Civically Riding Metro In Los Angeles

 

Civically Riding Metro In Los Angeles 

By

Xennia Hamilton 

     What Is Civic Engagement? 

1. Civic engagement means working to make a difference in the civic life of our communities and developing the combination of knowledge, skills, values and motivation to make that difference. It means promoting the quality of life in a community, through both political and non-political processes. (The New York Times, https://archive.nytimes.com/www.nytimes.com/ref/college/collegespecial2/coll_aascu_defi.html?scp=2&sq=The%2520Engagement&st=cse) 

1. broad set of practices and attitudes of involvement in social and political life that converge to increase the health of a democratic society.(Encyclopedia Brittanica, https://www.britannica.com/topic/civic-engagement) 

2. Civic engagement is how you civically help or contribute to others and society or how you engage, observe and your perception of society. 

3. A major social issue in Los Angeles in my opinion is riding the Metro system. The system itself has not only been the subject of ridicule and has had issues with safety but it has gotten a bad rap in Los Angeles. This is due to the many fights, robberies, and other dangerous happenings on board at times both bus and rail systems

Problem Definition

Step 1. Research

1. Resources 

1. Riding Public Transit In Los Angeles Can Be Scary. Here Are Some Things I’ve Seen by Justin Ray, Los Angeles Times, https://www.latimes.com/california/newsletter/2022-05-18/public-transit-los-angeles-la-nyt-transit-essential-california

2. LA Metro Says Its System Is Riskier And Harder For Women. We Want To Hear Your Stories by Ryan Fonesca, LAist, https://laist.com/news/los-angeles-la-metro-women-public-transportation-travel-report

2. Relevant resources 

1. Women are scared to sometimes travel by Metro alone. http://libraryarchives.metro.net/DB_Attachments/2019-0294/UnderstandingHowWomenTravel_FullReport_FINAL.pdf

2. University students are also scared to travel on Metro as well. https://escholarship.org/uc/item/9wf3r12k

Step 2:Personal 

1. This issue affects me because as a rider of Los Angeles Metro, I understand and have seen many dangerous happenings on board and while riding. The police are not present as much and there are many riders with financial or mental health issues that make riding in peace non-existent. Also, it affects me because it sometimes makes the Metro late where it has to go resulting in being late for work or school sometimes. 

2. I chose this issue because It affects many because people don’t want to ride a system to not feel safe or harassed. Yet, I truly didn’t feel that people had problems with it as our system is one of the most frequently used in the nation. So, I sought out to find people who ride Metro everyday and see their reactions to what’s happening when they ride. To me, it’s an art to see how others think about our city and how we get around it. 

Gathering Evidence 

       Some members of society also wanted to speak out about how they feel riding Metro as well. 

I asked three Metro riders three simple questions

1. How do you feel riding metro? And do you feel it’s safe? 

2. Have you seen any incidents on board that made you scared or shocked? 

3. How do you feel the metro can be improved?

 

Abigail G. 

This is Abigail G. She is from Los Angeles, CA.  She uses the Metro to venture to school.

 “For the most part riding the metro is a semi safe option with a few exceptions. I’ve seen people  fight on the bus and also bus drivers yelling and arguing with passengers but thats about it. I think the metro can be improved by perhaps making sure the drivers are better equipped with handling unruly passengers.”

Gabriel G. 

This is Gabriel G. and has a family member that works for Metro as a driver. He shared his thoughts on the Metro. 

‘I feel fine riding MTA buses because my mom is a bus driver for the city of Montebello and she showed me the ways I feel safer on other transits. Only because MTA is bigger in destinations so you get more crazy people then normal. I’ve seen rude customers, drunk and high.I feel that MTA should bring down their prices and make it mandatory for all students all ages should ride free.”

Emerson M. 

This is Emerson M. from Compton, CA. Emerson uses Metro to get around Los Angeles and it helps due to his numerous aches and pains. 

“I like using Metro because it helps me get around with my scooter. But it is kind of sketchy at times with people using drugs on the train and robbing people and stuff. But it does help you get around when you get to where you need to go at times. I've seen some crazy stuff on there sometimes too.” 

Reflection

    My understanding of Civic Engagement did change after this assignment. I understood Civic Engagement to be what you do for society. I never thought that it could also be how you perceive society as well. Again, I was surprised due to the fact that I  didn't think that many people rode or cared about the state of our Metro. Los Angeles is known for being the traffic capital of the world as many people have cars and feel that you need a car to live here, it is surprising how many people the Metro system affects in many ways.  The challenges I faced were many people wanted to speak but were reluctant to have their face out there online. If I were to redo this assignment, I would place it upon video instead. I feel , although, that this is a success due to the fact it gives faces to the many riders of the Metro. This assignment helped me to understand that we are all not that different as we may think.