Littering and Vandalism on Los Angeles Public Transportation
By Citlalli Navarro
 | |
|
What is Civic Engagement?
Civic Engagement is defined as an act or action an individual or whole group can take to address issues affecting their local or greater communities. Action can vary from community service, helping to get people to vote, and even participating in organizations for your cause. Urging people to take action is needed in order to tackle issues that might arise. The most important thing civic engagement promotes is maintaining unity, especially if an issue calls for multiple groups of a community to set aside differences to work together.
Overview on Public Transportation and its Benefits
Public Transportation is a valuable resource not just here in Los Angeles but to the greater population no matter where we live. Heavily populated city areas benefit from bus and subway lines that span over large portions of an entire county, allowing people to reliably commute to their destinations. Rural areas can benefit from it too as it opens up more opportunities for land usage so communities can have easier access to each other and in turn more resources. Since public transport strives to be as accessible as it can be in terms of cost and location, it allows for just about anyone to use it regardless of economic or social status. Connecting communities leads to improvements in the overall economy and housing as more jobs are opened up that can be better accessed.
Another benefit it has is helping to lessen the impact pollution can have on the city. The typical size of a bus allows it to house an average of 40-80 passengers and the most subways can carry up to 100-200 passengers depending on how many stands and the subway's build. Apart from the obvious CO2 emissions, most cars and trucks rely on oil and energy consumption, so its impact on pollution already runs deep. An article published by ABC news cites the 2022 annual State of the Air statistics released by the American Lung Association that show the unfortunate state Los Angeles is with air pollution. The statistics were based on the particle pollution levels of the 10 most polluted cities, with Los Angeles having alarming levels of pollution.
 |
| Credit: ABC News |
Allowing passengers to take public transport can affect pollution rates massively. Not only that, but it also reduces traffic congestion on roads and highways and likely lessens the amount of accidents that happen constantly. Accidents can cripple a road for hours and leave many cars on the road for extended periods of time where they're emitting more waste. An article from the Vaziri Law Group titled "Los Angeles Car Accident Statistics" stated that "The trend when it comes to traffic accidents in Los Angeles has been an upward trend. Statistics show that in the five-year period between 2016 and 2020, nearly 250 people were killed in car accidents each year on average, which is more than a 30% increase from the previous five years".
The Problem and Its Effects
 |
Credit: Google Maps |
Unfortunately, despite countless relying on it, a huge problem public transport is faced with is littering and vandalism. This happens in a lot of places but in Los Angeles the problem has gotten a lot worse lately. On the surface bus bays have their small structures tampered with and litter clutter the spots. Protective glass for installations tend to be broken or smashed entirely, with passengers having to deal with waiting on the stops amidst shards until it's repaired only for it to repeat weeks later. Sometimes benches are rendered useless to sit down in because of discarded items ranging from food, clothing, to literal waste. Then further below, subways suffer from messy and dusty interiors. Although you are far less likely to find broken sections on the trains, the sheer size of them leads to tagging and litter being a common sight. I resonate strongly with this issue because I've relied on public transportation my whole life. I've seen a great variety of stations in just about every condition possible and have seen how a lot of them have gotten worse over the years. It's always been important to me to be able to have safe access to transport for travel whether it be for business or recreational.
 |
Credit: Google Maps |
Passengers having to deal with these poor conditions has negative effects on the lines and the areas around each stop. Bus stops in poor condition make the streets around it more of a hassle to walk through but it can also pose health risks if left to fester. The same can be applied to train and subway stations since more people congregate in the spaces because they're built on a larger scale. Having to deal with this can discourage passengers from using public transportation which in turn could lead to less support or funding being given to them.
Proposed Solutions
A grand scale issue such as this doesn't have a simple solution but nonetheless it should not deter the greater community from taking action. A key starting point would be to rally for support in providing more help to renovate older areas and maintain lines that might stretch further than others. These lines are where many tend to congregate in and would be an ideal place to establish order to help deter problems from bleeding out into other lines. We could also rally for better security on lines. Having reliable systems would allow for passengers to report issues and receive quicker responses for problems that might occur. Passengers should also make more efforts to discourage others from littering or destroying the spaces around the stops and inside the vehicles themselves. Items like litter bags could encourage passengers to keep spaces around them clean especially as it can be taken to be disposed of properly. There could also be organizations based in communities to clean litter, allowing for a broader reach as they could coordinate between communities to improve the state of stops along lines.
Interviews
Here are some people I asked who often use forms of public transportation to travel. These did not wish for an image to be taken of them photo release.
Blanca Jaramillo
Question: "How often do use public transportation?"
Answer: "I use the Metro buses when I need to go to the store or doctor appointments for my child."
Question: "Has the condition of the lines affected you or changed how you used them?"
Answer: "I don't feel safe sometimes, the stations have gotten so dirty in certain areas and I can't even sit down to wait for the bus. Even when they get cleaned it doesn't last. The metro has gotten far worse than the buses I noticed after the outbreak."
Sergio Navarro
Question: "How often do use public transportation?"
Answer: "Almost every day of the week to go to work. I take multiple buses and subways early in the morning for two hours."
Question: "Has the condition of the lines affected you or changed how you used them?"
Answer: "They have been in poor condition for many years. Even though my job tires me I do not like to sit down on the metro especially when coming back home. There is trash in many areas and a lot of passengers have seen disruptive people make the long ride harder."
Question: "Has the pandemic made the lines worse?"
Answer: "Yes I got tired of the poor conditions of the metro I've stopped taking them as frequently. My route is mostly buses now."
Abigail Navarro
Question: "How often do use public transportation?"
Answer: "For school mostly."
Question: "Has the condition of the lines affected you or changed how you used them?"
Answer: "Yeah it's annoying having to stand a lot. Some areas are better than other but others are so dirty and some of the other students have complained about it at school."
References Cited
Patel, Jaysha. “LA RANKS NO. 1 IN OZONE POLLUTION, NEW REPORT FINDS.” Https://abc7.Com/, ABC News, 22 Apr. 2022, https://abc7.com/amp/american-lung-association-2022-state-of-the-air-report-greater-los-angeles-ventura/11777511/.
Ritchie, Hannah, and Max Roser. “Air Pollution.” Our World in Data, 17 Apr. 2017, https://ourworldindata.org/air-pollution.
VLG_AN_LEGAL. “Los Angeles Car Accident Statistics.” Vaziri Law Group Personal Injury Attorneys, Vaziri Law Group Personal Injury Attorneys, 7 Nov. 2022, https://www.vazirilaw.com/car-accident-statistics/.
No comments:
Post a Comment