Exclusive | Meet the ‘transit baddies’ on a mission to make LA Metro cool again

Forget Erewhon, LA’s influencer set has found a new hotspot: the bus stop. 

With gas prices spiking and parking a never-ending headache, hip Angelenos are ditching their cars for the city’s beleaguered Metro transit system, and encouraging others to do the same. 

“I almost feel like I’m rediscovering LA,” Julianna, who posts under the handle “Hot Girl Transit” on social media, says of her recent foray into the city’s public transit system. 

While Metro does set aside funds for influencer marketing, both the influencers quoted in this story confirmed they are not on the Metro’s payroll.

The influencer has lived in Los Angeles for 18 years, but she took the city’s public transit system for the time ever in June after her car’s engine died.

“It’s incredible where the train and the bus can take you. It really can take you all over town. I just started discovering new communities, new art spaces, third spaces, new places to eat, and it’s been really awesome,” says Julianna.

She excitedly shared her journey taking public transit on TikTok, where her videos now net thousands of views and hundreds of comments.

“I filmed one video, and it was me going to K-Town, and it kind of did well, and I got some really nice comments, and people were giving me recommendations, like ‘Oh, next time try this place or try this line.’”

Now, she takes the bus and train from her home in West Hollywood to places all over the city. After surviving in LA for four months without a car, she says there’s no turning back.

“Could I get another car right now? Sure, but I would be stressed out,” says Julianna.

“I don’t want to deal with the gas prices. I don’t want to deal with the lease,” she continued. “There’s no world where I’m gonna sit in 40 minutes of traffic on the way to downtown when I can get there in 17 minutes and not worry about parking.”

But she says she’s not anti-car. “I’m never one to say ‘get rid of your car’, but people should have mixed use and try it out.”

The LA Metro system, which spans 165 bus routes and 6 rail lines, has a reputation among Angelenos for being unreliable, unsafe, and dirty.

“I think most Angelenos ignore Metro,” Juan Matute, deputy director of the UCLA Institute of Transportation Studies told the California Post in June. “People are still figuring out what it means to them — and so we’re very much in this transitional period in LA of what transit means to the city.”

But the system is the safest its been in years, with violent crime falling 6.7% in 2025 compared with 2024, its lowest level since 2021. Ridership is also up, with weekday ridership growing 8.4% from June 2025 to 2026, according to LA Metro. Still, it can prove a rough ride for many who have experienced some horrors and genuine safety issues on board.

The agency has made a concerted effort to get drivers out of their cars and on the Metro. In August, they launched the second phase of their One Car Challenge pilot program, which pays eligible LA County households up to $600 if they agree not to use one of their vehicles for five weeks and rely only on public transit, biking, walking, or carpooling to get around.

In May, the D line expanded west with three new stops through Mid-City. The line will continue expanding with new stops opening in Beverly Drive and Century City in Spring 2027, and to Westwood in Fall 2027.

While Julianna’s videos get plenty of love, she also gets her fair share of skeptics. “I love public transportation, but it must be done with a lot of caution. A lot goes down in the subways!” one commenter warned.

“If you only knew what really happens in the Metro and buses. Oh well,” another said.

The transit system is also attractive to transplants like Celine Milien, a native New Yorker who moved to LA a year ago without a car. 

“I like just being able to be free and travel,” says Milien, an actress who lives in Downtown LA and often commutes to Studio City for gigs. She’s now spreading the transit gospel to everyone she knows.

“I have roommates that have cars, and I’ve made them take the bus with me,” says Milien, who says she’s never been paid to promote the Metro.

“They’re like, “Wait, actually, that wasn’t that bad. And I’m like, “Exactly.” Especially after a night out, you don’t want to look for parking.”

For Milien, the Metro’s affordability is a major draw. A standard one-way fair for the Metro is $1.75, this includes free transfer for up to two hours in one direction.

The women are part of wave of young female influencers Millien calls “transit baddies” sharing their experiences venturing out into LA’s daunting Metro system.

Alaina Graham, another influencer, recently shared her hour-and-a-half commute from Santa Monica to West Hollywood for a night out, which required to buses. “Saving gas and $$$ but not necessarily time,” she wrote.

London native lucylovestransport racked up over 600k views for a recent video of her journey from Downtown LA to Santa Monica. “I assumed LA did not have a train system because all everybody talks about is the traffic,” one commenter wrote.

Though they sing the Metro’s praises, they’re also realistic about safety concerns.

“It doesn’t matter what city it is. If you’re in a city, you have to be aware of your surroundings,” says Julianna.

“I’m constantly aware, have one headphone in, one headphone out. If people are concerned about safety, I always say go into the first car because you’re right behind the conductor.”

“I think no matter where you are, public transportation might be,” unsafe”, But I think the best thing that you can do is stay vigilant,” says Millien.

“My friends have my location, so they always know where I am, and I’m just making sure that I’m staying aware and staying present.”

In her many videos documenting her Metro journeys, Julianna beams with excitement about her travels. She’s so positive, some commenters have even accused her of working with the city.

“People think I secretly work for the city, or I’m a plant for the Metro, and I’m like, ‘Oh, okay, I’m still waiting on my check,’” she says.

 “Like, no one can believe I would be riding it, and I find that so offensive. It’s an incredible underutilized resource, and my goal is to show and to normalize it.”

Download The California Post App, follow us on social, and subscribe to our newsletters