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I was born and raised in LA. My first experience with public transportation was at age 6 when my mom said we could ride the bus to the mall. We waited at the bus stop for 30 minutes but the bus never came. So we walked home. That pretty much sums up how I feel about the bus right now.
For 5 years (during and after college) I lived on the East Coast; I didn't have any access to a car and I absolutely loved it. I never had to worry about traffic or parking. I was reading books on the way to work and mingling with my fellow city dwellers (which despite my seemingly bitter attitude, is actually my favorite thing to do). I always wanted to return to what I felt was my carefree car-free lifestyle, but for the past 8 years I've lived on the westside and it's been rather (read: very) difficult. Taking the bus to my job would take an estimated 2-3 hours each way (according to www.metro.net), or 35 minutes each way driving myself. It seems there is no good answer for those of us who use the 405.
Well yay for me, 6 months ago I started working 2 days a week at an office only 2.5 miles from where I live! I vowed to not take my car there ever, as here was my chance to return to a (40%) car-free lifestyle. Woo hoo! Free at last.
So I started taking the bus every Monday and Thursday from my home (West LA) to work (Westwood). Let me tell you about a typical bus day.
AM
6:35 Wake up with cats in my face. Get ready for work.
7:15 Walk to bus stop.
7:27 See my bus pass by me because apparently I walked too slow and had I been there 14 seconds sooner, I could have been on it, even though the schedule says it comes at 7:29.
7:38 Get on next bus (where was the 7:33 bus? I DON'T KNOW) which is packed to the gills with middle school students in school uniforms screaming at each other. Can't get far enough onto the bus so every time the door opens it hits me. No one will move to make more room. Starting to get very dirty from the gunk on the doors rubbing against my back at every stop.
7:45 Get shoved by someone coming off the bus, which rips my scab off my arm and I start to bleed. Can't find anything to sop up dripping blood so try to wipe it on my pants (they're brown, close enough). People are starting to look at me funny, which results in my getting shoved closer to the door and risking involuntary disembarkment at each stop.
7:46 Notice that bus ride is taking twice as long because each exiting passenger has to unwedge himself from the back of the bus, push past 45 middle schoolers and scream "THIS IS MY STOP! OPEN THE DOOR! "Then the middle schoolers tug their ipod earphones of out their ears and say "what?"
7:55 Arrive at stop waaaaaay too late and start to sweat out of fear that I'll be fired.
8:12 Get to my office 12 minutes late after running all the way there. Now have blisters on my heels, I am dripping in sweat, my hair is a mess, and I'm late. 8:00am appointment has been waiting there for 12 minutes and is rather irritated. Mop off my face with some paper towels and try to gather myself together.
-work as usual-
PM
4:49 Leave work walk to bus stop.
4:59 Realize I only have a $20 bill so I go to the store and buy a bottle of water to get change for the bus because I'm too much of a baby to just ask for quarters.
5:04 Walk back to bus stop wondering the best way to get quarters in this town or where I can get one of those pre-paid cards. Remind myself to look that up when I get home.
5:05 Bus pulls away 5 seconds prior to my arrival at the stop. Vigorous arm waving proves futile, if not embarrassing.
5:16 Next bus comes. Bus is too full and driver is not letting anyone on, though it did let someone off. I would think that since I was smaller than that person, I should be allowed to board in his place. The driver pulled off before I could plead my seemingly very logical case. End up in an exhaust cloud and can't get out. Start coughing just to be dramatic.
5:24 Next bus comes. It is equally as full but driver is letting people board at their own risk. People are falling out as the doors open and women are smashed up against the windshield. I cram myself onto the bus and wedge myself between a pole and a stinky BO guy on a cell phone who is talking way too loudly.
5:35 Bus makes a stop at major intersection. People are trying to cram themselves onto the bus. Doors will not close. Major delay as driver tells people to wait for the next bus and they protest loudly and furiously. What they were hoping to accomplish, I do not know.
5:39 Finally get to my stop. Step on 5 people trying to get off the bus. Back is starting to ache from very awkward standing and trying not to get sucked into vortex of BO man's pit stench. Walk home, limping from this morning's blisters.
5:51 Arrive home. Realize I got off work an hour ago and I traveled less than 3 miles. Could have been home 40 minutes ago if I had my car... but I didn't. Missed my 5:30pm class at the gym, and can barely make the 6:30pm class if I decide to rush like hell and drive myself, but since my head is pounding, I don't go to the gym at all. Spend the rest of the night wondering what the hell is wrong with me that I must insist on taking the stinky time-consuming bus. Ended up with a terrible headache and wasted the rest of the night with an ice pack on my head.
Cost round trip: $1.50 + one bottle of water minus one trip to the gym.
So I quit taking the bus.
This is what my day looks like now.
7:00 Wake up with cats in my face
7:35 Get in car
7:44 Arrive in parking lot at work
7:48 Get to office, start the day non-sweaty, non-achey and without blisters with plenty of time to spare.
- work as usual -
4:45 Leave office, walk to parking lot
4:49 Get in car, drive to gym
5:15 Arrive at gym with plenty of time to spare for the 5:30 class
or
4:49 Get in car, drive home
5:01 Come home to two cats in my face
Cost round trip (gas): $0.21
Okay, let's explore other options. I could walk. It's two and a half miles uphill the entire way. I tried it once without anything on me and it took about 45 minutes, so I figure carrying my camera, laptop, lunch, change of clothes and shoes, book and papers in a large hiking backpack I could get there in under an hour, though I would likely need to shower once I got to work. Walking home would be much faster, given that it's downhill and my lunch bag would be lighter. Not a terrible option, but seems rather messy.
Or I could bike. I don't have a bike. I calculated it costs 21 cents round trip in gas and I go twice a week, so a $200 bike investment would pay off in a mere 18 years. I don't plan to be working there for that long. Or in 412 years I could get a Segway, which sounds more fun.
If you read my blog, you know I am extremely accident prone. I've been to the ER twice since June thanks to freak injuries and I've been in 3 not-at-fault car accidents since October 2006. I was almost hit while in a crosswalk (by a MINI Cooper Flexcar, of all things - fortunately there was a cop nearby and that person was promptly pulled over and ticketed) and had someone back into me when I was walking through a parking lot (I hit the car's trunk with my hand, at least she stopped). My instincts tell me that riding a bike through West LA during rush hour is a bad bad idea since it is clear that my asswriting-despising karma has God throwing large objects at me left and right.
Where does this leave me? I'm a quitter, and quitters never win. But neither do bus riders, it seems.
Photo by Malingering
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I take it your round trip only cost $0.21 because you don't pay for insurance, you don't change the oil, you don't wash your car, you don't get a tune up, and you never have a flat tire. You never get into an accident, never pay for repairs, and the health and environmental consequences of driving will never impact you or anyone you know.
I'm not going to argue with your decision to start driving, nor will I argue that driving is always more expensive than taking the bus. But I take issue with how much you underestimated the cost of your trip.
My experiences on the Metro bus/rails are mostly tolerable with shades of nightmare scenarios similar to this one that forced your resignation. I'm not ready to give up on it yet, but I won't fault you for deciding not to.
Instead, I'll just encourage you to explore self-propelled options -- especially if you're travel distance is 2.5 miles. Depending on your pace you could get to work anywhere from 30-45 minutes on foot. And by bike I'd guess maybe 15-20?
I'm at my most careful and cautious on westside roads, and don't blame you for the apprehension you have about them. But I've been biking to and from work along a variety of 12/13-mile routes from Silver Lake to Westchester on average two-three times a week since September. Sorry for the cliche but if I can do that you could so rock your much more enviable commute on two wheels or two feet.
Give it a try.
PS. Brainfart, sorry. Totally missed the paragraph about your attempt at walking.
you probably have a car payment as well?
I'm just wondering... why don't you have a monthly pass? There goes having to worry about having quarters, and it would have ensured your timeliness with the after-work bus.
I stopped riding the bus because I feared for my life every time I got on. LA bus riders are some of the most subhuman disgusting threatening people I've ever met.
I stopped riding the bus (after a 3 day experiment in 2003) because I feared for my life every time I got on. LA bus riders are some of the most subhuman, disgusting, threatening people I've ever met. I was spit on, coughed on, drooled on and sneezed on. The people smelled. I got lots of evil eyes for being the only white guy on the bus. One guy threatened me for taking his seat, even though I sat down 4 stops before he got on.
Is this on the Big Blue Bus or the metro? I find the Big Blue Bus to always be a pleasureable experience.
Bikes on wilshire are a deathwish, I agree.
I think you're underestimating your best option here, which is actually a bike. Since your commute is "only 2.5 miles", that's not enough to break a sweat, and you'll probably get there quicker than the traffic-stricken bus even on a crappy secondhand beach cruiser.
My bike commute is almost exactly the same length, and today and yesterday were the first days I took the bus (#3 rapid up Lincoln) instead of biking, because of the rain.
Also, you're failing to take into account all the other costs of a car such as maintenence, insurance, registration, repairs, and all that other fun crap which I don't miss at all since converting to two wheels. Not to mention traffic aggravation.
It beats the bus too. No smelly crazy people.
Also, if you get some biking in, you won't have to go to the gym as much :-) combine your workout and transport and fun. Give it a try, you might surprise yourself.
Jamesey, was that you trembling in unchecked terror next to me last September on the No. 4 going downtown from Westwood? Sorry man, I was having a REALLY bad night: I'd lost my machete, my auntie ratted me out to my bastard probation officer (I told the bitch I'd pay her back!), I couldn't score any cough syrup because I'd lost my fake ID, and that fuckin' Steve Jobs had just slashed the price of the iPhone I'd just stolen the day before. Plus the bus was waaay late. That and the burger from Marty's was repeating on me something fierce.
Kinda extreme for you to lumpsum us all into my category but who am I to blame you for thinking we're all like that. Peace.
I rode the (blue bus & metro) bus for over a year. I rarely had this type of experience.
You sound like a real winner. I hope you're not a man.
For real tho. Busses in L.A. just SUCK! No getting around that people, no matter how hard you try.
The buses do suck. I can walk a mile and a half down Santa Monica towards WeHo and not see one bus; when I finally get to my street two Rapids and three number four buses will pass me ALL AT THE SAME TIME. Craaazay!
I just bought a killer beach cruiser for $120... I ride it about 3000% more than I planned to, because Los Angeles is lovely for casual biking.
For ALMOST every busy street, there's a slower parallel street just a few pedals away.
Fuck the bus. In Hollywood, its just a big, moving weirdo capsule. I once sat next to a guy who ate an entire flower, then peed himself... all within two city blocks.
SCHWINNNNNNNNNNN.
Why argue with her choice? The time she saves is reason enough. Safety, be it from other bus riders, or possibly getting killed by a car if she's on a bike, is reason enough. She tried, it didn't work for her. Public transportation doesn't work for everyone.
I would also argue, much as I'm all for public transportation, that many of the bus drivers scare the hell out of me with their driving.
I've been nearly swiped many times as a pedestrian, cyclist and a driver.
I'm an inveterate bike-rider from Boston, new to L.A., and this post made me laugh out loud. The buses in Boston are frankly not much better - I spent two consecutive winters dealing with the Somerville bus system, and experienced the same trials and travails - but they're there, and they're an option, and sometimes we non-car folks just have to work with our options. The psychic reward of not contributing to L.A.'s crazy-ass car culture is enough for me to offset the WTF factor of the bus schedule - and we don't get two feet of snow in January out here like we do back East, so I can ride my bike year-round (even in the rain) and feel eternally blessed. Biking can be a logistical challenge (I have a galaxy-sized backpack to fit all the things you describe) and you have to have a pretty strong constitution to hold your own with the bastard drivers, but there's almost no better vent for urban frustration than to shockwave your system with morning endorphins. And for those times when a car is simply unavoidable, well... that's why I have [urban hourly car rental service].
It cracks me up to no end that people take it personal when someone decides to drive a car. Get a life!
Great post! Loved it!
This is the Big Blue Bus, and I would be riding a bike on Santa Monica Blvd, which if you haven't seen the renovations, the bike lane is interrupted every 3 streets by an inlet to allow traffic to pass onto the local roads.
In terms of my car costs, I will have to pay insurance and car payments ANYWAY because my other office which I go to three times a week is over 20 miles away and necessitates a car. Therefore I feel the only additional cost in the aforementioned trip to the closer office is the gas.
Right on. I give you props for trying it out and hope you don't entirely discount the bus forever.
Really, I just want more people in LA to consider their options besides driving when they could just as easily walk or bike.
Not saying in any way that this is you, but I'm sure we all know people who for some reason feel the urge to drive (and circle for parking) when their destination is a 7 minute walk away.
If I were you, I'd give the bike route a shot. Wear a helmet, bike defensively; and keep your eyes open. You might find it to be great fun.
Once again, kudos for giving it a shot; hope you do once in a while again; don't give up hope entirely
PS FLEXCAR!! Look into it!
torrmoz: Good point! The car was assumed to be free.
ishXdavid: It cracks me up when people assume their personal choices have no effect on anybody else.
wait...it's 2007 and LA is still getting around on buses???
good grief...
Every time I've ridden the bus in LA, I was almost in tears by the end of the ride.
Luckily for me, I live 2 miles from work, so, I usually ride mt bike.
It is LA, shouldn't you be getting around on roller blades? I guess that went out of fashion in the mid-90's. At least you tried the bus and documented it. It doesn't sound like the bus trip takes too long, provided you can get on one. But, it also doesn't sound pleasant. They need bigger buses or more of them during those peak hours. I feel sorry for people where the bus is the only option.
I'd like to see a minute by minute blog-on-the-bus experience, kinda like the the (hilarious) Absinthe one.
Write rides a hollywood bus route from start to end, at peak hours, documenting the complete and total LA weirdness that ensues.
I imagine this would be a highly enjoyable read.
(not it)
It seems like you have an unfortunate schedule. Every day, I rode the Blue Bus from Palms to UCLA for a year, and now I ride the MTA down Wilshire. Occasionally, there are bad days with missed or crowded buses, but in the long run, I've found it more pleasant than driving. I am curious how many times you rode before choosing to drive. I remember being frustrated the first few months.
As for your driving cost estimate, a good way to compute it is to use the IRS cost-per-mile figure of 40.5 cents/mile. This includes gas, wear and tear, risk of accidents, etc. This figure gives a cost of two dollars a day to drive. Though, this doesn't account for the value of your time and the environmental cost of the car.
rdm24... why don't you piggyback her to work then. Cry me a river.
Cry me a river? Are you in third grade?
I'm glad you tried something new out, Malingering. And I mean that. I think it's awesome of you to consider your options.
I took public transportation in Los Angeles for three years before I gave it up in frustration and anger. The bus sucks, plain and simple. I prefer the subway any day, especially since I live on Wilshire Blvd.
Does the ride to your work on Santa Monica include a bike lane the whole way or only part of it?
It's not very easy to get around So Cal via public transportation. For most people,the time it takes to get around via bus, subway, train etc. out weighs the expense and convince of driving.
I live in San Gabriel and work in downtown. It's faster for me to drive (in traffic) the whole 11 miles than to drive to the closest train stop (6 miles) then catch the train to Union Station and catch a connecting subway to take me the rest of the way.
Personally if I had to deal with what you described in your post, I'd be driving and chalking up the expense as cost of living.
Nice post.
Oh man, I lost 2 jobs because of buses. They only ran every 45 minutes. Sometimes they either didn't show up, or just blew past me (While standing by the sign - some drivers won't stop if you're sitting).
Bosses don't give a shit about buses not following their schedule. I had to get up to take the bus that left 45 minutes before my usual bus as an extra precaution, and the bus still made me late often enough to be fired.
When offered a ride, I occasionally even got in stranger's cars out of total desperation. Not smart.
Public transportation is fantastic for hitting bars, but LA's bus system need to be more reliable before I stake my job on it again.
Seriously, excellent post but I work in West La on SM BLVD and walk at lunch for exercise. I can walk the three miles to the mall and the three miles back on my lunch hour. I am not model thin or in prime physical shape, so it can be done.
I would like to reiterate here that while it is certainly not for everyone, the metro system can work wonders for many people.
I voluntarily gave up my car. Not because I couldn't afford it, and certainly not for any type of environmental reason. I just found the whole ordeal of driving in LA to be more inconvenient, infuriated, and just plain scarier than the alternative: the bus/ train.
Again, its not for everyone. Some people are still mentally chained to their car. But if you give it a shot and go in with an open mind, you might just find yourself a new lifestyle.
I don't plan on ever owning a car again
bike+metro+flexcar= car free life
Flex car is $63 a day? How does anyone afford that?
I work 30 hour shifts at a place that is 25 miles away from where I live. This means it would cost me $126 every time I worked an overnight shift. I don't know how people do it.
:: silently waiting for someone to tell me I should bike home 25 miles through the ghetto after not sleeping for 30 hours ::
Gurugirl: 6 miles an hour is quick! That's about how long it takes me to RUN six miles. You're in better shape than you think.
Ah, it appears I do not qualify for Flexcar since I have been in 3 traffic accidents this year. Oh well.
@jamesey: People like you kill me. I like the anti-bus (read: racist) talking points. I haven't heard them in a long time!
Kudos to the OP for trying the bus. I read this post and all kinds of memories came back. I would tell my friends about my bus adventures and they'd say, "You should write a book!". 10 years later, it's almost done. In college, I lived in Upland and went to school in Walnut, I had to take the bus to pick up my siblings in La Puente. There was a guy who'd get on at Valley and Temple who smelled like fish and watermelon. I'd cry when I see him because he made the whole bus stink. Summers it was worse. There was BO involved. (jamesey, he was white!) I'd jump for joy when the bus driver would say the bus was too full.
I never thought that bus riding could get worse. Then I moved to the Westside. Thankfully, I only worked 3 blocks away from our apt., so I walked and only had to deal with idiotchicks driving SUVs while applying makeup/talking on mobiles almost running me over. Later I got a job in that building on San Vicente and Wilshire. I lived on 2nd and Montana in SM. Most of the time, it would easily take almost 90 minutes to get to work. I rode PT solely for years until the last strike (Was that in 2000?). I got a car because I needed to get to work during the strikes and none of my neighbors worked in Westwood. I would hop out the car at Santa Monica and Wilshire and catch a cab to Wilshire and Westwood. Or walk. (gasp)
Much later, I got laid off and started working at home. While I still need my car to get to my job sites, I do take the bus with my kids a lot. They love it and I'm saved fighting traffic and finding/paying for parking. In fact, one of our happiest times is ride the bus when it's raining. People who regularly take the bus will usually drive their cars and it's not so crowded.
People complain about the PT system in LA. Yeah, it's kinda bad, but I've taken PT in other cities and countries and you're still gonna have to wait, deal with crowding and lots of the same problems here in LA (except for Sweden...that's an awesome bus system they got there). It's just that in those places a majority of the denizens are suffering along with you. In SoCal, people who willing take the bus are (unnecessarily) looked down upon.
flexcar isn't really worth it if you're trying to take it out all day.
however, if for example, you need an suv to run over to ikea for 3 or 4 hours, it can be done for a about 20 bucks, gas and insurance included.
for me and the 1 or 2 times i need a car a year, it's perfect.
but again, this lifestyle isn't for everyone. no one is forcing anyone into it. if people want to sit in traffic circling for a spot while avoiding cops and smashing into other drivers multiple times a year, thats cool. go for it.
Personally, I think you should bike home 25 miles through the ghetto after not sleeping for 30 hours.
Out of curiosity, is there anyone out there who is car-free and has children?
Out of curiosity, is there anyone out there who is car-free and has children?
I moved to Los Angeles four and a half years ago and don't know how to drive. I'm on the bus for at least three hours every week day, and I think I've just grown used to it (my commute in London was a similar length, so I've never really known better.)
I consider it pretty miraculous that I've only had to throw one punch (it was self defence), have only inadvertently started one fist fight (by "looking ill," apparently) and only have to get off the bus because it smells too bad about once each month. I'm often an hour or so -- not exaggerating at all, here -- late for work, but luckily I can just stay late to make it up.
On the plus side, I totally won a 3am-crazy-bloke pop-culture-trivia contest once by correctly naming "Elizabeth Taylor" in response to the question "Who is the baddest motherfucking white girl ever to appear in a motion picture?"
Bwahahahah.... 3am-crazy-bloke pop-culture-trivia contest
There's a goldmine of bus-lore in this city.
I love hearing all these horror stories about public transportation, as though there were no horrors on the 405. But you know what? a horror on a the bus is far less likely to end in a fatality than a horror in your car.
I am not accusing anybody on this blog of this, but a lot of opposition to public transit really comes out of a fear of minorities and the poor.
I'm not too sure about that. Because if you were riding in my car on the 405, and you peed in the seat just before spilling warm Mickey's all over my backpack, there'd be no question... I'd hate you.
Personally, I doubt anyone here chooses their mode of daily traspo based on what is least likely to kill them.
A horror in your car is far less likely to end in a fatality than a horror on your bike.
Too bad Zach took the last 3 paragraphs out of my post where I detailed the fact that the real reason I stopped taking the bus is because I don't like minorities and poor people and it has nothing to do with time or (in)convenience or overcrowded buses. If the buses had been full of white people, I would have kept taking them so we could have all sung kumbaya together and held hands and talked about how nice it is to be white and not poor, but then I realized that I'm not white so no one would get on the bus out of fear of ME.
I'm a minority and I still wouldn't take the bus. :-)
It's really out of convince than anything else.
i live a few blocks from my job - and luckily - walk 15-20 min everyday. PHEW! I've had scarey experiences on the train though...WHY OH WHY
-missing nyc
Where to get quarters: grocery stores - just hand them $10 and they give a roll. Or walk into any of the hundreds of laundromats and use the change machine.
I gotta say, I can relate. And no, I would not want to bike up Wilshire. I did know people who do it, sometimes they fall and chip their teeth.
I take the 12 to UCLA most days of the week. The best reason for taking the bus, imo, is to save money on parking. The cost may not be a big deal for gas or car maintenance, but the parking does making 25 cents a ride* (even if it takes more time) worthwhile.
*UCLA students' trips on the Big Blues Bus are subsidized by parking permit holders.