Bus Stops: Helpful tips for taking the Metro late at night

For the first time since I started the Bus Stops column I took the bus at night. It was after 11 p.m. when I finally set foot in Westwood again, and the experience taught me a lot. For all of my fellow young bus riders, here are three helpful tips I learned while riding the Metro this weekend:

1. Be prepared. Have taxi numbers in your phone or the number of a friend who can pick you up. Late night buses don’t always come, regardless of what the Google maps app on your iPhone says. Don’t get stranded in Hollywood on a Saturday night.

2. Be polite. If you see a man in dress pants, dress shoes and a button up shirt carrying a baseball bat, don’t stare. Similarly, if a stranger starts voicing his conspiracy theories to you, smile, nod and turn away.

3. Bring a friend. If you’re stuck at a bus stop waiting for a bus that seems like it will never come, and a drunk man comes up to you asking how to get to downtown Los Angeles, it helps to have someone there to keep you company.