“At 8:34 a.m. the sleek Metrolink train from Oceanside, Calif., swept into Los Angeles’s historic Union Station, disgorging a rush of commuters. Some pulled briefcases on wheels, others hefted backpacks, blending seamlessly with bus and subway passengers pressing through the terminal’s sunlit corridor. … With West Coast gasoline prices averaging $4.41 per gallon, even car-crazed southern Californians are joining the nation’s slow move away from the automobile and toward public transportation. But even as more Americans pile onto city buses, subways, and suburban trains, the increase at the pump is also hitting transit agencies hard.” (07/18/08)