Perhaps it is not intrinsically that Metro is so horrible but that many of the people who use it are particularly horrible, and most of the bus drivers are surly.
* US has done a better job because Muslims are still a very small percentage of the population.
A very small minority assimilates better than a big one does. In some European cities, Muslims are the MAIN minority. Also, ultra-liberalism of EU tries to make whites assimilate to diversity than other way around.
Also, US has less culture and history than Europe. It’s easy to ‘assimilate’ to eating Big Mac and watching Hollywood movies if that has indeed become the essence of American Culture and identity.
If black population had been 1%, who knows? They might have melted into rest of America.
But being much bigger, assimilation has been difficult.
More Muslims that US has, more Muslims will assert themselves and assimilate less.
Also, Neocons certainly didn’t assimilate well into the GOP base. Had they done so, people like Boot wouldn’t be throwing a fit because many white conservatives don’t want to be bossed around by Jewish conservatives who make up less than 1% of conservatives.
One thing for sure, Israel hasn’t done such a great job in assimilating Palestinians. Walls seem to keep going up on the basis that assimilation is futile.
* Their website sucks, the tap webaite sucks. You can not reload money quick, takes time and its way outdated. I complained about this 5 years ago and site still a dump. MTA is overrated it claims to save money, but at 100$ monthly pass is not worth it, driving short and long distances is way cheaper and time saving.
* The bus service is better in Downtown LA; in south LA, the time between buses can range from 20 – 30 minutes apart. Most drivers are very rude, but some are quite nice.
I’ve seen people tell a sob story to drivers, and ride a few stops for no cost; yet, as a disabled rider, I was chastised when the idiot driver couldn’t count change properly. Or when I didn’t understand his “ghetto English.” The rail in SoLA can be taking your chances riding among drug dealers, users, and the general population of the mentally ill. Overall, the buses serve the area well, but riding them can be a nightmare. They’ll let almost anything ride the bus.
* I love the trains, they are very reliable and save so much time over walking, the busses on the other hand, not so much, a 15 minute ride plus a half hour wait equals might as well have walked. Plus, I’ve seen a few drivers who almost ran over a few pedestrians with walkers just because they were in a bad mood. Blowing horns in the faces of the elderly is a very common practice amongst metro drivers, especially on Wilshire blvd in Koreatown where of course, nobody knows how to drive. I can’t tell you how many times people have tried to run me over in the cross walk when I had the walk sign and therefore, the right of way.
