Public Transportation

You can do a lot with smartphones these days, but unless you're downloading the best apps for your device, you aren't really using it to its full potential. So if you aren't sure what to download, just make sure you have these 10 apps on your iPhone or Android device. Google Maps This app comes preinstalled on Android devices and should be the first app downloaded on iPhones. Besides top-notch design, the app is the best free voice navigation app for driving directions.

When Sheyenne Reyes was growing up in Riverside she could always find a seat on the public bus. Reyes is 21 now, and while waiting for the Route 1 line to take her to work last week, the college student lamented that these days the bus often "gets too crowded to the point where some people have to stand up - they stumble a little bit" as the bus rushes from one stop to another. Standing nearby with his wife and infant daughter, 24-year-old Trayvor Chandlis said that he's looking for work and that his family rides the bus because of high gas prices.

Al Vogel is partial to Philippe's purply pink pickled eggs. His grandchildren, he knows, probably won't be. But he wants them to get if not a mouthful, a good eyeful. So at breakfast on their first full day in Los Angeles, he orders one from the big jar on the counter, lops it in half and holds it up to Deveraux, 7, and Angel and Spencer, both 8. Hands-on is how this high school science teacher-turned-farmer wants his family to soak up this city. Al, 65, and his wife, Shaaron, 60, live in a small town 10 miles south of Chico, Calif.

New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo declared a transportation emergency Wednesday night, giving New York City the go-ahead to waive fares on the city's buses, subways and rail lines through Friday. An estimated 330 buses will move Brooklyn residents through the city, which Metropolitan Transportation Authority chief Joseph Lhota called a “flotilla of buses,” and half the city's subway lines will begin limited operation along with limited rail service. It will all be  slower, more complicated and more crowded at first, but these are just the first steps, Cuomo and Lhota said at a news conference Wednesday night.

Google updated its Android Google Maps app this week with new features, but the most noticeable change is a new icon for the app. The new icon, which you can see in the picture above, shows the Google "g" subtly added on top of a map that also includes the iconic Google Maps pin. Previously the icon only showed a blue dot on top of a bland map (you can see the old icon here ). The icon is not only cleaner and more attractive, it pushes the Google brand more. Besides the new look, the app also has some cool new features.

New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo declared a transportation emergency Wednesday night, giving New York City the go-ahead to waive fares on the city's buses, subways and rail lines through Friday. An estimated 330 buses will move Brooklyn residents through the city, which Metropolitan Transportation Authority chief Joseph Lhota called a “flotilla of buses,” and half the city's subway lines will begin limited operation along with limited rail service. It will all be  slower, more complicated and more crowded at first, but these are just the first steps, Cuomo and Lhota said at a news conference Wednesday night.

When Sheyenne Reyes was growing up in Riverside she could always find a seat on the public bus. Reyes is 21 now, and while waiting for the Route 1 line to take her to work last week, the college student lamented that these days the bus often "gets too crowded to the point where some people have to stand up - they stumble a little bit" as the bus rushes from one stop to another. Standing nearby with his wife and infant daughter, 24-year-old Trayvor Chandlis said that he's looking for work and that his family rides the bus because of high gas prices.

Florence, Italy , has recently joined Rome and Naples in offering a single entry card, this one good for admission to 33 museums and passage on all its public transportation. The Firenze Card , which costs 50 euros (about $70) and is good for 72 hours, grants admittance to sites large and small, including The Uffizi for the Botticelli masterpieces (without endlessly standing in line – look for the special entrance for card holders) The Academia to see Michelangelo’s David.

Re "With Traffic at a Crawl, Planners Talk of Tunnels," Sept. 18 Twenty-three-mile-long tunnels through the mountains in order to relieve traffic congestion at a cost of billions -- you're kidding, right? If ever there was an idea demonstrating the poverty of current thinking about our automobile obsession, this is it. It's time to remove fantasy from public policy debate about the design for our cities in the 21st century -- the notion that we can continue single-passenger, longdistance commutes from suburbs to job sites in the coming decades with falling supplies and rising prices for fossil fuels.

Will Staples Center revitalize L.A.'s downtown? ("Taking Center Stage," Oct. 10.) Not with the current emphasis on driving and parking. It doesn't matter where the center is located. You drive there, park in one of the vast lots and then drive back to where you came from. The huge parking lots defeat the kind of intimate, bustling urban atmosphere necessary to encourage extended stays. The preoccupation with car-based transportation is a form of dementia worn like a badge of honor in these parts.

The effort to build a football stadium in downtown Los Angeles is fast approaching its final hearings, as the city's Planning Commission turns to the issue this week and the City Council prepares to take it up by the end of the month. Those approvals, if granted, will allow Anschutz Entertainment Group to move to the next step: attempting to secure at least one football team and, after that, to begin construction on the property that is today one wing of the city's much-maligned Convention Center.

Google updated its Android Google Maps app this week with new features, but the most noticeable change is a new icon for the app. The new icon, which you can see in the picture above, shows the Google "g" subtly added on top of a map that also includes the iconic Google Maps pin. Previously the icon only showed a blue dot on top of a bland map (you can see the old icon here ). The icon is not only cleaner and more attractive, it pushes the Google brand more. Besides the new look, the app also has some cool new features.

Tadasana International Festival of Yoga and Music When : Friday-Sunday, 8 a.m. to 7 p.m. Walking, biking, carpooling and public transportation highly encouraged. Where : 2600 Barnard Way, Santa Monica Cost : 1-day passes $99; 3-day passes $295. Children younger than 14 are allowed onto festival grounds free when accompanied by a parent or guardian. Info : http://www.tadasanafestival.com

THE BEST WAY TO VERMONT From LAX, United, US Airways, Delta and JetBlue provide connecting service (change of planes) to Burlington. Restricted round-trip fares, including taxes and fees, begin at $508. Public transportation outside the Burlington area is minimal, so plan to rent a car. WHERE TO STAY The Middlebury Inn , 14 Court Square, Middlebury; (802) 388-4961, http://www.middleburyinn.com . A New England landmark with views of Middlebury's town green.

The developer of a proposed downtown football stadium is counting on a dramatic change in the behavior of L.A. sports fans, releasing a report Thursday that bets 1 in 4 ticket buyers would come to the 72,000-seat venue without a car on weekdays. With more than 19,000 vehicles expected to flood downtown for games at Farmers Field, Anschutz Entertainment Group's strategy for traffic hinges, in part, on convincing ticket buyers to travel via the Metro Blue Line, the upcoming Expo Line and other public transit routes.

Re "What to do about $4 gas," Editorial, Feb. 23 Who wrote this editorial? Not someone who lives in Upland but works in Irvine. Not someone who is an outside sales representative and needs to visits clients. Not someone who is keeping his old car because he cannot afford a car payment. How could someone live in Los Angeles and say that if you are not able to afford an expensive electric car, you can ride public transportation? In Los Angeles, what percentage of the workforce lives close to a public transportation line that will take them to work without any transfers?

In the early 1980s, when I lived in the metropolitan Washington, D.C., area, I was a regular bus commuter. I'd get on the bus with my Washington Post and have a virtually undisturbed 45 minutes to read on my way to work. Similar thing on the way home. On weekends, we'd take the car to the Pentagon, park and then ride the Metro subway to our destinations within the District of Columbia. This saved us both time and the cost of parking. I was a champion of mass transit.

Greece's precarious financial and political situation was shaken further Friday by a nationwide strike and a wave of Cabinet resignations over demands by the European Union for ever-deeper spending cuts. Four Cabinet members — two Socialists and two far-right conservatives — quit their posts in protest over the demands. Their exit forced Prime Minister Lucas Papademos to consider an urgent reshuffle to stanch the tide of defections before a crucial parliamentary vote on the austerity measures, scheduled for Sunday.

  You throw your hand in the air, and the groaning beast, resembling a banged-up bread box, slows to let you board, but never really stops. You press coins into the driver's palm and grab quickly for a hold before he guns the motor to continue his breakneck run across Mexico City. Hang on - you are passenger, and captive. Life in this hive of 20 million people is much about movement. There are subways, fast-lane buses, light-rail trains, far too many cars and taxis and a small but encouraging number of publicly lent bicycles for the stout-hearted.