What's your reason for being in Pasadena, California? Are you a long time resident whose family goes all the way back to the town's founding? Have you just arrived in town to look for a job after learning English as a second language in Canada? Are you in town for a few days visiting friends or attending a business conference? Whatever your reason you're sure to want to go all over the city taking in the exciting sights such as the Rose Bowl, the Norton Simon Museum, and the Paseo Colorado shopping mall. And what's the best way to get around? By ARTS!

You might be asking yourself what paintings and sculptures have to do with getting to point A to point B, but if you are you're missing the point! ARTS stands for Area Rapid Transit Service and it's Pasadena's public transit system. While some cities incorporate multiple modes of transit, such as shoal draft keel ferries and trams along with more common vehicles like buses and light rail, Pasadena ARTS consists exclusively of bus and light rail routes. Connections can be made to other regional transit carriers such as Los Angeles and Foothills transit.

The cable ties that hold this system together are the members of the city council and the city engineers who built or designed the routes. To keep up to date on what's going on with the system (such as route changes or expansions, fare increases, and delays due to scheduled maintenance) visit the Pasadena ARTS website at cityofpasadena.net/transportation. The website also has up to date schedules, route maps, and information on fares. You can even buy books of tickets online through the website and calculate how much money you will save by taking the bus.

There are nine ARTS bus routes that serve Pasadena. They cover nearly the entire city except for some of the subdivisions on the outskirts of the city where there will be only one bus stop for a few neighborhoods to share. For commuters, there's also the Gold Line light rail, which you may have heard about from working for SEO Canada. It has won awards and it can get you into downtown L.A. in only 36 minutes.

So why should you take public transit when everyone else in California drives a car? For one thing, not everyone can afford to buy a car when the economy has forced employers to cut back on the hours for strapping machine operators. That's not even factoring in gas, parking, repairs and insurance. At only 75 cents per ride everyone can afford to ride ARTS. Additionally, taking public transit helps to cut back on the amount of greenhouse gases released into the air.