John and Janeth look south to Orange County, where Irvine’s Great Park has just approved moving ahead with what seems to be a very questionable transportation operation…

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Have you heard that L.A. used to have “the best public transportation system in the world”? Or that it was destroyed as part of a conspiracy? Well, let’s set the record straight. In this episode, John explains the real reasons why our streetcars were torn up and debunks some of the myths that have formed around our transit history.

Cover image of Pacific Electric cars awaiting destruction on Terminal Island, courtesy of the Los Angeles Times Photographic Collection, UCLA Library Special Collections (link), cc-by-4.0

Over the course of a single weekend, YouTuber and musician Miles in Transit attempted to ride every single one of L.A. County’s many transit systems. In our interview, we discuss how it went, why the region’s transit network is so fragmented, and the good as well as the bad of L.A. transit.

All of the music in this episode was created by Miles Taylor and Jackson Betz, and has been featured on the Miles in Transit YouTube channel, which we highly recommend! You can read a transcript of our conversation here.

In this episode, John offers some updates on Metro’s ongoing construction projects and shares some thoughts on even more projects in the works.

We discuss the sudden closure of the 10 freeway in downtown and what it has meant for transportation in Los Angeles.

John shares his thoughts on last week’s Arroyofest and what it could mean for the Arroyo Seco.

You all knew it was coming.

Join us as we discuss the 1994 action classic Speed (a.k.a. “The Bus That Couldn’t Slow Down”), starring a young Keanu Reeves and Sandra Bullock. Among the topics we touch on are the film’s extensive use of the Los Angeles landscape, how the movie holds up nearly thirty years later, and the surprisingly grounded portrayal of L.A. transit riders.

Last week saw the most hilarious transit debacle in recent memory, and we needed to talk about it. Join us as we discuss the fallout over the ill-conceived “La Sombrita,” take a closer look at the consultants who brought it to us, and share some insights into how something like this comes to be.

Sources mentioned in the episode:

On this day exactly 100 years ago, the City of Los Angeles held an election that resulted in the creation of the city’s first extensive bus network, marking a turning point that would ultimately lead to Los Angeles abandoning its streetcars in favor of buses. In this sprawling episode, John talks about the early history of LA’s transit system, the problems streetcar riders faced, and the strange events that led to the city’s early adoption of buses.

(If the above audio isn’t working, you can also listen to the episode at this link.)

Metro is currently building a lot of projects that will dramatically expand our city’s rail system by the end of the decade. In this (somewhat goofy) episode, John covers each one in detail and gives his thoughts.