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LA Times: Buses are their route to a brighter future
It is 5:35 a.m.
"Let's go," Carmen says to Andy, 14, and Nicole,11, as they head up the street toward their Florence Avenue bus stop, all of them wearing backpacks.
On weekdays, Carmen Mendoza does not see the sun in her Bell Gardens neighborhood. She's out the door with her two kids before dawn, and the evening darkness always beats her home.
One reason for the 15-hour days is that like thousands of people in a region built for the automobile, Carmen Mendoza doesn't own a car. So she and the kids commute to work and school by bus, with lots of transfers along the way. On a typical day, the bus that takes them back home is their eighth or ninth of the day.
I joined them for the journey recently, meeting Mendoza and her kids as they emerged from their home to go catch the first bus of the day. ......................(more)
The complete piece is at: http://www.latimes.com/local/la-me-1218-lopez-carmen-20131218,0,6026836.column#ixzz2nqCImLmz