Hop on for Hollywood

Los Angeles is well known for its love affair with the car... and the frustrating two-to-three-hour drive to leave the city during rush hour. It is less well known for its metro-train system, which plies both underground and overground routes from one end of greater Los Angeles to the other. Clearly, the system is still a work in progress - the latest 'Expo Line', designed to link the Downtown area with Culver City in the west, opened as recently as April 2012 - but usage figures suggest that it is becoming increasingly popular. As the eight and ten-lane arteries that form the LA freeway system shudder to a halt, the city metro in combination with other local transit initiatives - has the potential to relieve some of the blockage. And in a nation not exactly renowned for its public transport systems, that is a secret worth sharing.