LA Metro

Okay, so this is not a recommendation for those who hate that public services are… for the public. And I am mostly talking about my experiences of the last few months, since in the years before that, I had only taken the bus & rail in LA intermittently.

But in summer 2026, I’ve been trying to take public transit more for my regular trips around town, and it has been wonderful! It’s cheap ($1.75 for two hours), easy, feels safe, and allows me to play my little daily word games on the way to running errands instead of getting mad at other drivers or sweating while looking for a parking spot. And the buses and trains are all air-conditioned!

LA has been beefing up their infrastructure in advance of the 2028 Olympics and whoooooo knows if they’ll make it in time, but for now, that means transit runs reliably and to a large (and fast-increasing) number of destinations.

And my final little secret — they’ve committed to making it easier to pay (you can tap your credit card or phone with Apple Pay), but not all the buses are fully equipped yet. Half the time I’ve boarded a bus and tried to use Apple Pay and it doesn’t work, the driver just rolls their eyes at the machine and tells me to get on for free. 😬 Nothing cheaper than that!