Blogging Social Difference: Week 3

In lecture on Wednesday, we talked about the Chicago school of thought. Part of that discussion included the topic of transportation systems and how everything could lead from the peripheral parts of the city into the center. Of course, this theory doesn’t fit in Los Angeles. So here, the public transportation systems were built in such a way as to connect the many centers together.

Last week, I took the Big Blue Bus to Santa Monica. Until I came to college, public transportation was never a way I would get from one place to another. But with the scarcity of places to park (especially without paying), the bus is often the best option. After finally figuring out which bus we were supposed to take, we got on and started our thirty minute adventure down Wilshire.

The Big Blue Bus was pretty clean and seems to be a common daily mode of transportation for pretty much anyone. There were kids getting on the bus on their way home from school, business people out on their lunch breaks, young people, old people, an occasional homeless person. No characteristic (possibly with the exception of income) seems to be a determinant of whether or not you could find a certain “type” of person on the bus. I think it’s sometimes easy to tell the people who ride the bus regularly; they’ll usually be listening to music or reading something. On the other side, it’s pretty obvious who doesn’t take the bus on a regular basis (i.e. college girls like us who chat the whole ride there). People don’t generally talk to each other or sit in seats next to each other if they don’t have to.

Going back to the topic of income, I rarely ever see “wealthy-looking” people on the bus. This probably speaks to the stereotype that the bus is more commonly used by people of lower socioeconomic status. In some ways, it seems that those who are able to separate themselves from those who are different than they are try to do so.

Overall, it’s interesting to observe people as they get on and off the bus and to speculate where people are coming from or going to. The bus serves as a mode of convenience for some and of necessity for others. It really is an experience worth examining.