Bill Lascher 5/4/12 Bill Lascher 5/4/12

Along for the Ride: An Interstate Commute

Today, I took some video and audio equipment along for the ride between Portland, Oregon and Vancouver, Washington so I can show you a sliver of what it's like to commute by transit across the mighty Columbia River. Enjoy.

Bill Lascher 1/23/12 Bill Lascher 1/23/12

Along for the Ride: Line 14

Bill Lascher 9/23/11 Bill Lascher 9/23/11

Along for the Ride: Streetcar Music Festival

Guitars, cellos, saxophones, toy pianos and more, the Streetcar Mobile Music Fest featured musicians performing aboard various streetcars throughout the night. Click the link to listen to and see what it was like when I went along for the ride.

Bill Lascher 9/16/11 Bill Lascher 9/16/11

Along for the Ride: Max Blue Line 1 -- Hillsboro

This week's installment of Along for the Ride, my series of weekly chronicles of Portland, OR-area transit lines. is an audio postcard from a rush hour trip aboard the MAX Blue Line to Hillsboro. In a future edition, I'll explore the rest of the line, from Downtown Portland, East to Gresham.

Bill Lascher 8/26/11 Bill Lascher 8/26/11

Along for the Ride: Island Time Aboard the 85

Bill Lascher 8/19/11 Bill Lascher 8/19/11

Along for the Ride: Going Live on the 75

Bill Lascher 5/3/10 Bill Lascher 5/3/10

In Transit

More formally known as the Los Angeles County Metropolitan Transportation Agency, Metro offers more than buses and trains. It exudes personality, a personality interwoven with this vast community. Many claim Los Angeles has no public transit, but I know otherwise, and this afternoon's ride only cements my opinion. A bus driver stopping randomly alongside the road might not be the model of efficiency, but he embodies the charm of transit in Los Angeles. I've heard of bus drivers who croon Rat Pack hits as they carry passengers to and from their homes; I've watched flirtation blossom to affection on the platforms of the Green Line. I've watched drunken partiers stumble down bus aisles then politely strike conversation with late night commuters. I've even seen gangbangers politely offer their seats to elderly and disabled passengers.

Bill Lascher 12/23/09 Bill Lascher 12/23/09

R We There Yet? Re-evaluating Los Angeles's Transit Future

It's becoming clear that the age of the automobile is coming to an end, or, at the very least, changing. Los Angeles, like other cities, loses billions of dollars each year just because of people stuck on the region's tangled roadways. Scholars, politicians, activists and numerous overlapping government agencies each offer often-competing solutions for how to get the region moving. All the while, the solution might begin not with expensive upheavals and construction of vast new transit networks, but instead with better cooperation, education and mobilization of the surprisingly robust transit network that already exists in the metropolis.

Bill Lascher 6/10/09 Bill Lascher 6/10/09

McCourts Keep Dodging the Trolley

It's inexplicable that the Dodgers resist supporting access to Los Angeles' baseball team. Of course, I can only imagine that the team was all too happy to oblige the city in restricting access for drivers to streets surrounding Dodger Stadium. Sadly, as long as transit options to the stadium remain so limited most of these drivers are likely to pay the $15 (or just stay home, turn on the TV and listen to Mr. L.A., Vin Scully, wishing he would call the entire game on the radio too).