Triple Bruin (B.S., M.S., and now PhD) Ivy Kwok has been going for a ride her entire career as a UCLA student. First, taking the Santa Monica Big Blue Bus Line 17 as an undergraduate, arriving on campus for graduate school via Culver CityBus Line 6, and now riding the Big Blue Bus Line 17 again from her current residence at University Village as she completes her PhD coursework in civil and environmental engineering. Along the way, she’s become a public transit fan, helping new Bruins hop on.
While Ivy will wrap up her PhD this fall, she’ll continue bus commuting to campus, stepping into professorial shoes for the next two quarters of UCLA’s academic year as a lecturer for a class about aging. On the subject of time passing, let’s go to where it all began, with Ivy’s very first transit trips as an undergraduate in a resident hall, then off-campus apartment, taking that Big Blue Bus Line 17 to Sawtelle and the Red Cross West LA office where she volunteered.
In graduate school, Ivy met her current partner. With him at UC Irvine, and her without a car, Ivy looked into taking the Metrolink to visit, and that is how “the passion for public transit kick-started.”
“In undergrad, there was so much to do around Westwood and the surrounding areas: there wasn’t really a need to go that far. Once I discovered going out to Orange County on the train, I wanted to use my Bruin Grad Pass (BGP)— UCLA’s pass for graduate students providing unlimited fare-free rides across L.A. County — to see different neighborhoods in L.A. because there are so many of them,” said Ivy.
"Grad school I found more of my identity and passion to explore, because L.A. has so much to offer, and what better way to do it than via transit, because it’s good for the wallet, it's good for the environment, and, you can do other stuff on board: you can be productive, even if the ride is longer than if you were driving, because you don't have to find parking."
Pledge to Ride Like Ivy to Win a Prize for Sustainable Transportation Month
Ivy found a way to share that love for the bus and rail through her position as an orientation coordinator with UCLA’s Graduate Student Resource Center. Together with other co-coordinators, they came up with an idea to take new graduate and professional students to the Central Ticket Office to pick up their Bruin Grad Pass and then go!
With an orientation based on the 8 Dimensions of Wellness (physical, emotional, intellectual, social, spiritual, occupational, environmental, and financial), the transit trip covers living sustainably and fiscally responsibly. As UCLA is beach-adjacent, the destination is Santa Monica, via the Big Blue Bus and Metro Rail, to show how the UCLA pass covers both.
“Because of the initiative to offer students these public transit passes, taking the bus has been very well received by Bruins," said Ivy.
“I know some people are very attached to cars or Ubers. I'm just here to show them that this is what I love, and if you want to follow, great!”
