Letters: Ride on, Carmen

Re “On the bus, goals in sight,” Column, Dec. 18

Eight or nine buses every day? A 15-hour day?

What an incredible and inspiring family to read about, especially at this time of the year when we should be grateful for what we have. Carmen Mendoza is grateful, and that’s why she embodies all that is positive. Her efforts show that people can achieve their goals — but that it isn’t necessarily easy.

I wish I could promise never to complain again about my 45-minute drive to work. But I do promise to think of the Mendozas and their plight and perhaps borrow a bit of light and hope from them.

Keep going, Carmen Mendoza — there is a light at the end of that bus line.

Ellen Chris

West Hills

What a wonderful mother and person Mendoza is. Thanks to Steve Lopez for sharing her long and busy day and enlightening readers as to what some people endure to give their children opportunities for a better future.

Laura Garfield

Tarzana

Mendoza’s long day is made easier by riding those buses. She doesn’t have to fight traffic, find parking, dodge potholes and endure the whole blood-pressure-rising gamut of driving in Los Angeles.

Some days I ride six buses through Westchester, West L.A., Westwood and Santa Monica. I read The Times, catch up on emails, surf the Web and make phone calls. I dream, sightsee and at times achieve deep sleep — all while reducing my carbon footprint.

As Lopez writes, the city becomes a different, more humane place when divorced from driving. A key is getting schedules, knowing routes, having good walking shoes and carrying warm clothes and an umbrella.

Buses that run later and more frequently, coupled with L.A.’s expanding rail system, will change the city for the better.

Matthew Hetz

Los Angeles

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