Also, you’re supporting a service that is essential to LA. If we can maintain it, get more buses and more subways to come more frequently, and grow our lines, there’s no reason why we can’t have a metro city where, when I say I’m going to take the subway or the bus, it’s like not even something that people are like, “Wow, that’s amazing.”
Ed: Ridership has greatly suffered under the pandemic. So all of our citizens here have a responsibility to support public transportation, to get it back to where it was before, and, indeed, to grow beyond that.
You’re both environmentalists. Can you talk about the environmental benefits of taking public transportation instead of driving?
Ed: It’s a very clean way to get around. It’s a great equalizer, public transportation. In New York, everybody rides [on] the subway. I’d like to see that happen more here.
Hayden: [There are] also more people on the bus or the subway, so you’re getting a smaller portion of the carbon footprint that is used by the bus or subway.
Over the years, has anyone asked you why you’re dressed in glam on transit to the Oscars?
Ed: We’ve gotten recognized by some very nice people.
Hayden: People never directly ask why, but you can see people looking at you, [wondering,] “What are you doing? Where are you going?”
Ed: The subway people are like, “What?” It doesn’t quite make sense for them. They’re looking for the cameras, and there are none.
What are some things people should be cognizant of when taking public transportation?
Hayden: I was taking it for a week as a woman. Walking alone anywhere as a woman is a certain amount of unsafe, so I guess being vigilant. Metro has an incident report app where you can get directly to Metro security. I have it on my phone, and I actually never used it. But it was a great safety net to feel OK and know [I can] be in contact immediately with somebody in Metro security.
I have the Transit app on my phone, which is a separate Metro app. And it’s usually right [about transit schedules], but you really have to leave a minute before they say to leave.
Is taking LA transit, especially to the Oscars, something you think you’ll continue doing?
Ed: I’ve been riding public transportation since I was 4 or 5 years old, so I’m not going to stop now. I’m 73, and I’ll ride it until I’m — as I was at 4 or 5 — unable to negotiate.
Hayden: I’ll be wheeling him up there.
