I guess for me, it was being exposed to transit all during my childhood.

This may be rare to hear in L.A., but my family grew up without a car (largely because my mother and grandmother emigrated from Hungary). We had friends who would agree to drive us around when we needed them, but for the other times, I was lucky to be near good bus service, near Wilshire & Crenshaw.

My grandmother took care of me while I was young, while my mother was working (my parents divorced when I was an infant). She used to always get around on the RTD. I could even remember bus rides at that very young age (at around age 1 or 2 I remembered riding my first RTS). As a kid, I used to enjoy bus rides. I thought it was pretty fun.

Growing up, I largely didn't care for buses, except for a few times. I think my interest, which continues still today, started in 1992, just having to ride school trippers (!) back home. But the biggest highlight of that year was when I got to visit Budapest, Hungary. They had a truly awesome transit system. Over 20 light rail lines. 3 subway lines. Commuter rail which ran every 8 minutes. Each ride costed (at that time) 18 forints, which was about 25 cents. The only thing bad were the buses (surely you've seen my demonizing posts against Ikarus).

Unfortunately, that period of time also started my criminal activites. It led up to my mom and I to be evicted from our apartment, and had to move about a mile east to where I am presently living, near Wilshire & Western in late 1992. Pretty much in 1993 and the first half of 1994, I didn't ride any transit on account of me being in Rancho San Antonio (a placement home for troubled juveniles) located in Chatsworth. The only transit I seen were the 167 buses coming off layover to make their turnaround, waking me up as I was trying to sleep. (There were also several kids who AWOLed and used the 167 to run away).

In early 1994, I was allowed the right to have weekend passes to come home. I was allowed to take the 3:15 p.m. Metrolink train leaving Chatsworth to go to Union Station. The train rides were really fun. In June 1994, I moved to a group home, which re-exposed me to the community.

During that time, I received free bus passes and tokens. It didn't matter much, since the transit in Chatsworth was piss poor. The line I took most often was the 243, and many times I wished that it ran on weekends.

In November 1994, I successfully graduated the RSA program and went back home. Not much transit riding, but transit issues really caught my interest during this time.

In 1995, I became seriously interested in transit. A little bit of busfanning, but also transit issues as well. The subway was still one year away, and I had mixed feelings about it. I thought it was a joke, yet I had a tiny bit of speculative optimism about it. That summer, I seen a group at Wilshire & Western (who shall remain nameless) who seemed to be promoting a good cause---getting more buses out to the people. I went to one of their meetings, and knew I didn't want to really be associated with them. Late that year, I started participating discussion on here and m.t.u-t.

In a matter of months, I was reading great posts by the regulars on this group (pretty much everyone who is here now) and expanded my knowledge about a good transportation concept, history, even busfanning. A gentleman by the name of Charles Hobbs was persuading me to join another transit group called the Southern California Transit Advocates. I was a bit leery at the time about joining another group, thinking that they were another BRU.

I could say July 13, 1996 was a great day. It was my 17th birthday, and received probably the best present I could get: a subway in my backyard. The new extension had opened near where I lived, and a huge opening party was thrown. I met So.Ca.TA at the booth they had at Wilshire & Western, and joined within a few days.

Since that time, I started exploring more and more bus lines, something I hadn't done prior to the subway extension. The rest is history.

Here's a brief timeline:

• Summer 1979: Birth.
• 1980-1988: Riding transit. Favorite buses: GM/Flxible New Looks; MAN artics.
• Summer 1988: Arrival of 2000s and 2500s peaks interest in transit again.
• 1989-1992: Didn't care too much for transit.
• 1st Qtr. 1992: Riding buses more, peaked interest again.
• Summer 1992: Arrested and trip to Budapest.
• Winter 1992: Moved to current pad.
• 1993-early 1994: The Void, but was still interested in transit.
• June 1994: Get a little bit of freedom, free pass.
• Nov. 1994: Go back home after 18 months in the system.
• Late 1994-summer 1995: Not much.
• Summer 1995: Arrival of 4500s peaks interest, sampled BRU.
• Winter 1995: Start being active on m.t.u-t and la.t.
• Summer 1996: Subway opening, join So.Ca.TA.
• October 1996: Make friends with major busfans.
• Winter 1996: Elected as Director-at-Large of So.Ca.TA.
• Spring 1997: Went on Montebello Pacific Bus Museum trip, which subsequently led to the founding of the Rapid Transit Society.
• Summer 1997: Apply for school bus operator job at Atlantic Express; was hired.
• Summer 1997: Turn down above job offer.
• Winter 1997: Re-elected as Director-at-Large of So.Ca.TA.