)
Write a brief paper (three pages maximum) in which you address the following points:
a)
Identify a specific trip longer than 5 miles that you might take on a regular basis to/from campus. Examples might include: (1) a trip from LMU to your home or (2) a trip from LMU to your job or (3) a trip from LMU to a club or concert in Hollywood or (4) a trip from LMU to Staples Center to watch a game or (5) a trip from LMU to the Rose Bowl to watch UCLA football or (6) a trip from LMU to visit a friend at USC or (7) anywhere else you might go regularly in a car.
b)
Investigate how you could make the trip you’ve identified without using your car. Besides walking or riding your bike, what public transportation options exist for you? The quick way to locate public transportation options is by using the MTA “Trip Planner.” Based on your research, describe the best option for making your trip without using a car. Points to consider include: What mode(s) of public transportation could you use? How much would it cost? How long would it take? How much walking would be involved? How many different modes of transportation would be involved? You could obviously also consider just riding a bike—Metro’s trip planner allows for that option too.
c)
Compare your public transportation trip (or bike trip) with the same trip in your own car. How long would it take driving versus riding the bus or metro? How much walking would you have to do? How much would it cost to drive compared to riding the bus or metro? Hints: You can use www.mapquest.com to determine the distance and average driving time for your trip in a car (use the mapquest.com “directions” function). There are a number of other similar programs and apps like mapquest.com; use whichever one you prefer. The AAA estimates it costs about $0.75 cents per mile on average to drive a private car (assuming you drive approx. 10,000 miles a year; your actual cost per mile also reflects the type of car, its initial cost, etc.).
Based on what you’ve found in completing this exercise, comparing public transit to driving your own car (or walking or biking), explain whether or not using public transportation (or other alternative modes of transportation) is really a viable option for you in Los Angeles. Are you ready to get out of your car and start using alternative modes of transportation? Are you ready to get on your bike or simply walk everywhere? Why or why not? What are the time considerations involved? The financial costs involved? Based on your research, does L.A. mobility plan seem realistic to you? Do “road diets” and other such plans make sense for L.A.? Why or why not? Do you support Gov. Brown’s billion-dollar initiatives to support zero emission cars? Will they have any impact on travel times or your decision to drive or use alternative transportation