I have heard a similar story or 2 about crime on the Metro to Long Beach. But I have used it too, and it was fine. I really, really think LA would be cool had the transportation been taken care of (as opposed to ignored) starting since the 60's. It's kinda too late now as everything is built up, and traffic is only going to keep getting worse.

Though there are building more Metro lines underground, it's still not really convenient. I still don't see why they've not built one that runs parallel to the 10 and 405 fwy. Having just come from Boulder where the bus transportation is pretty decent (yes, Boulder is way smaller I know) LA could definitely take a few lessons from that city: such as building smaller buses that aren't so slow, and cumbersome. Something the size of say, those little buses that go from major hotels to the LAX. Except for certain times of day and certain routes, most buses here are half-empty.

I'm seriously thinking of contacting city council Wendy Greuel and demanding to speak with her personally- she seems like the only one who might actually listen. She did mention in some small publication that she was "commited to finding solutions to LA's traffic problem". I'd like to see just how commited she really is. Not that she can necessarily do anything about it ,or is responsible for the transport problem. (As we who live in LA know that most LA gov't officials are merely figureheads.) But I'm definitely going to at least try to come up with some ideas and share it with anyone who is willing to listen.

I've ridden the Red Line, Green Line, Gold Line and the Blue Line to Long Beach many many times with no problems of any kind.

Metrolink (run by Amtrak) is downright luxurious with bathrooms and many other amenities.