Public Bus of Los Angeles

I went to San Francisco to see a friend in September 2015. It was my first time to the United States and I decided to arrive in advance for a visit to Los Angeles to see the Hollywood and Universal Studios. I took B-2033, a Boeing 777-300er of Air China (you guys will not understand the stupidity of an aviation enthusiast). My arrival at the Los Angeles International Airport was after 5 PM. After border clearance and luggage pickup, it was too late to go any where so I took a taxi to my hotel to have some sleep.

I got up early in the next morning for my trip. According to many online travel guides, I was traveling around by the public transport system of Los Angeles. Google Maps told me that I need to first take bus to a certain stop and transfer to metro to the Hollywood Walk of Fame.

Quickly I found the bus stop. It was, compared to bus stops of my country, quite a shabby one, to be frank. There was only a pole with a number of plates attached, with information of stops and departure time. To my surprise, the bus arrived exactly as scheduled.

Thanks to the omnipotent internet, I was planning to buy a day pass. The day pass of the public transport system of Los Angeles costs 5 dollars but you will need to first get a TAP card which costs another 2 dollars. With a day pass you can have as many rides as you would like to within 24 hours. So I asked the driver of the bus as soon as I got on the bus.

– Can I have a day pass please?

– I am sorry. We don’t have any TAP cards left on this bus.

Fine, my plan of saving money went bankrupt.

– All right, shall I have a ticket to *** station? How much is that?

– Are you transferring to the metro there?

– Yes, I am.

– That’s not necessary. You can get your day pass at the metro station.

I was a bit surprised to hear that and went backwards to have a seat — it was so nice to be trusted.