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Today, Susan Doyle's weekly transportation column in the Daily News looks into how lengthy commutes fatigue Angelenos, forcing them to stay home on the weekends and time leisurely trips around traffic. She also pulls out the "geographically undesirable" phrase when it comes to dating:
Whether behind the wheel or sitting on a bus, Los Angeles commuters spend about 93 hours a year stuck in traffic. And those like Hicklin often end up feeling so wiped out by the gridlock, they're becoming increasingly inclined to stick - whenever they can - to their own little neighborhoods on weekends."I think a lot of us have gotten used to not doing things," said Ted Balaker, policy analyst for the Reason Foundation, a Los Angeles-based nonprofit. "It makes this city less of a grand metropolis and more into isolated hamlets."
[snip]
Many don't even realize what they're giving up in life because they're trying to avoid traffic, said Balaker, author of a report released last month that assesses the impact of mobility on personal lives.
[snip]
Fallout from traffic can even spill over into the dating world, where potential mates are simply wiped out of consideration because they are "geographically undesirable" - in other words, too far to drive to bother with the relationship.
But as congestion grows, people ultimately are becoming less spontaneous and less adventurous.
However, we should state there's nothing wrong spending your weekends in your jammies playing Guitar Hero all day. Or as the Doyle points out, "staying closer to home is not all bad. Some have found a certain small-town charm in a Los Angeles where residents are creating their own little enclaves."
Take a walk, ride a bike, explore your neighborhood.
Photo by The Infamous Gdub via Flickr
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let's thank mayor viva la raza and the rest of the LA stupidvisors, 20 years ago you could go almost anywhere after morning traffic. now i cant even drive down Ventura blvd from encino to studio city without it taking over a half hour.
and thank the illegal aliens for mucking up all systems in this city.
although its good to be watching the end of the world in a front row seat.
I'm an out-of-towner from Chicago who recently visited LA for the first time and loved it ... which is why I've been on the site.
Now, admittedly, I drove into the city on a Saturday afternoon, and most of my driving was Saturday night, Sunday morning, and Sunday night, so I didn't get the full LA experience. What I did get, though, driving I-10, the 101, the San Diego, and a lot of the major highways through downtown and into Hollywood and the hills, was that LA traffic moves, and it moves well. The drivers--insane motorcyclists excepted--aren't nearly as aggressive, they signal when they change lanes, they don't cut you off, and they don't fight to be first in line or make up lanes where no lanes exist. Traffic was heavy, but I didn't see a single traffic jam.
Meanwhile, I drive back into Chicago a week later at 11 pm Sunday night and get caught in an hour-and-a-half traffic jam trying to get the five miles up the Dan Ryan Expressway. And that wasn't an anomoly. No matter when you get on Chicago expressways, they're jammed. It made me miss Los Angeles.
"Traffic made her a shut-in! More at 11!"
pshhh you know you want to sit at home in your jammies and play GH this weekend, don't lie!
it's a shame that LA is not only one of the cities with the worst traffic, it's also a city where the majority of the public transit system is *ALSO* affected by traffic. sure, buses have their own lane on a couple of the freeways, but for the most part you're stuck there on sunset with the rest of them moving a block every ten minutes. i am ALL for riding the metro and i am fully in support of this whole "use LA's public transportation system! it has one!" movement you guys have been promoting lately, but i'm SO PISSED OFF that is has to be a movement. that you have to be "COMMITTED" to ride the metro, or you have to be making a statement. nobody should have to make a freaking effort to ride public transportation--it should just be CONVENIENT.
"mayor viva la raza"
Thats racist. but oh so terribly funny.
Look, how much do you think traffic would lighten up if all busses took a week off? Remember when they went on strike? Cars flowed like water down sunset blvd. Its those giant, slow moving and pollution causing rtd busses that cause most of the back up.
Does everyone else not think that it's a poor example in the case of the first person who, if they live downtown and "can't stand spending one more minute in traffic" could easily take the Metro Red Line to North Hollywood and then transfer to the Orange Line which would drop them directly at Warner Center? Which typical Los Angeles trait to you think this most exhibits - poor journalism or lack of any effort by commuters who sit in traffic to even make an attempt to use pulic transit. Thoughts?
i'm SO PISSED OFF that is has to be a movement. that you have to be "COMMITTED" to ride the metro, or you have to be making a statement. nobody should have to make a freaking effort to ride public transportation--it should just be CONVENIENT.
Of course you're right, but what good does being pissed off do? It would be great if Los Angeles had an extensive New York/London style subway system covering all 400 sq. miles with stops on every block, but it's simply not the case.
so you can either complain about traffic, complain about public transit, or figure out how to take what's there and make it work for you.
"nobody should have to make a freaking effort to ride public transportation--it should just be CONVENIENT"
AGREED.
Look, how much do you think traffic would lighten up if all busses took a week off? Remember when they went on strike? Cars flowed like water down sunset blvd. Its those giant, slow moving and pollution causing rtd busses that cause most of the back up.
i'm going to play dumb and act as if this wasn't a sarcastic remark. do you realize sunset boulevard is served by a single bus line (Metro 2)? a bus line with 20 minute headways? i hardly think 1 bus every twenty minutes is causing cars to flow like molasses down sunset... it probably has something to do with all the other cars flowing down it every second. furthermore, they are Metro buses not RTD, and finally they use Compressed Natural Glass so they are actually cleaner than most cars on the street.
@ fred: i like to both take public transportation AND complain about it.
--guest #5
I would love for NOTHING to take effort, public transportation included. EVERYTHING should be convenient. Ideally I could get laid, make millions, and win awards just by taking naps. But unfortunately I live in this place called reality.
#5 - many do. i complain about it all the time. but not as much as i complained about traffic when i was a driver. nothing is perfect, obviously LA's transit system is far behind other major cities, but it's steadily improving, it's hard to deny that. But that's an unquestionably SLOW process, slower than buses or traffic. In the meantime we have to find what works for us and keeps us happy and sane and doesn't prevent us from "avoiding life".
well, yes, we do live in reality, but that's not exactly fair. pretty much every other large US city has *convenient* public transportation, whereas we just have public transportation. i mean really, would you rather take the subway from one end of new york to the other, or drive? now apply that to LA. and *that* is my point.
--guest #5
(sorry, didn't see #13. thought snarky #12 was directed at me :P)
#5
Ummm....Sunset East has 5 bus lines not 1. The 2, 4, 302, 304 and 92(?)....So there.
And ever time I drive on Sunset just east of Vermont I an d everyone else in the right two lanes are stuck behind 2 if not 3 of these busses that cause a back up all the way to probably Highland. Bus drivers don't even stay on their schedule. Why does LAIST.COM pretend like our bus system is amazing?? Do you want to know how many naked homeless people I've seen freaking out on busses? The only people who ride busses are people who cant afford a car or people who want to live an "Alternative" LA lifestyle for the sake of being different. They are not convenient, they take up way too much room on the street. stop bullshitting everyone.
I am a native Californian and have visited NY and it's public transportation and love it but in all fairness LA and it's surrounding cities are way too spread out to see anything like NY's system anytime soon. If they fully commit to expanding the Metro system maybe our kids will develop the public transportation sensibility of New Yorkers.
#17 - one of the main reasons that LA is so spread out is that it had a great and far ranging public transportation system to start with. All they need to do is replace the trolleys that they took away - some of the tracks are still there for goodness sakes! It would be a boon to commuters and tourists alike.
Instead of wasting money and destroying landmarks and homes by seizing private lands for public use, LA needs to ignore the rich NIMBYs and put the trains back. For examle, the folks in Cheviot Hills are fighting the Santa Monica line, even though the tracks are still there (on Exposition) Why? Because only Latinos want to take the train (????) So screw the rest of us.
I really feel this post. I've started to modify my travel because of traffic and it stinks. There are many times when I would love to hang out in Westwood/West L.A. after work, but now I just bail out as soon as 5:00pm hits because otherwise, I'll be stuck in traffic hell until about 8:00pm when it finally lightens up.
There are many activities that I would just love to do in downtown L.A, Silverlake, etc. but I usually just go straight home.
"Mayor Viva la Raza", not funny, not racist but definitely stupid.
Just because you stay in your neighborhood all weekend doesn't mean you are avoiding life. When I was in undergrad in NYC I rarely left an area the size of 2 square miles. I never felt like I was avoiding my life. Sure, Manhattan has a lot more to offer in 2 square miles than most parts of LA, but if we start to demand more restaurants, bars, shops and parks near our homes then we'll get to a point when we laugh at people who drive from the Westside to the ArcLight just to see a movie.
I drive about twelve miles round trip every day (about a fifteen minute commute one-way) for work and otherwise on the weekends I have a ton of places that I can walk to for food, entertainment, and exercise.
Oh, or I go out to Ventura County, where highways like the 118 and 23 are pretty low-key on the weekends.