Public Transit and Automobiles

Mark Nichols is on target in his letter (Feb. 5). One freedom I’ve enjoyed since arriving from Chicago in 1962 is that of unrestricted movement. After having been tied to a railroad timetable for eight years, it has been great to have my own “steed” waiting in the “corral” (parking lot).

Recently I was forced to use the RTD to pick up my repaired car, towed off the freeway to a station at Figueroa and Pico. (But, first, that evening there was no way to get to Pacific Palisades from there at 8 p.m. So I paid $35 for a taxi ride home.) The next day, I boarded an RTD bus on Sunset Boulevard in Pacific Palisades. I left my house at 2:05, and picked up the bus at 2:35 p.m. It crawled through the Palisades and Brentwood, then detoured down into Westwood for pickups, returning to Sunset at Hilgard. It took an hour to reach Beverly Hills, and 1 1/2 hours to Sunset and Vine. I finally arrived at Pico and Hill at 4:45 p.m., after 2 hours and 20 minutes. The trip was about 25 miles. I could have driven it in half an hour.

And I was just in time to hit the Santa Monica Freeway for the Friday evening rush hour. Talk about snafu! Metro Rail will be a disaster.

JERRY COWLE

Pacific Palisades