Rain

Finally, we’ve arrived at a bright, sunny Orange County weekend. It’s what we needed, especially since we’re still recovering from storms of epic proportions that Southern California residents rarely experience. This past week’s storms have definitely impacted many people’s commute; whether it’s from flooding, traffic accidents, or uprooted trees and cars due to the high winds.

The news media has been pretty gracious to us, giving us way more coverage than we really deserved; yet many folks couldn’t help but stay home and tune in to “Storm Watch 2010.” As thorough as they may have been about these freak tropical storms, while flipping through the basic news channels, I noticed one huge topic that was left out; you guessed it- transit.

In the midst of all the shots of flooded streets, stranded cars, and (oddly enough) tornadoes, it was rare to see footage of how transit riders were coping with the weather. Our brothers in LA were more fortunate (or unfortunate) to get coverage of the fallen tree landing on the Gold Line, but beyond that, not much else. I find it disappointing that news channels claim to cover “your commute,” but of course that always pertains only to the car culture. I would love for a news channel to tell me which major streets or surface areas were beyond flooded (if you were commuting in Santa Ana, that’s every street corner), that way I could avoid waiting for a bus there during torrential downpours. read more→