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Crowded freeways like the 405 Freeway, viewed here from Sunset Boulevard, are a common sight in L

Any Angelino who has braved the 405 Freeway during rush hour must have wondered why so many people have to drive.

But a better question might be, “Why shouldn’t they?”

In the sprawling, car-centric city UCLA students call home, driving remains the transportation method of choice for most.

While a myriad of factors influence whether a person uses public transit, the key categories are often cost and convenience.

While Los Angeles may not be a model of alternative transportation, other cities is the United States have developed effective systems.

The city of Davis has earned national recognition for its commitment to the environment and for developing alternatives to single-occupant driving.

Anthony Palmere, manager of Unitrans – the city’s student-run bus system – said people may try public transportation for different reasons but will only continue to use it if it is convenient.

“Convenience will always be the key factor to whether or not people use public transportation,” Palmere said.

Palmere said some cities are ideally situated for public transit systems, and others make driving a more attractive option.

Because the area Unitrans services is high-density and compact, public transit or walking are naturally more appealing than driving.

Since the distance between bus stops is short – a person does not have to walk far to get to a bus stop – and the service area is small, most trips are relatively short by bus.

Palmere said because Los Angeles is so large, it is very difficult to build effective bus systems, but he noted the city does have smaller, dense corridors in which public transit is widely utilized.

In fact, three Southern California lines made the 10 top-ranked bus systems in the United States: lines in Long Beach, Santa Barbara, and the Santa Monica Big Blue Bus, according to a report written by Brian Taylor, director of the UCLA Institute of Transportation Studies and an urban studies professor.

Taylor’s report highlighted Long Beach’s system for its increasing ridership levels.

The report cites a number of factors influencing how many people use public transportation and items and costs associated with driving – car ownership, gas prices and parking availability and costs as well as traffic congestion levels.

The report cited a 1995 San Francisco County Transportation study that found when parking costs 20 to 30 percent more than transit fares, people choose the bus instead of their cars.

Economic factors influence the attractiveness and the use of public transportation as an alternative to driving, said Donald Shoup, professor of urban studies and a major proponent of BruinGo!.

BruinGo! is a campus program that allows anyone with a valid BruinCard to ride the Santa Monica and Culver City bus lines on week days during the school year for a reduced fare of $0.25.

Shoup said after a student has purchased a parking permit the cost of parking is essentially zero because the student can park without additional charge as many times as he wants. Riding the bus, though, costs students $0.25 per ride.

As students with a permit can basically park for free but would have to spend money to use BruinGo!, they will choose to drive, Shoup added.

Shoup proposed that UCLA adopt a system using in-vehicle meters – devices that record the amount of time the car is parked in a campus parking lot – and charge based on the time the car is actually parked.

In-vehicle meters are used by several other universities, including the University of Oregon.

Transportation Services did not adopt the proposal.

“Given the current pricing system, UCLA will never have enough parking spaces because the problem is not a shortage of spaces,” Shoup said.

“Constructing expensive new parking places and undercharging for them is like feeding pigeons: The more spaces you build, the more cars will come to fill them, and there will always be a shortage,” he added.