In the LA Weekly, D. Heimpel writes about the MTA's plan to make Metro riders actually pay for the service; he disapproves. You'd think the MTA was asking riders to sacrifice fluffy kitties before they could board the trains. He writes:

In a city of 4 million, where residents tout individual achievement and grow isolated in their buffed cars and designer glasses, the forgiving, trusting subway honor system, similar to those in Portland, Toronto and Paris, is a rare point of shared pride.

In a city of 4 million? Too bad the total population of the metropolitan area is nearly three times that. The subway and the MTA have been a boondoogle from the get-go, and while the MTA has spent way too much on consultants, ad campaigns, turnstile designs etc., FBLA is pleased that the agency has decided to actually try and collect the fares. Shared pride? Can you take that to the bank? Who are these deluded citizens that are proud of the Metro? Will they loan us some money?

Fare cheats are assholes, not romanticized teenagers and "the poor". Heimpel's got no proof that these groups will stop riding, although paying customers aren't likely to miss these freeloaders, who are easy to spot. They're the ones eating, throwing trash and cutting up the seats.

He quotes some airhead UCLA chick who thinks it's like a dance to wander at will among the Metro stops, sans turnstiles:

Adding turnstiles feels kind of ugly.

Call us when you pay property taxes, princess.

There's also a USC prof, Ed Cray, who longs for "civic pride". Cray lives in Santa Monica, so it's unlikely that he's riding the subway to work.

FBLA bows to no one in our contempt for local bureaucracies, but the Weekly's all wet on this issue. Just because Lacey gives it away, doesn't mean the MTA should as well.

(Update: Check out the comments at Angelenic.)