Yes. I am a public transportation spoiled brat.

Is it so bad that I LOVE my express bus? One direct shot from Huntington Beach to Downtown Los Angeles and back. The plush-ish bus with friendly driver and decent human beings for passengers. People are friendly on the bus. Everyone seems to know everyone else. All the regulars, including myself, exchange phone numbers with each other just in case they’d need to hold the bus or to find out if the bus was late, etc.

Oh yes, indeed. I am so spoiled.

I guess when the monthly pass is $128 or $3.75 a ride with limited stop and route and the bus only runs 3 times a day, it does keep off the riffraffs.

Unlike the Blue Line.

Sure, most of my time spent on the Blue Line has been pleasant. The Downtown LA commuters getting on the train anywhere from 6 a.m. to 8 a.m. and back again from 5:00 p.m. – 7 p.m. are normal citizens most of the time.

It’s the off-commute time that the train gets a bit iffy. Okay. A LOT iffy. Like my shananigan a few weeks ago, that was around 9 a.m. And on my solo ride yesterday at 8 p.m. is the one to seal the deal.

I encountered a pervert.

It was a typical pre-board meeting late night Tuesday. Usually, there would be a chance that I could catch a ride back to the park-and-ride in Long Beach with Canadian Greg. But unfortunately, it wasn’t the case yesterday.

As always, I sat window seat with my nose in my book. One person sat next to me for some stops and left eventually. When we approached my stop, I put the book back in my backpack, and scooted out to the aisle. As I turned to get up, I saw the guy on the other side of the aisle shuffled in his seat, and unmistakenly closing and zipping up his pants.

…Uh…

And of course, I promptly got up and went to stand in the aisle along with other folks waiting to get off the train. Dude stayed in his seat. Although it was unclear if he continued to play with his tra la la after that. (Thanks Kevin & Bean, now I can’t get the frickin’ Gunther out of my head!)

Obviously, I tried my damnest to keep pace with that group going up to the mainly deserted parking lot at 8:45 p.m. Heebies jeebies!!!

Today, I got off work at 12 noon because of the late day last night and early start this morning. So I called up my former coworkers from the PR Firm from Hell to have lunch with me. I told the boys the story, praising the glory that is the 701 bus and cursing the Blue Line. (Gosh, I’ve missed these guys so much!)

The Romanian: So, you like your bus?

Me: Oh no. I don’t just like the bus. I LOVE the bus.

Terence: My ex-wife took the Blue Line to work once, and that was it.

Me: I don’t blame her.

The Romanian: Why is the Blue Line so bad?

Terence: Have you ever seen “Escape from LA”?

Well put, Terence. Well put.