when the expo line opens here in santa monica next year, it's going to raise some eyebrows. it's a major, major corridor (10 freeway from downtown to the beach) and combined with uber (or not) is basically going to open up the entire west side to public transit.
the wilshire subway will complete the system, but that's not for a while. maybe something that parallels the 405.
fwiw, the bus system in LA and sm is excellent, just slow because of traffic. it serves a huge customer base, but unfortunately it's only for people with more time than money, which in LA means the blue collar working class. however, it is extremely clean and efficient and air conditioned and comfortable and is used by normal, sane working people, it's basically the polar opposite of the SF MUNI. i lived in SF for 2 years and MUNI was so fucking awful i usually just took a cab for longer rides. if uber had existed back then i probably would have used it exclusively.
Seriously. Puddles of standing piss in the elevators at 24th st bart when I had to use them because I was on crutches.
Disgusting doesn't even begin to cover it.
[1]http://m.sfgate.com/bayarea/article/Human-waste-shuts-down-B...
Never thought how it works, but I presume the elevator needs to have a storage tank underneath the cage, and that needs to be emptied regularly.
I think part of the problem in the Bay Area is that BART runs across multiple counties and there's an awful lot of political buck-passing as a result. Although it has improved in recent years, I still hate riding it and I hate how crappy BART stations feel. In fairness they have tried to mitigate the restroom problem by setting up decent public toilets on the streets near the entrances, but those are still a bit sketchy.
By contrast, when I visit Los Angeles I enjoy riding the subway. It's clean, the signage is excellent, they don't fill up the speakers with random unhelpful public service announcements every 30 seconds, and there's a general air of competence.