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Guest Day Editor Fred Camino of MetroRiderLA will be joining LAist with a few posts throughout the day. Read his introductory interview here and check out his site.
MetroRiderLA promotes what I call the "Los Angeles Public Transit Lifestyle" (it's not really trade marked, feel free to use those words in anyway you please). The idea behind the Public Transit Lifestyle goes something like this (from the website):
"The implication is simply that the citizens of Los Angeles must accustom themselves to public transit as a lifestyle in order to break free of the “car culture” that supposedly exists and flourishes in the city. Once we view public transit as a way of life that connects us as an urban community we can free ourselves of the shackle of the automoblie and all the negative baggage that it carries."
Blah blah, it's a buncha hot air, but you get the idea. It's all about building a culture based around public transit in Los Angeles so that everyone gets excited about using it and taking part in the culture.
What I present to you now is 10 easy ways to join the Los Angeles Public Transit Lifestyle™:
Dump Your Car. This is the single most powerful statement you can make about wanting to join the transit culture. By ridding yourself of the car right from the get go, you leave yourself with no other option but to take part in the lifestyle. It's like going to the beach: you can either tip toe into the water, stopping every five minutes to let your body adjust to the cold water, and running back to shore once a wave splashes your private part area, or you can just dive in and start having fun right away.
Move To A Transit Hub. LA's got 'em now, and they're going to be where the future of LA takes place, so get in on it before everyone else does. Places like Hollywood, Downtown, and Long Beach are experiencing mind boggling growth and densification. Housing, jobs, recreation, and thus communities are forming in places long considered "no mans land". And this is all thanks in no small part to the rapid transit options that serve these areas. Just take a ride along one of our light-rail or subway lines, you'll notice development and growth at every stop. If you can find a place to live within a half-mile (a 10-minute walk) from one of the stations, you're golden.
Get A Monthly Pass. These puppies are quite literally your ticket to the Public Transit Lifestyle. Ringing in at $62, a Metro Monthly Pass will give you unlimted access to every bus, subway, and light-rail train in the Metro system (plus access to LADOT DASH system). What that means is no more fumbling around for exact change, no more worrying about having lost your ticket stub, and no more feeding dollars into the ticket machine as you hear the train arrive. You just carry it around in your wallet or purse, and flash it when the time comes. For an extra $8 a month you can upgrade to the EZ Transit Pass which gives you unlimited access to every carrier in the region (like Santa Monica Big Blue Bus and Pasadena ARTS). It's so sweet and costs just a fraction of what people spend on their cars every month. You can get these at any Ralphs, check cashing place, Union Station, online, or at any of the 650 other retail locations in the city.
More after the jump...
Get On A Bus. Sure the trains are nice and comfy and don't remind you of elementary school, but it's time you realize that bus isn't all bad, and for many trips it can be more convenient than the trains. For example, Downtown Los Angeles is well served by many of the city's rail lines, but often it's easier and faster just to hop on a bus even if the destinations are the same. You have to open up to the idea of riding a city bus before you consider yourself part of the transit culture.
Take A Friend. Next time you go out, invite a friend along with you. By them a day pass as a friendly gesture and show them how easy it is to a live a public transit lifestyle. It's quite likely that they'll be blown away and envious and will probably say something along the lines of, "I hate driving, I wish I could do this." That's when you reveal to them that you used to think the same way, and that anyone can do it.
Add Transit Access To Your Invites, E-Vites, Bulletin Posts, Etc. When you're throwing a shin-dig, or planning to meet up at a bar, or whatever, make sure to research and include the nearest transit lines in your invitation. Just having that information there will pique the interests of your friends who haven't joined the lifestyle and will be priceless information for your friends who have.
Read The Transit Blogs, Get Involved. There's a growing number of blogs and websites dedicated to public transit in Los Angeles. Check this list of links at MetroRiderLA for a fairly exhaustive list. Must-visit sites include: Los Angeles Transportation Headlines, LA Times Bottleneck Blog, and of course MetroRiderLA. Many of these sites allow for comments and encourage discussion, as well as list times and dates for transit related meetings and functions.
Spread The Gospel At Work. People always whine about their commutes at work. Feel free to gloat about yours. Help coworkers find out the easiest transit route from their home to work. Talk to your boss about adding Metro Passes to your benefit plan.
Explore. The Public Transit Lifestyle offers the resident the chance to see their city an a whole new way. On the weekends take a bus or train to someplace you've never been. Make a day out if it and take the kids. Since you're not on tight schedule you can afford to make some transfers, you can get a little lost, you may just find yourself in a great part of the city you've never seen before. Metro's system goes to the far reaches of the county, see where you end up.
When Guest Come Into Town, Make Sure They Go Metro. Spare your parents the chance the learn the LA freeway system, buy them a Day Pass and they'll have access to some of the best tourist attractions the city has to offer. Plus they'll see how the new generation of Angelenos get around, and tell their friends back home, "Did you know LA has a subway?!?" Suddenly our fair city starts to look a little better in the eyes of the often disdainful outsiders.
Photo by Fred Camino via Flickr.
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The monthly pass is an awesomely efficient thing but for those such as myself who do not masstransit enough for that to pay, let's not forget the lowly token: quick and simple and best of all they don't expire.
Before this last rate hike you could get a bag of 10 for a discounted $11 (or $1.10 each), but now they've upped the price to $12.50, the full base fare. I always keep a couple on me wherever I go.
If I were smart and had a few extra hundies to throw around before the increase I'd've bought a couple dozen bags' worth... or I should at least do that some time before the next base fare increase.
-Will Campbell
Nice tip Will, good for the moderate transit user. I love the Pass because it's so simple, and still relatively affordable for all the transit you get and the hassle you save.
We're all anxiously awaiting the wide release of Metro's Universal Fare Cards, or TAP, which should (in theory) make things easier for everyone.
"Add Transit Access To Your Invites, E-Vites, Bulletin Posts, Etc"
Now thats a GREAT idea! Originally I'm from New York and they never really had stuff like that for resturants and venues, but you're pretty much forced into public tranist (not a bad thing). But I think both cities could benefit from that. All it takes in an extra line on the directions page of you website.
As a native who has ridden on the local buses sence age 12 (back when Metro was the RTD (Rough, Tough and Dirty/Real Tardy Drivers), the buses of today are WAY cleaner, smoother and nicer than back in the day. Never again would I ride a bus with a faux-woodpanel "cockroach brown" interior (that goes for the seats too), making it a perfect camouflaged environment for the said insect. Never again would I get the "bus massage" (the vibration of the motor coupled with the real awful suspension system hitting every dip and pothole, coupled with rattling interior panels). Plus, these days the buses all have bike racks, they talk and got those coolio LCD screens showing Transit TV...
BTW, the Bus Riders Union would LOVE to use that photo for some of their propaganda...
LOL @ Militant. It doesn't get much whiter than those two.
i think more people would use a mass transit system if there was a rail line that went from West LA to the Valley, like from Venice/Santa Monica/Culver City out to Sherman Oaks. Maybe it would help alleviate the 405 North traffic between 4-7 pm.
The Militant does a hand gesture at #7 consisting of the thumb of one hand rubbing against the other 4 fingers.
huh?
great post! thanks so much!! As I posted in one of greenlagirl's guest editor posts, I'll be graduating college soon and looking for where to live around LA. I'm very hopeful to adapt to a (mostly) car-free lifestyle, and this gives me so much hope!! (especially because i have tried my hand many many times on the buses, without much efficiency, but am seeing now that the subways might be really efficient for me if i live in the right place).
again- thank you thank you!
Hey Guest #10, good luck to you. Like I've said throughout the day, going car-free in L.A. is challenge, but it is also entirely possible. Hopefully, if you move to a transit accessible neighborhood, you can be lucky enough to land a job near a transit hub as well, if not, you may have to try your hand at a bus ride... sometimes it can work, sometimes the distances and traffic make it unbearable. It's up to you to face up to the challenges and decide your threshold of pain and pleasure. For me, driving is such a painful experience, and transit is so pleasant, that even the worst transit experiences I've had still beat some of the "better" driving experiences I've had in this city. Let's hope it's the same for you. Keep reading MetroRiderLA and keep us up to date with your story.
This is starting to sound like a cult.
You want sum Kool Aid Guest #12??
Get it while it's good and poison-y.
the key to why LA is not a mass transit-friendly city is exactly what people have been saying in their comments, and what some bloggers on LAist have even admitted in their posts: to be able to live without a car in LA you have to live in some neighborhood that is near both mass transit stations and near all the usual necessities, like grocery stores and the like. I don't think LA will ever be like New York or Chicago or DC, where you can live practically ANYWHERE in the city and be able to get by without a car.
Quite frankly, I do support public transit but the car free lifestyle not for me. I'm with Sandra Bullock on this one. However, we should encourage people to use transit though, and the more we can eliminate the stigma of using transit, the better. Just don't guilt trip me into riding Metrolink to work (I have a ten trip ticket that I use occasionally but unfortunately I don't wake earlier than absolutely necessary and so I drive into work).
"I don't think LA will ever be like New York or Chicago or DC, where you can live practically ANYWHERE in the city and be able to get by without a car."
Er, you DO need a car if you live in Staten Island or a great deal of Queens. All the people I know who live there do.
A lame but true testimonial:
I moved to Los Angeles about two years from the middle of the country to take a job in Claremont. Knowing that LA and Claremont are connected by MetroLink, I decided to live in Los Angeles and commute. To make the experiment more interesting, I sold my car upon moving to LA.
I sought out an apartment near a Metro Stop (red line is my line), searching in North Hollywood, Hollywood, Echo Park, and eventually landed atop a beautiful hill in MacArthur Park. I purposefully omitted Pasadena, though when the gold line is extended to Claremont in years to come, the option will be even more viable.
My employer subsidizes Metrolink tickets to the tune of $100 a month as part of a State of California ride share program, so I buy a monthly Metrolink ticket ($178) for $78. Metrolink tickets give you full access to Metro transit options. So for $78 a month, I have full access to the transit options of LA and San Bernadino counties.
Living where I do, I have easy access to Rapid buses to Venice and Santa Monica (though buses make me car sick). My groceries come from local markets and, because I buy what I what I can carry, my materialism and wasteful habits have abated, and I eat better than I ever. I walk enough to feel like a European and I have so much time to read, it's amazing. On the work commute alone, I have read seven books this summer. IPods are also nice.
Admittedly, there are some challenges. Sometimes you need to take a taxi or ride a bike or or rent a car or have a friend meet you somewhere. But it is also wonderful to be completely exempt from the hassles of SoCal driving.
The best part about taking the bus/train is that you meet random and awesome people. I once met a former Broadway dancer who was teaching at Cal State LA on the bus.
#18: "My employer subsidizes Metrolink tickets to the tune of $100 a month as part of a State of California ride share program, so I buy a monthly Metrolink ticket ($178) for $78."
What's the State of California ride share program? I thought some companies just had benefits packages that included Metro passes and the like. Is your company tapping into something I don't know about?
to #17: i meant Manhattan. obviously you need a car in the other 4 boroughs.
also, going along with the above comment: when you say "the city" in relation to New York, it means Manhattan, even though the 5 boroughs are all technically New York City.
guest #18, you should also look into Flexcar for your absolutely necessary car needs, other than that tho, congrads!! going car free is probably the best thing i've ever done.
"I don't think LA will ever be like New York or Chicago or DC, where you can live practically ANYWHERE in the city and be able to get by without a car."
To argue with your first point, the MetroRail system is STILL IN THE PROCESS OF EXPANDING. In three years it'll be the third largest system in the USA after New York and Chicago. The Gold Line to East LA is coming, definitely. The Expo Line to Culver City is coming, definitely. It looks somewhat likely that we'll also have the Purple Line to Santa Monica and the Gold Line to Claremont by 2020 or 2025. Beyond that, who knows? Will we get our Green Line extension to LAX? Maybe.
But those four projects alone will bring the system up to over 125 miles of track, and that will make us proud owners of a decent transit system, bigger than all but two other cities in the USA.
2025? that's one helluva long time!
i don't know why they'd build a line all the way out to Claremont before they build lines WITHIN Los Angeles itself first. make it easier to get from West LA to the Valley, or West LA to Downtown, or West LA to Hollywood, or West LA to anywhere really. all we have here on the Westside is our bus system. LA is just too spread out and large for a transit system to flourish like it does in Manhattan or Chicago.
Manhattan is not even one fifth of the NYC population, though. I am sure more than a million people in the city of Los Angeles have access to reasonable public transit and can live without a car if they wanted to (Downtown, NE Los Angeles, South Central, the Westside, and the central part of the Valley).
Hey Guest#25, don't get caught up in the "geography" excuse... London is actually 100 square miles larger than Los Angeles, and has one of the best urban transit systems in the world. I wrote about in in this article on MetroRiderLA last September.
guest 25: maybe because there are a lot of people in claremont, shitty public transit, and metro's a county agency?
give some love to rest of the county, please, thank you.
I used to bike to work, so I am all for public transportation (and manual trasportation, apparently) but ditching your car only works if you have no responsibilities. Those of us with kids or a preexisting job are going to find it nearly impossible to ditch a car.
Living near a transit hub only works if you have a job near a transit hub. Some of already have jobs. Good jobs. Jobs that not only provide wages but satisfaction. Jobs that are not near a transit hub. There is one guy at work who uses public transportation, but he also keeps a sleeping bag at work and smells like shit all the time.
Also, I now drive my kids to daycare before heading out to work. OK, so you will say, take a stroller. I *do* go on stroller walks, with 2 small children in tow, to pick up small amounts of groceries, but dragging a laden stroller into a bus is crap. I've done it, and I will NEVER do it again.
Until the public transportation system is better, most people will not be able to follow your "sage" advice.
Occasionally take public transport to something? Sure, even with kids. Ditch your car? Not going to happen.
I'm moving to SoCal this autumn, and will be sans car. Initially, I'll be staying in Santa Ana and commuting to LA, until I find a place. The two are connected via metrolink, but my big worry is this: I'm an actor. How feasible is it to get around on the buses in LA, when I might have several places to go in a day? I'm coming from 9 years in New York and 2 in San Francisco, and I am so comfortable on public transportation that I really don't want to give it up. Is my notion of being an actor in LA without a car realistic?
no one has said it better than #29. kudos to you, #29! and thus, #30: the answer is probably to get a car, especially if you're just coming out of New York. you'll get here and be like, wow they call this public transit?
These suggestions are all well and good for single people with lots of time and no children to concern themselves with.
"Move near a transit hub" Yeah, right. There are no areas in LA near a transit hub where I would be willing for my kids to go to school. Long Beach? No thanks. NoHo? Um, no. Hollywood? Yikes. If I were single it would be great! But with school aged kids, I can't just up and move to someplace based on the transit system.
And how exactly is someone supposed to do grocery shopping for a family of 5 using public transport? Go to the store every day? Most people have more important things to do with their time than hit the grocery store daily.
How about the kids' afterschool activities? Busy parents often need to drop one child off at soccer practice, then take another to swim lessons, then back to soccer to pick one up, and then home. That's NOT going to work with public transportation.
Weekend home improvement projects? How exactly should someone get 6 bags of wood chips and 12 flats of pansies home to finish a garden project while taking the bus? Gonna need a car for that.
Sorry, but using public transportation is not feasible for many people. Especially those with homes, children and less free wheeling lives.
#30 asks: "Is my notion of being an actor in LA without a car realistic?"
The short answer is no.
i agree completely with #32. there are so few places that are "near a transit hub" that this whole idea is seriously laughable.
If you come to Los Angeles from a city with better public transportation, diss Los Angeles' system without even trying it out, and get a car without any thought into it, THEN YOU ARE PART OF THE PROBLEM.
The Militant also believe there should be a car-ownership quota, and any new person coming here must get on a waiting list to get granted the privilege (The State of CA considers driving a privilege, not a right) of car ownership. If you already live here and own a car, no problem for you. But for anyone else coming here, get in line.
Adding/expanding freeways as a method of curing traffic congestion is akin to solving a cocaine addiction by using a wider straw.
To #30: If you wish to use public transportation in L.A., we're here to help.
A car does not have to be an all or nothing proposition. Actors have to go to odd sites at odd hours on short notice, and sometimes a car may be required. But, if you get a car don't be compelled to have to drive even to the market a half mile from your place.
Los Angeles has a very good public transportation network. By very good, it means that the service grid is comprehensive and goes nearly everywhere most people go. We only have four rail lines and a busway people are supposed to pretend is rail, but it is the buses that are the real workhorses of our system. There are many lines that run every 15 minutes or better - during off-peak hours. During rush hours, they run more frequently.
In order to help you navigate around the system better, consult Metro maps.
Here is the Los Angeles County system map. It shows all Metro routes, as well as routes of municipal carriers. In the top right corner is a table of service frequencies. If choosing a place to live, narrow it down to an area with several bus lines that have high frequencies.
http://www.mta.net/riding_metro/riders_guide/system_map.pdf
This "12-minute map" shows the highest frequency bus routes. This map was created to show which routes you can use simply by waiting at the stop and not having to consult a schedule.
http://www.metro.net/riding_metro/12minute/12min_map_eng.pdf
All Metro buses and trains also allow bikes. If you are a bike rider, you can effectively get by on transit and bike without a car.
Should you still need a car, consider getting a car only when you need it. Flexcar is a car sharing service. You pay an annual membership fee, and you call it up when you need a car. Fees are by the hour, and include everything (car, gas, insurance, the works). See http://www.flexcar.com . The best traditional car rental service, should you need one, is Enterprise. It operates hundreds of neighborhood locations, and the employees are friendly to a fault and would do almost anything for your business. An economy car starts at $25 a day, but you have to fill the car up before returning it and insurance is $10-$20 a day extra. See http://www.enterprise.com . You might save some money by buying a rental car insurance policy if you have to rent cars frequently.
If you need any more help, ask the friendly folks at http://metrorider.elhay.net for any other help we can give.
to Militant: if someone moved to LA from a city with arguably better public transit...why wouldn't they diss our system?
it just seems like the Metro rail only services East LA, the Valley, Hollywood, and Long Beach - and like somebody said earlier, why shouldn't it go to West LA or Santa Monica?
if you don't live anywhere near a subway station...how can you be expected to use public transportation? not everyone lives in Downtown or Hollywood, you know.
#39. What about taking the bus? :)
Thank you, Wad. People like to use absolutism as a lame way to get out of this argument. The Militant has a car and use it when it is necessary, but also doesn't use it when it is not necessarry, and most of you fools are sheep -- creatures of habit.
Besides, everybody knows that only a Sith deals in absolutes.
The choice is up to you fools. Transit will not get better unless more people use it. That is the bottom line. If you don't want to ride the bus or train just because you don't want to look at minorities and just wanna see all the (fake) "beautiful people" you so aspire to be like, then the Militant suggests you move back to where you came from.
Zach: you throw in a good point. the bus is probably more realistic as a public transit tool than the subway, at least for right now.
Also, to Militant: nobody ever said anything about minorities or beautiful people.
I lived on the East Coast for 5 years without a car. I loved it. Never had a problem. Only wished I had a car when I had to move something big or felt the urge to take a road trip.
Then I moved back to LA.
I rode the bus to work for 2 years: It works if you have a lot of spare time as it takes forfuckingever; I started developing neck and back pain from carrying my laptop and papers and extra shoes around (as I had to walk about a mile each way) and ended up spending over $1000 in physical therapy; The buses come so infrequently and/or get so crowded about once a week I would be late to work no matter how early I left; I couldn't sit and read or do the things I wanted to on the bus because I would be shoved against the wall squished against sweaty, smelly jackasses who didn't seem to bathe (btw, Angeleno, even the White people fucking reek when the AC doesn't work, which is most of the time) plus I showed up to work and smelled like shit; I would get enraged at the idiots who scream into their cell phones for the entire ride to outdo the noise of the engine; and once I was egged by a random bunch of jackasses while walking to the bus stop. As in they threw eggs at my head. And hit me.
It also renders certain things practically impossible, like going from work to the gym to a nice dinner because you have a busy schedule and there's no time to stop off at home. Well, unless you are fine with dragging around a suitcase all day to carry your clothes changes and you have a safe place at work to store the aforementioned luggage.
And then I got a new job in a neighborhood where I found it would take over 3 hours EACH WAY on the bus (or a 30 minute drive) and where it wasn't exactly safe to sit outside in the dark waiting for a bus that came once every 32 minutes (though a very nice man did offer me his crack pipe at one point) and gave up on this bus thing. Working 12 hours + 6 hours on the bus = no sleep.
If you don't mind those things, then yes, it's great. But calling people fools, sheep or superficial minority haters because they can't handle the public transit system the way the godly Metro riders can is just narrow-minded and naive.
If you're going to do it, good luck and more power to you. I really hope you don't work long hours and live in a place where despite being a very populated area of Los Angeles, taking a bus to the market would involve hauling your groceries for a mile. But don't turn into some public transit snob and then name-call the people who don't do it. It's quite possible they have their reasons.
Sorry, people, but I'll stand next to guest #29 and #30 (and Malingering as well). You DON'T improve mass transit service by spending your hard-earned bucks on something that sucks. If you want better mass transit you folks have got to start screaming at your legislators and local pols in huge numbers, because the funding DOESN'T come from ridership. I lived in New York (suburban but spent enough time in Manhattan to have an opinion) for 27 years, so I have seen the good, the bad, and the ugly sides of mass transit.
Assuming that everyone can just ditch their cars and their current jobs to be closer to a transit hub is the height of arrogance. And stating over and over again that people should pay good money for shitty service is just so Microsoft.
Bill S.
well said, guest 45.
#17: "i meant Manhattan. obviously you need a car in the other 4 boroughs"
Going back to New York, I manage very easily in the Bronx without a car, just transfering between bus and subway, same thing in Brooklyn.
i meant my last post as a reply to #21, not #17