By CHARLES ANDREWS
NEXT FRI 5/1: GENERAL STRIKE
We have the numbers, we have the economic power. We have seen that pushing back, protesting in large numbers, works. Trump and his clowns back off. The billionaire bullies become cautious. But it’s up to us. The cavalry is not coming. We can do it.
And we can, we must, do it in Santa Monica. This city is special, unique, precious, and it has been up for sale for decades, by greedy, bought and paid for politicians. Much has already been lost. That must end. Politics got us into this, and it can get us out. We need just a handful of unicorns, residents who care so much about their city that they will make the sacrifices to stand up and say, me, I will change things. I will work only for the residents and what is best for them. Not for outside interests, not for some mythical population that may live here someday, not for some philosophy that ignores the human costs.
They are rare, but they are out there. This town has so many remarkable, smart, courageous, good people. But the rest of us have to support them when they step forward. With time, money, spreading the word, educating neighbors, and getting out the vote. There is a political machine here that almost guarantees election if you throw in with them. And then follow orders. Heck, you don’t even have to live in Santa Monica.
I am optimistic the candidates WE need will show up, soon. We can do this. We must.
SOUNDS GREAT! ON PAPER
Ride by Lyft anywhere in Santa Monica (plus a couple of medical centers and supermarkets, just outside the borders). For $1.50! Not bad. For all SM residents over 65, and those over 18 who are disabled.
It’s called MODE – Mobility On Demand Every day. Oh lordy, the absurd acronym assemblers are loose again. Shouldn’t that be MODED, then? And even when I signed up less than a year ago, it did not operate every day. Oh, never mind – that’s the least of my criticisms, by far.
You have to go to the Big Blue Bus office on 4th Street and fill out a form, showing some proof of SM residency, like a utility or property tax bill. If you designate a credit card, once you are approved, usually within a month, you are automatically renewed every month for up to 30 rides, charged to your card. Pretty straightforward, for a great service. But the devil is in the details, and I have way too many tales to tell. Frustrating ones. Angry ones. Dangerous ones.
I catalogued some of them in my CURIOUS CITY column 3/27/26 (“The Brutish Are Coming!”). This was not a miffed complaint about one incident. I had detailed many of them to the Big Blue Bus people, filled out forms, requested some follow-up, left two messages for a supervisor, and finally tried to invoke the power of the press by letting them know this was a media request for answers, on behalf of the residents of Santa Monica that they were supposedly serving.
Nothing. Crickets. I figure that if I am regularly encountering some problem, I’m probably not the only one. So finally I wrote the column, and thought I would hear from someone. Crickets still.
TURNS OUT
Some folks at Big Blue Bus/MODE/Department of Transportation did see the column, but…no one was moved to do anything or even contact me until I sent a link to the column to ANUJ GUPTA, Santa Monica’s head of transportation. I explained that I was planning to write about the crickets in my next column, deadline the next day. He wrote to me.
Sadly, it was pretty much a form letter. For a customer with A complaint. Not someone who documented a list of complaints, and was inquiring as media on behalf of all residents.
“Hello, Mr. Andrews – Thank you for sharing your experience with the Mobility On-Demand Every Day (MODE) program. I’m sorry to hear about the frustration you encountered and regret that your experience did not meet expectations. Please know that your concerns are being taken seriously.
…
“…For some additional background – MODE has been serving the Santa Monica community since 2018 in partnership with Lyft, and now supports more than 2,200 members. In FY24–25, over 42,000 trips were completed…: etc, etc., etc., our program must be great because look at these numbers, is how it came across
I think it is a great idea, and according to ROBERT MCCALL, their Community Engagement & Customer Experience Manager, who did call me the next day, as promised by Gupta, they pretty much invented it and enlisted Lyft to execute it. Sounds good… on paper.
THE WORST
But Lyft is, in my experience, one of the worst customer experiences I have ever encountered. Their drivers are great, but their GPS is horribly lacking, their systems can put both drivers and passengers in bad situations, their app is full of holes and problems, and their customer service is nonexistent. I spent more than two hours in the app (the only possibility) trying to get a refund for my $39 charge when they insisted on trying to take me to Manhattan Beach instead of the SM address 10 minutes away that I requested. A succession of seven “supervisors” with names like Jerry, Michael, and Robert were probably all AI. If you do manage to ever speak to a human at Lyft, they don’t know squat and can’t help you do anything except waste more time.
I doubt that Uber is any better (and they pay their drivers even less). But half my problem is with Lyft, and the other half, more concerning, is with our own BBB people who, over a matter of weeks, did not seem to care that a customer was telling them about these problems.
My conversation with McCall was mildly reassuring. He listened, and we discussed it all respectfully, and he promised things would be addressed. I’m sure he was sincere.
But like a politician’s promises, you have to look at the track record. No foreign wars, lower prices on day one, winning, winning, winning. We shall see.
Charles Andrews has lived in Santa Monica for 40 years and wouldn’t live anywhere else in the world. Really. Send love and/or rebuke to him at therealmrmusic@gmail.com
