Villaraigosa Urges Public to Take Bus, Train to Job

With gas prices inching toward record highs in the city, Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa called on all Los Angeles residents to join him today in going to and from work by mass transit.

“I’m going to ask people to go with the mayor,” Villaraigosa said in an appearance Wednesday on KFI-AM (640) radio. “You’ve been reading about the high gas prices. Take some relief and get on a bus or a train and go to work.”

The mayor said he wants to encourage people to rethink their addiction to the automobile.

“We’re going to look at what we can do to change patterns of behavior,” he told radio host Rikki Kleiman, the wife of Police Chief William J. Bratton. “Everybody talks about traffic and complains about it, but they do that as they get in their car and go two blocks to the market. All of us are going to have to think about using public transit once in a while.”

Villaraigosa, who is chairman of the county Metropolitan Transportation Authority, has made improving traffic a top priority. Publicized mass transit days are expected to become a regular event, with the mayor also planning to take the Gold Line train from his home to the monthly meetings of the MTA board, aides said.