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  • Los Angeles Times

    The $1 ride that costs $43. Why some want to keep it going

    by Rachel Uranga, Los Angeles Times Sep 15, 2023 6 minutes
    Ana Castro rides a Metro Micro van to her job in South Los Angeles, on Aug. 11, 2023.

    LOS ANGELES -- Ana Castro thumbs through her phone as the Metro Micro van pulls up next to her retail job at the Lynwood shopping center Plaza Mexico. Nervous about driving after her car was totaled and wary of traveling alone on the bus, the cheap ride-share service has been a lifesaver for the Watts teenager.

    It's clean, air-conditioned, picks her up near her front door and takes a fraction of the time it would to travel by bus to school or work. It's like a Lyft or Uber ride-share with one huge difference: it costs a buck.

    "Ever since I found this, I thank God," Castro said. "I always use it."

    The rub is that while riders pay only $1 for the on-demand service called Metro Micro, the Los Angeles Metropolitan Transportation Authority pays about $43 per ride.

    Public transit has always been heavily subsidized, but the cost is more than four times what it costs to provide

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