DASH Makes Me Happy... and Curious

Today, I had to get from Vermont and Exposition near USC to Traction and 2nd in Little Tokyo. My plan was to take a Metro bus up Vermont to Wilshire where I could hop on the Metro Red or Purple Lines to Union Station, then get on the Gold Line to the Little Tokyo Station. As I waited at the stop, I noticed a stop for the DASH F line, which runs from the Financial District all the way to South LA.

DASH Downtown Map

To me, LA Department of Transportation's DASH system (Downtown Area Short Hop according to Wikipedia) is the gem of daytime and early evening transit in Downtown. So, I ditched my original plan to take LA Metro and instead got on the DASH F, exited at Figueroa and Fifth, then hopped onto the DASH A which took me to within about 20 yards of where I needed to go. The DASH is generally the easiest public transit riding I experience in LA; though it turned out that it took me about 40-50 minutes, it did not feel like that long at all. I'm curious as to whether DASH in the other wide range of areas that have routes is as good an experience.

DASH all over LA County

Another very comfortable ride is the LADOT's Commuter Express, which I've taken from Fifth & Flower all the way to Hermosa Beach during those long summer days when I could catch a little bit of sun and ocean even after the long after work commute.

An interesting thing to note is that LADOT is a smaller, citizen-commission-run agency which, to me, is pretty efficient for its ridership. A ridership that is comprised mainly of professionals who work something like a 9-5 position, or people who work in businesses that serve those professionals. Commuter Express runs to the Beach Cities and all the way to Rancho Palos Verdes, but there aren't any stops in Gardena or Torrance. Which, to me, shows a clear distinction as to whom LADOT attempts to serve versus LA Metro. Makes me want to dig deeper into the history of both LADOT and LA Metro. Hmmm.