Re: South Central Los Angeles (compared to Melbourne)

As it turned out there was an MTA bus waiting so we took it along
Aviation to Century (the stop closest to our hotel). A connection
more by default than by design! It was about 2200 (10.00 pm) and the
bus headways were sparse at that time.
It was a novel way of returning from San Diego: Coaster/Metrolink
(via San Bernardino), red line, blue line, green line and MTA bus.
The blue/green transfer station was busy (it was about 2100 [9.00
pm]) and some of the people looked rather scary but overall it was OK.
We used the G [airport] shuttle in 1996 when we had a four hour
transit at LAX. It was a convenient way to sample the [new at the
time] green line.
We've got a little off topic here of course. But I enjoy reading
about the experiences of Australian tram enthusiasts travelling
overseas. We must be among the most travelled enthusiasts considering
our geographic remoteness and the low value of the Australian dollar.
Paul in Melbourne

--- In TramsDownUnder@y..., "petercook2705" <mrpc@i...> wrote:

--- In TramsDownUnder@y..., "pn1.rm" <pn1@b...> wrote:

Yes, I agree there would be few areas in Melbourne similar
to South Central Los Angeles. But how much better is
Beverley Hills than Toorak?

Toorak has fewer hookers, and is pedestrian friendly. Beverley

Hills

has too many cars, just like the rest of LA.

In August 2000, returning about 8.30 pm from a train ride to San
Bernardino we caught the Red line subway, changed to the Blue

line

light rail, changed to the Green line light rail to get to

Aviation

Boulevard. Found a bus there that took us to a stop near our

hotel

(Westin LAX).

Was this the airport shuttle? They have recently cracked down on
anyone using this without an MTA ticket and a bit of luggage. A

lot

of (mostly non-english speaking) airport employees were using the
Aviation P&R and catching the free shuttle to the airport, ignoring
all the signs saying the P&R was intended for MTA ticket holders
only. I don't think they cracked down on all non-travellers, but

it

is the next logical step.

On both my trips on that shuttle, I as well as every other

passenger

on board was interrogated in Spanish then English about whether I

was

planning on catching a train at Aviation. They didn't seem to

think

that an akubra hat and 4 items of luggage was sufficient proof that

I

was a traveller and wasn't an airport employee.

The transfer from Blue to Green lines is interesting. The
Green line platform is extremely noisy with the freeway
traffic on both sides.

Anyone who thinks that heavy or light rail stations belong in the
middle of freeways, please take note of this. It is a very dumb
idea. The sheer noise of (what was it - 5 or 6 lanes each way?) of
cars and trucks a good 12 feet away from the platform screaming

past

at 70mph was not only disappointingly noisy, but actually quite
scary, and that's not even taking the bad neighbourhood into

account.

We took the Blue/Green option rather than making a direct
transit from the Blue line to a bus (that stopped at the door
of our hotel) because we were told we would be taking our
lives into our own hands if we tried to make the connection
after dark. Are there be any evening tram/tram connections
in Melbourne where the same advice would be appropriate?

There is nowhere in Melbourne where it legal to carry handguns. In
South Central LA, you are nuts if you don't. If you step outside

the

MTA Light Rail, you leave the video surveillance zone and enter

gang

turf. If you look the wrong way in that area and aren't able to
assert yourself when confronted by a dozen or more youths, you are

in

deep s***.

The areas served by the Blue and Green lines are rather
tacky by Melbourne standards. But we did not forget we
were visiting the Greatest Country in the World!

This was my very first impression of the USA, and it made me

realise

immediately just how good we have it down under. That place is a
complete hole. Qantas would be wise to switch its US West Coast

hub

from LAX to SFO one day.


PC
Melbourne

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