An American on Transit

Ever misplace your keys?

2004-05-13T15:00:00.000-07:00

I usually get a transit pass each month that lets me board practically any bus or train in the county for $58. It's called the EZ pass, and believe when I say it makes riding transit much easier. No worries about having fare, or how much the Santa Monica Bus is vs. the Long Beach bus.

Well, I rented a car last weekend so I could visit some of my relatives for Mother's day, so I ended up driving into downtown on Monday morning. Once I returned the car and started walking down the street, I realized that I had left my transit pass at home. For someone who rides transit all the time, that's like leaving your keys at home.

On the commute home, I took some MTA tokens from work for the ride back to Hollywood, but because I'm so used to just getting on the train, I completely forgot to buy a ticket, and rode all the way to Hollywood. Fortunately, there were no officers checking fare on my trip, so I avoided the $250 fine.

When I got home, I forgot all about my pass until I was leaving for work the next morning, when I discovered that I couldn't find it. Late for work, I headed out with a pocketful of change, the feeling of having lost a set of $58 keys preoccupying my mind.

Fortunately, that night after sorting through all my loose papers on my desk, I finally found my pass. Of course, I realized that night as well that I had left my actual keys at work. Well, at least I can get my landlord to open my door.

Okay, okay -- I'm back

2004-05-10T16:03:00.000-07:00

Hello everyone. I apologize for the lack of updates over the last two months. I don’t really have a good excuse for the absence of any new entries, other than that I first started blogging when I started riding transit, and the two new experiences seemed to fit well. But while I've taken to transit rather well, blogging on a regular basis has not been as easy for me to do.

However, since I started this experiment, I've received quite a bit of email indicating that my experiences and observations are of some value to people, and that I should continue to add at minimum a weekly digest of my happenings and thoughts to the blog. So, as a result, I am once again making an attempt to regularly update this journal with my chronicles, compliments and critiques of transit in Los Angeles and the people who ride it, plan and operate it, or simply exist without ever noticing it.

Feel free to send me an email when I fall short of my goal.

Walkable, mixed-use neighborhoods = transit viability

2004-03-09T22:01:00.000-08:00

I've said this before, but today was a classic case of the reason that I can use transit as a viable alternative to owning an automobile. I don't need a car for basic needs.

After work I decided to visit my local branch library. I could have hopped on the DASH bus to take me the seven or so blocks from the Subway station, but I decided to walk. My local branch library was just completed a couple months ago, and is off Sunset Boulevard. Considering the site, they could have tried for a mixed-use building instead of a single purpose library (like several examples I saw in Portland), but I'm not complaining. I took a few minutes to select a book, and then started down the street towards my new neighborhood Target store. I checked out the new store and picked up a few items before walking back up a couple blocks to the Ralph's supermarket (now that the grocery strike is over) to buy some food for dinner.

These three trips took me a little more than an hour at a somewhat leisurely walking pace. I'm sure it would have been faster with a car (though not amazingly so with traffic and parking in a garage), but I got the added benefit of a little physical activity as well. Plus I didn't have to circle for a parking spot when I got back home ;)

It's fun to have a car every once and a while ;)

2004-03-08T22:36:00.000-08:00

With a list of errands to do, and the desire to visit a few friends and relatives for a change (instead of them visiting me), I decided to rent a car for the entire weekend. I made a reservation at Enterprise Rent-A-Car, which was running a weekend special for $9.99 a day for a compact car (Dodge Neon or similar). On Friday afternoon, I walked over to their office at Pershing Square to pickup the car. They didn't have the car I reserved, so they offered me a choice of a Chevy Silverado truck or a Mitsubushi Eclipse Spyder Convertible. Well, not wanting to be driving this big gas guzzling truck, I took the convertible.

Well, the weather turned out to be perfect for a convertible, and I have to admit after the initial acclimation period with any unfamiliar car, I really enjoyed driving around with the top down. If I had known I would be driving this car and the weather was going to be so splendid, I would have planned to take a trip up the coast. The case being otherwise, I settled on visiting my friend in Marina del Rey and driving around Venice.

Because of the street closures due to the L.A. Marathon on Sunday (and the grand opening of Target at La Brea and Santa Monica), I didn't get to enjoy driving the car as much as sit in traffic. It took me almost two hours to get from my apartment to Pearl Arts & Crafts store at La Cienega and Pico, return some stuff, and then get to a relative's house in Echo Park.

The transportation bill for the whole weekend came to $52.34 (including 3 day rental and 9 gallons of gas @ $2.20). Not too shabby, eh?

Chatty mornings and quite rides home

2004-03-04T23:24:00.000-08:00

I'm noticing that more people seem to be open to chatting with their fellow riders during the morning commute into work than the afternoon ride home. Maybe it's because in the morning people feel perky and ready to take on the world. Not being a morning person, I certainly don't feel that way. On the way home, people look more tired and grumpy, and tend to keep to themselves -- the exception being those people not going home from work but heading to some fun event like a game at the Staples Center, etc.

Yesterday I overheard a conversation between two women going to work in the morning. One of them lived in Valencia (that's the suburban frontier for you non-L.A. folks) and worked in Downtown, just steps from the 7th/Metro station. She said she liked taking the subway so much (since it gives her the opportunity to read or knit -- which she was doing on this occasion) that she drives to the North Hollywood station and takes the train into work each day (she also mentioned how the "outrageous" price of gas keeps her from driving all the way in). The whole time, I wondered why she doesn't take the Metrolink train? It would certainly give her more time to knit.

A busy weekend in Hollywood

2004-02-29T22:36:00.000-08:00

On Friday, I reserved a Flexcar so I could take care of some work errands. When I got to the car, the battery was exhausted, and the card entry system didn't work. Luckily, the was another car about two blocks away which I was able to use.

Unfortunately, this isn't the first time that it's happened. It turns out that because of the added electronics to run all the high-tech stuff Flexcar adds to the cars, the car battery is gets drained if the car isn't driven on a regular basis. Hopefully, this problem will be solved naturally as more members join and/or better locations are found for cars. In the meantime, it means the Flexcar folks have to go around to each car on a regular basis to check that the battery is charged.

I spent Saturday working all day. Livable Places sponsored a one day design charrette as a way to bring some talented architects and designers together to develop some cool ideas for building new joint-use schools. On the way home that evening, the Subway was packed (I'm finding that it often is on weekends). When came out of the Hollywood/Highland, I was greeted to a big crowd gathered around the red carpet set up along Hollywood Blvd for the Academy Awards.

Now, I know most people think that a limousine is the preferred way of travel to the Oscars, but I think it would make quite a statement to arrive via Subway. Unfortunately, that's not even an option. The station is closed on the day of the awards (I assume for security reasons), with the Red Line trains bypassing station.

Here's a very bad quality photo from my camera phone of the red carpet area on Saturday night. This is all literally steps from the subway portal.

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Tut, tut, it looks like rain

2004-02-25T22:34:00.000-08:00

A storm moved in this afternoon and began dumping rain all over Southern California. Suffice it to say, I got rather wet on my commute home. I did have an umbrella (albeit a small one) to shield me from the falling rain, but the real problems were at my feet. You see, because Los Angeles is so built up and paved over, a heavy downpour turns streets, gutters and even some sidewalks into mini rivers and lakes. Therefore, a pedestrian on a very rainy day in Los Angeles has to contend with trying to walk around all the water, while being extra careful around cars (since many L.A. drivers are inexperienced when it comes to wet road conditions). Hopefully the rain will let up for my morning commute.

In other news, the March 2004 issue of Los Angeles Magazine contains small column about Flexcar as part of its "ultimate driver's manual" where I'm mentioned as a user who gave up their car as a result of the service. I'm curious if people who are interested in reading a survival guide for car owners are looking for something like Flexcar, but nonetheless, it's good publicity for them.

A little morning commute cheer

2004-02-24T22:59:00.000-08:00

For the last two mornings, I've caught the 9:20a.m. train leaving from Hollywood/Highland to Downtown. It turns out that the operator for that particular train is very spirited, and greets riders at every stop with "good morning, good morning, good morning!." He announces the upcoming stops with a lot a gusto and personality, adding extra information about transfers and such. As the train pulls into the next station, he thanks everyone for riding Metro Rail and sends riders off with inspirational suggestions like "Make sure to make it a great day!" Now normally I might think this would be annoying -- and some people might very well feel that way -- but I actually have found it to be cheering and entertaining. A nice personal touch to what is typically a very routine experience.

After work, I needed to get to meeting at Wilshire/Bundy in West L.A. by 7:00p.m. I typed my origin and destination points into the trip planner, thinking that it would suggest that I take the #720 Wilshire Rapid Bus all the way down, but instead it suggested that I take the #10 Santa Monica Big Blue Bus, which offered an express route to West L.A./Santa Monica via the 10 freeway. Though I was a little hesitant at first, I left work at 6:00pm, grabbed a sandwich to go for dinner, and caught the bus at around 6:13 leaving Downtown. The traffic on the freeway, while not what you would call free-flowing, was not bumper-to-bumper, and I was at Santa Monica Blvd and Bundy at 6:42. I could have walked the last five blocks to my destination, but instead I was able to catch a #14 Blue Bus up to Wilshire, and I was walking into the building at 6:50. My regional transit pass covered the fare on the municipal line, though I had to pay an extra dollar for the express bus (the same goes on MTA express buses). On the way home, I hopped on #720 bus east to Santa Monica Blvd, and then took the #4 bus home, which took about 45 minutes door to door.

One thing I'll say about express buses (or at least the one I rode) is that though they get you to your destination much faster than local service, the ride they offer is not as smooth as a car or train. On city streets at slower speeds the buses' suspension isn't an issue -- but at 60 mph on the rough pavement of the 10 freeway, it can be less than comfortable. But all in all, no complaints.

Can you believe how much the price of gas has gone up?

2004-02-19T23:27:00.000-08:00

This has been the topic of conversation around L.A. in the past few days. Apparently, gas prices have risen almost 20 cents in the past week, and are now averaging $1.93, according to the local newscasts.

Well, to be honest, I hadn't noticed. I mean why would I notice, right? I haven't bought gas in months. And even the last time I did, I didn't look at the price (Flexcar was paying the tab).

But come to think of it, I was never one of those people who bitched about the price of gasoline, or the price of most anything frankly (though I do get a little steamed at the price of bottled water at some places). Usually, I either consider the good or service I'm buying to be worth the price, or I just don't buy it.

What I'm guessing the reason that most people get upset about high gas prices is that they don't feel they have a choice. They're forced to buy gas, right? Of course I know this is not really the case for most people. There are discretionary trips that people can cut out, or carpools that can be arranged, or even buses and trains that can stretch people's transportation dollars farther. So far though, I haven't heard anyone say they were considering any of these alternatives, so I'm thinking the price of gas isn't really that painful for most people. Now you might say that lower income people are challenged by the increasing gas costs, and granted some may be facing financial hardship, but I have a hunch that most people with low income aren't really able to cover all the other (and much higher) costs of owning and driving even a late model car -- like insurance, taxes and license, and maintenance. No, my guess is most of them sharing rides or are already on the bus.

Growing up in Orlando, FL, I got to see the price of a one-day admission to Walt Disney World rise from about $21 when my family arrived in 1986 to about $42 when I left for college in 1999. I seem to recall that during one period when the ticket price was being increased, an article came out quoting some honcho at Disney saying that the company's pricing policy was to raise the price of admission up until the point where something like five or ten percent of the visitors who saw the price at the ticket window turned around and decided not to buy a ticket (with the idea in mind that most people traveling to Orlando are prepared to spend what it takes to get into Disney, even if it means not going to Universal Studios)

I wonder what the price of gasoline would need to be to start making people seriously consider alternatives to driving everywhere, anywhere, all the time?

Of course, our government has added fuel to the fire, by releasing a report supporting a six cent increase in state gas taxes to pay for transportation improvements (read roads). While I personally support more money for transportation improvements (read transit), now is probably not the best time politically to start stumping for support for higher gas taxes. Though if we're going to bit the bullet, let's just raise the price of gas enough so that people stop driving so much and relieve ourselves of the need to build all those new roads that the legislature (read auto, oil, concrete lobbyists) want.

In a shocking development, both all escalators at the Hollywood and Highland Red Line station were fully operational by the time of my afternoon commute.

2004-02-18T21:58:00.000-08:00

Today I had a meeting in Highland Park, so instead of getting off at Pershing Square, I took the Red Line to its final stop at Union Station, and then climbed up to the Gold Line platform to catch a train out. By the time I came out of the station and onto the platform, it had begun to rain. When I left my apartment, I had noticed the cloudy sky but for some reason did not consider the possibility of rain (I guess because its not a common occurrence here). Fortunately, by the time I arrived at my stop, it had all but ceased. On the way back to the office, my co-worker and I stopped for lunch in Chinatown, and upon leaving, we did have to contest with some raindrops.

Riding the Gold Line this morning made realize that while the subway is fast, it sure doesn't offer much of a view. Above ground on the train, I neglected the book I had been reading on the Red Line and entertained myself by just looking out the window. Of course, it probably gets old if you ride the train to work and back every day. But for me, it was a welcomed change of scenery.

And continuing yesterday's theme, two escalators at the Hollywood and Highland station were not working today. You might be tempted to say because this was because of the rain, but both of these particular escalators are not exposed to the outside elements, and are in fact well inside the station. I'll see how long it takes for them to be repaired.

2004-02-17T23:34:00.000-08:00

I'm not sure of what exactly is involved in escalator maintenance, but the MTA needs to get a hold of what is the continuing problem of out of service escalators in the Red Line stations. While I could be exaggerating somewhat, it seems that one of the four escalators at the Hollywood/Highland station is not functioning for some period every week. The Pershing Square station has less of a problem, but even there it seems to happen more often than I would expect. I remember reading an article about escalators leading to the Washington D.C. Metro breaking down often, but the culprit turned out to be exposure to rain. Well, it rarely rains here in Los Angeles -- so that can't be it.

Now, this isn't a major issue for me. I try to make it a point to take the stairs as exercise -- and this just helps keep me honest. But sometimes, when I'm feeling lazy, it would be nice to be able to skip the long flight of stairs leading out of the subway and take a ride on the escalators.

2004-02-12T23:32:00.000-08:00

When I talk to other people about riding transit, one of the excuses I often hear is that using transit makes it difficult and slow to travel to multiple destinations throughout the day. I'll admit that this is generally the case -- if you need to make several trips to different places each day, the bus is usually not going to cut it. But I'm curious to know where everyone is traveling? I mean if you're a salesperson or something, sure it makes sense to drive everywhere. But it seems to me that a lot of the people I know basically travel from home to work and back again. It's only on occasion that they need a car to make a business trip or run a few errands (and sometimes you can even get to that meeting using transit and save your company the mileage and parking expense).

Granted, moms and dads often have to drop-off and pick-up their children, but again, my feeling is that in quite a few instances those trips are not necessary. Once upon a time, kids actually walked or rode their bikes to school (I know I did). Of course, that was before people, rightly or wrongly, felt the world was too dangerous a place to give children freedom to roam around in the world.

As for people who pickup the dry cleaning and some food for dinner on the way home -- well, I can't help you there. You'd have to be disciplined enough to make it home via transit and then go out again in your car if need be. Of course, this should ideally be solved by living in a neighborhood where those sorts of daily needs and services are on the walk home from the bus or train station.

My point in all this is that by planning their schedules to determine when they'll actually need a car, people could ride transit to work on a more regular basis, and only drive in on the days they have too (or they could use a Flexcar instead). But in the end it really comes down to whether people are motivated (or incentivized) enough to make a change for the better and drive less. Unfortunately not many of us are there yet.

2004-02-07T20:46:00.000-08:00

This morning I had to travel to Redondo Beach for a meeting. For those of you not familiar with the L.A. area, it's about 25 miles from my apartment in Hollywood. In most other places, this would be really far, but in Los Angeles, this is not that uncommon of a traveling distance for a lot of people.

Because of the distance, and the fact that it was a Saturday morning, the trip was out of my usual transit riding routine, but I thought I'd give it a shot to see how it would work. I plotted out a trip using transit that would take me most of the way there, and then planned on using my bike to arrive at my destination. I caught a southbound #212 bus on La Brea Ave, loaded by bike on the rack, and road it for about 50 minutes to the Metro Green Line station at Hawthorne Blvd and the 105 Freeway. From there I boarded a eastbound train for a short 10 minute trip to the last stop at Marine Avenue, the northern most edge of Redondo Beach. From there I rode a little over 4 miles south to the center of the city to get to where I needed to go.

The entire trip down ended up taking me about one and a half hours. This is about twice the time it would have taken to drive, but considering that I also got a morning workout on my bike (and there were a few inclines to spice up the ride), I figured it wasn't too bad.

I don't think I'd want to do it everyday though.

On the way back, I checked the trip planner and decided to catch a bus going up P.C.H. to the Mariposa Green Line station, and then head back to the Hawthorne station to catch a #212 bus to Hollywood. I had made good time all the way back to the Hawthorne station, but then things stopped going as planned. I ended up waiting 45 minutes for a #212 bus to show up (2 were supposed to have come in that time period). Of course, there were a lot of other people waiting (I was surprised with how many people were on the buses and trains all day) and we were all pretty frustrated with the situation. I went ahead and put in a call to the MTA info line to complain and see what was going on when a bus finally arrived. I told the bus driver that we'd been waiting for a long time, and asked if she knew why no buses had come by as scheduled.

It turns out that the police had blocked off a large section of La Brea through the Baldwin Hills. According to my driver, she suspected that some of the other bus drivers, when confronted with the street closure, simply turned around. She had made a large detour to get around the closure and continue the route. Sure enough, driving north, we hit the police barricade, which pretty much brought traffic to a halt while drivers figured out which way they wanted to go. The trip home ended up taking almost 3 hours with all the delays.

I'm not sure how much I can blame the MTA for this. There clearly should have been some better communication with the drivers regarding the street closure (so they didn't just abandon their route), and perhaps the agency could have dispatched some additional buses to pickup the slack, but in the end, this was an unforeseen issue that impacted all travel at that time along La Brea. I just happened to have the bad fortune to be stuck in it.

2004-02-03T16:32:00.000-08:00

For those of you who've never taken a ride on a Metro Rail train here in L.A., there are no turnstiles to prevent anyone from getting on a train without paying. What there is are roaming sheriff's deputies who randoming check for proof of payment or valid fare and passes. Get caught riding the train without paying and you're stuck with a $250 fine.

Today on my way into downtown, a couple of officers boarded the train car and started asking to see everyone's tickets or passes. A man and woman with two toddlers who had just boarded at the last stop turned out not to have purchased tickets. At the next stop, the officer asked the man to get off and wrote him a ticket, but not the woman and kids. I guess he was just being nice.

In unrelated news, thanks to Heidi Schallberg, a blogger from Kansas City who is also car-free, for suggesting that I syndicate my blog. As of today, you can now get an Atom feed at http://ridingtransit.blogspot.com/atom.xml

2004-02-02T22:04:00.000-08:00

On my trip home this afternoon it started raining. After emerging from the subway portal, I waited for about 5 minutes under a bus shelter for a southbound #156 bus on Highland. Due to the rain, the traffic was very bad, and as the bus came down the street, the cars swerving in and out of lanes prevented the driver from merging into the right lane. The driver, presumably frustrated by the traffic, just decided to skip the stop as I was waving to him. I chased him down a block, which wasn't too hard because the traffic is moving so slow. I was about ready to ask him why he skipped the stop as I got on the bus, but I was just glad to be out of the rain, and didn't feel like giving him a hard time while he was trying to navigate the congested street.

I sure am glad that it doesn't rain in Los Angeles very much, let alone snow.

Though I'm willing to cut some slack to the drivers now and then, it is clear to me that the bus and train operators (and Metro in general) behave as if they are doing you a favor, and ignore the fact the you and every rider on a Metro bus or train is in fact a paying customer. Unfortunately, this type of service doesn't do much to pull more people out of their cars. While Metro (like all transit agencies in the U.S.) loses money with each rider it carries (which may be one explanation for its lack of enthusiasm), it doesn't have to be this way. There are several transit systems around the world that make a profit and provide good service to their riders (Tokyo, Japan and Bogota, Columbia are some examples).

Some critics of modern day public transit propose taking away the transit agencies' monopoly on service in most cities and introducing competition to improve both service quality and operation efficiency. I'm not sure if that's the right solution, but I do think that there does need to be some greater accountability regarding the quality of service and where and when service is provided to obtain the biggest bang for the buck. In my opinion, this largely comes down to leadership making this an organizational priority.

While I do see Metro making some slow improvements, I can still see a lot of need for some creative problem solving to make more rapid progress on creating a transit system that can make a dent in the region's traffic congestion and air quality problems.

2004-02-01T20:35:00.000-08:00

This afternoon I was going to get a Flexcar and go do some major grocery shopping, but when I went to reserve the car closest to me here in Hollywood, it was already booked. That being the case, I decided to ride my bike instead and just pick up a few things. Coincidently, when I was leaving the supermarket with my purchases, I noticed the Flexcar pull into the parking lot (or at least I assume it was the Hollywood car). The folks at the L.A. office told me that the car in Hollywood was getting good use, but I was just glad to see it for myself.

In other news, Metro (formerly known as the MTA) launches a new Metro Rapid line tomorrow. Line 710 runs along Crenshaw/Rossmore from the South Bay Galleria to the Hollywood/Vine Metro station. The only downside is that the line is not scheduled to run on late evenings or weekends.

Also, for any Sierra Club members in Southern California, I wrote a brief article about my car-free experience for the February issue of the Southern Sierran, which is devoted to transportation issues. There's also an article on transit-oriented development by my boss, Beth Steckler, who is the Policy Director at Livable Places.

2004-01-27T21:55:00.000-08:00

So I just returned from the 3rd Annual New Partners for Smart Growth Conference in Portland, Oregon. Now, other than the fact that the weather in Portland during the winter isn't what I would call pleasant, the conference did provide me with an opportunity to learn about and see the results of Portland's 30 year experiment with smart growth (Those of you who don't know what I'm talking about when I say "Smart growth" can go here).

While I was generally impressed with what I saw, one of the highlights for me was the transit system. Portland has one of the highest ratios of transit ridership in the United States, with almost one quarter of all weekday trips being made on transit (this in a city that gets a lot of rain). I think you can credit this to several factors -- one being that Portlanders on the whole are a rather forward thinking bunch that have decided to embrace smart growth and create the types of neighborhoods that are walkable and support transit use -- and two being that the local transit agency, TriMet, is running a first class transit system.

I know many people have seen and heard about Portland's light rail system, which was one of the first in the nation. While the light rail is great (it connects the eastern and western suburbs with the airport and downtown), it only carries about 27% of the trips on transit. What really makes TriMet outperform every other transit agency it's size (and some larger) is that its buses are well run. Bus stops with frequent service are color coded, buses going to the different quadrants of the city pick up riders at marked and covered stops along a downtown transit mall, and at select stops and transit centers, electronic displays tell riders when the next bus or train is coming. You can even find out when the next bus or train is coming over your web-enabled phone or PDA. And of course, when you get to your stop, there's often a nice walkable streetscape to welcome you -- even if it is raining.

MTA -- you should be taking notes out of TriMet's playbook.

2004-01-20T22:18:00.000-08:00

Today was a little bit out of the routine. I started the morning boarding the Hollywood DASH bus to go up a few blocks to the Red Line station like I do on some mornings. Only this time, after showing the driver my regional transit pass, he told me that I'd have to pay because my pass wasn't accepted on DASH buses. Previously, when I used the MTA monthly passes, he'd be right, but I bought the regional transit pass this month exactly for this reason (and also because I'm spending time in Long Beach). Anyhow, I told him that I thought he was mistakened, because regional passes were accepted on DASH buses, and that I had ridden the bus earlier in the week and had no problems. He tells me no again, and I guess since I was making a aggravated face, he says "but fine, if you don't believe me you can ride free."

Now I'm not one to freeload, but in this instance I took him up on it since I was pretty sure I was right. When I sat down, I noticed the route map/info brochure, and I grabbed one to see if it listed the valid fares. Sure enough, the regional transit pass was listed. At the next stop, I showed it to the bus driver, saying "Just so you know, it says right here that the regional pass is accepted." He got upset and told me "Fine, you're right. It's not a big deal." I left it at that, but I wasn't happy with the way he treated me or his responsibilities. I wrote down the bus number and the time, and I am contimplating filing a complaint, or at least a suggestion for the managers to let all the drivers know what passes are accepted.

On the train in to Downtown, the situation was opposite. Apparently inspectors from the MTA were on the train, because the train operator was announcing every stop several times in a clear, deliberate voice -- almost to the point of annoyance. He mentioned all the transfer points, warned passengers when the doors were about to open and close, and wished everyone a safe a pleasant day. Now that I know that the train drivers are trained and able to perform in this way, I think I might take it upon myself to mention it to them when they are neglecting their duties.

2004-01-16T22:12:00.000-08:00

With six months of transit ridership under my belt (if you forget about the one month strike that halted 95% of transit in the county), I'm starting to feel that one of the reasons that more Americans don't ride transit is because human beings find it so difficult to make significant lifestyle changes -- be it eating right, excersing more, or driving less.

Before I started my "experiment", one of the main reasons I didn't ride transit was because I thought it would take too much time to go from one destination to another compared to driving. Sure, I was stuck fighting traffic, paying a big chunk of change for the privilage of driving, and polluting the air -- but at least I could usually get where I wanted to go in a reasonable period of time.

When I started taking the bus or train, I confirmed my suspicions -- my estimate being that trips using transit take 25-50% more time from door to door, mostly due to the extra walking and the waiting, with stops adding more time on long bus trips. I'll admit this was a bit annoying at first -- especially getting up earlier in the morning to make it to work at the same time. But, as time has passed, I grew accustomed to the slower pace of travel. I use the time to read, chat with fellow riders, listen to music, or simply contemplate.

And now, though you could say I've grown complacent about the slower speeds on transit compared to private automobiles, my reaction to having to occasionally drive somewhere is that I wouldn't want to have to deal with traffic, or look for a parking space, or have the extra expenses. I've started to become set in my ways.

So, perhaps all that needs to happen to get more people out of their cars and walking and riding transit is some shift in their lifes that acts as a catalyst to change their behavior, along with a little motivation for them to stick to it for a few months. After that, human nature will kick in, and keep many people chugging along in their slower, but more sustainable routine.

2004-01-13T22:47:00.000-08:00

This evening I rode back from Long Beach on the Blue Line with my co-worker after having come from a Long Beach City Council meeting where our proposed TOD housing development received its final approval from the city. We used the 55 minute ride back to Los Angeles as an opportunity to start planning an upcoming event on reviving urban corridors. As we were discussing various issues, some of the riders looked at us with curious or puzzled looks. Since most people are heading home after a hard day's work at six o' clock, you probably don't get people talking business often, which I can only assume was the reason for the odd glances.

Since I've been having to travel to Long Beach more often, I decided to get a regional transit pass so I could hop on any bus or train in the county without having to worry about carrying change. While the trip can be long (around an hour or so), as the example above shows, it does give me the opportunity to get some work done -- something I probably couldn't do in the car. My recent purchase of a wirelessly enabled Treo 600 even allows me to browse the web or check my email -- albeit not as easily as a laptop.

2004-01-01T22:15:00.000-08:00

Happy New Year! As one of my many New Year's resolutions, I am determined to resume regular updates of this blog after two months.

Since my last update, the MTA mechanic's strike finally came to an end on November 17th, 2003 after 35 days -- the second longest in the county's history (the longest was a 68 day strike in 1974), and the eighth Los Angeles transit strike in 30 years. Needless to say, the strike was very costly to all parties involved (although it was reported that the MTA actually saved money during the strike by not running most of its buses and trains). Since the agreement, there has been some talk that the MTA and the Bus Driver's and Mechanic's unions might agree to settle all future contract disputes without work stoppages, but I'm not sure anything has come of that. I'm hoping that this is the last strike (at least this decade) -- I'm not sure I could do it again.

With the buses and trains running again, I've resumed my normal commute on the Red Line, and been able to move around the city much more easily (and inexpensively).

Yesterday, I had my first experience riding on a Metrolink train, the county's commuter rail system. I was heading to Riverside to spend New Year's Eve with some of my relatives, who agreed to pick me up from the train station when I got there. The 55 mile trip took about one and a half hours (including a transfer), and I spent the time chatting with some regular riders about the commute. Though I myself am strongly commute averse (my ideal commute would be across the street), I think we all agreed that the Metrolink was superior to facing the 91 freeway each workday.

2003-10-31T10:54:00.000-08:00

Happy Halloween. I apologize for not updating the blog recently, but after 18 days of no buses and trains, I didn't have much in terms of transit riding experiences to share with you all.

As all of us transit riders have continued to piece together our transportation arrangements day by day, the MTA and the ATU have managed to completely alienate each other and stop negotiations. It culminated this week when the MTA declared an impasse and submitted their "best, last and final offer" directly to the mechanics in hope of circumventing the union leadership.

This morning though, the ATU has agreed to consider binding arbitration through a state mediator to bring an end to the stalemate and get the buses and trains moving again. Here's hoping I'll be riding a bus again very soon.

2003-10-23T13:42:00.000-07:00

Well its day 10 of the MTA mechanics strike and the parties are still far apart on the major issues of their dispute -- though reportedly they've moved a little in their stances.

I'm still catching rides with people and using Flexcars. Today I took a Flexcar down to Long Beach for work, and when I returned the car, I locked my wallet with my keycard in the car. I called Flexcar, and after waiting a few minutes to speak with a representative, they told me they could unlock the car electronically. Another five minutes, and the car opened. I grabbed my wallet and went on my way. The local fleet manager told me that because the technology is new and they're still working it out, I had to wait a bit longer than I should have, but I still thought it was pretty cool. Much faster than waiting for AAA when I've locked my keys in my old car.

2003-10-19T16:36:00.000-07:00

Just to update you, I made it through the rest of this week and the weekend with a combination of carpools, DASH buses and Flexcars. As the strike heads into another week, there is some optimism that a resolution between the two parties will be reached very soon.

One good thing the MTA has done during the strike is advertise its new ride matching website, www.ridematch.info. Users go to the site, enter their home and work addresses, and the site returns other people who live near you and work where you work. Apparently the site has been reasonable successful in helping people find rides. From my own experience, I've found someone to share a ride with when I have a car, and I've also been contacted by one person who usually drives to work but was happy to offer a ride to people impacted by the transit shutdown. Pretty good in my opinion. Basically another good example of technology helping people (for those fortunate enough to have access to the web).

I also found out that the MTA will extend its Red Line emulator bus to Wilshire/Vermont, meaning I could take the DASH (with three transfers) down to Wilshire/Vermont and take MTA contractor bus into downtown. I'm thinking it would take at least two hours. Maybe I'll be forced to try it one of these days. Better news is that the Hollywood DASH now runs until 8pm, making it easier for me to catch a ride home with my co-worker in the evenings.

2003-10-15T20:11:00.000-07:00

Day two of the strike, and no word yet on how negotiations are going. Today's L.A. Times quoted a few people, including spokespersons from the MTA and the ATU, who had varying opinions on how long the strike might last. The most optimistic prediction was 10 days -- which really isn't very optimistic to us transit riders.

I drove in to work early this morning to return the Flexcar, and then this evening I took another one home. But this time I gave a ride to someone I met through the MTA's RideMatch website. He is a nice guy who just moved to the United States from the Philippines eight months ago, and I've offered to carpool with him on the days I have a car. Tomorrow evening and Friday though I won't be driving though, since I'm planning on getting rides with a co-worker who's going to a conference with me on Friday.

I'm also seeing about the possibility of borrowing an electric scooter from someone, which will at least enable me to get to and from my co-worker's apartment to carpool with him, if not possibly all the way to work and back. I'll keep you posted.

2003-10-14T21:27:00.000-07:00

I woke up this morning to find myself in the midst of a transit strike, the second one in three years here in Los Angeles. For all the car-free people (or if you insist, transit dependent) out there who ride the buses and trains everyday, the shit has really hit the fan. Except for 22 special lines being run by private contractors, none of the nearly 200 MTA bus lines or 4 rail lines was running. To get to work this morning, I caught a City of L.A. DASH bus, which is really just a local circulator bus that doesn’t get much use in my neighborhood. However, this morning at 7:30am it was jammed pack with people. Kids trying to get to school and Grown-ups trying to get to work. The bus driver was constantly bombarded with questions on how to get to this destination or the next, while people tried to cope with the frustration of being late to work or school and figuring out how to get where they were going. I got off at the end of the line, and walked about five blocks to my co-worker’s apartment to catch a ride with him.

After work, I walked west down 7th Street, which was bumper to bumper, as were most of the streets in Downtown Los Angeles. I stopped at the 7th St/Metro Center station where I heard the MTA had a private contractor running a bus that emulated the Red Line, only to discover the bus was only going from Union Station to Macarthur Park – hardly a quarter of the Red Line’s route. At that, I whipped out my cell phone, reserved the nearest Flexcar, and walked up a few blocks to pick it up for the drive home.

You might think that this major inconvenience and expense would put me over the edge – that I’d be ready to say “to hell with transit.” Well, I’m not there yet. Don’t misunderstand me – I’m very upset at the MTA and its labor unions for inflicting this costly burden on the general public (see my last posting). But driving home today in heavy traffic made me realize again how nice transit is when it is working. It took me almost 45 minutes to get home (it usually takes 30), and then I had to circle for 5 minutes to find a parking spot. My normal transit commute takes about the same amount of time, and is much more leisurely. No fighting with irate drivers or searching for parking. Instead, I can read a book or magazine, or just quietly sit and observe people.

If there’s one thing good about the strike, it’s that today showed everyone how big an impact transit has on both riders and non-riders alike. Hopefully, when this is all over, we won’t forget how valuable transit service is in the region, and will work to make sure this doesn’t happen in another three years – or twenty.

2003-10-14T12:03:00.000-07:00

An Open Letter to MTA Chief Executive Roger Snoble and Amalgamated Transit Union Local 1277 President Neil Silver.

Gentlemen,

I’d like to ask both of you to do me one favor. Tomorrow morning, when you’re ready to go to work or drop your children off at school, please walk outside your door and figure out how to get to where you are going without a car, without a bus or train, and without enough cash in your wallet to even think about hailing a cab.

I want you to feel for one moment what it feels like to be stranded, unable to go to work or school, or meet your daily obligations.

Or please try boarding one of the few City-operated buses to see and feel the desperation of regular transit riders first hand, struggling to piece together some way to get to their destinations.

These experiences will be just a small taste of what I and roughly half million other daily transit riders in Los Angeles County will be dealing with every minute of every day that the current work stoppage that has brought bus and rail service to a standstill continues.

Please understand that because of your inability to reach an agreement, you will be putting thousands of people at risk of losing their jobs and threatening the precarious financial situation of many families.

Please understand that because of your stubbornness, the education of thousands of children and young adults will be disrupted, putting their chances of a better economic future at risk.

Please understand that because of your lack of leadership, thousands of small and large businesses will suffer significant losses in productivity due to late and absent employees who are unable to arrange transportation to their jobs, or stuck idling in the gridlock that has been exacerbated by the halt in transit service.

Please understand that at the end of your dispute, whatever concessions either of you win for your constituencies will be gained on the backs of thousands of working people who can least afford to carry the burden you have imposed on them.

Rather than making transit a more viable option for more people, you are forcing working people to spend more of their incomes on private vehicles, while adding to our already appalling air pollution and traffic congestion.

I’m asking all of my fellow transit riders, as well as business and civic leaders, as well as the public at large, to call for immediate talks between the Amalgamated Transit Union and the MTA to bring this strike to an end.

In addition, I’m asking that the two parties agree that whatever differences they may have in the future, they will work endlessly to avoid actions that would keep buses and trains from running.

Like electricity, police or fire, transit is a service that the public relies on, and any disruption in service is unacceptable. No one benefits from this strike, especially not the MTA or the employees of the ATU.

I trust that you will use your enhanced understanding to work together to resolve this conflict, and continue your partnership to improve the level of transit service for all the citizens of Los Angeles County.

2003-10-13T21:12:00.000-07:00

Well, it's become apparent that a strike by MTA mechanics is very likely to occur, and by midnight tonight, the county’s bus and rail system could shut down. This leaves me and all the other Angelenos who use the MTA’s transit services scrambling to make plans to get to work in the morning, let alone go about our normal lives for what might be several very long weeks. Fortunately, the City of L.A.’s DASH bus service will be running, and so if tomorrow morning the strike is in effect, I’m planning on taking the local DASH bus over to Los Feliz to carpool with a co-worker. However, since the DASH buses don’t run past 6:00pm, I’m not entirely sure how I’m making it home. I might just take a Flexcar for the night, at which point I’m going to have to determine if I’m going to have to go rent a car for a week, if not longer. The last transit worker strike three years ago lasted for 32 days. I’m sure hoping that isn’t the case this time, and both parties can come to an agreement ASAP.

Looking at this from the big picture, if transit ridership is to grow and neighborhoods are to be built around it, transit service needs to occupy a much higher priority as far as public services go. That being the case, work stoppages, or any other foreseeable problems that could bring service to an end, should be prevented at all costs. We aren’t expected to tolerate electricity blackouts or boiled water alerts – and when these events do occur, there’s a demand for some kind of accountability from our leaders and the public at large as to why it was permitted to happen. We shouldn’t have to expect less when it comes to transit service.

2003-10-13T11:54:00.000-07:00

No, I don't own a car.
Yes, I ride transit.
No, my license isn't suspended.
No, I've never had a DUI.
Yes, I can drive.
No, I don't have bad credit.
Yes, my vision is fine.
Yes, I do work everyday.
No, I don't work from home.
Yes, Los Angeles has a subway.
No, my license isn't suspended.
Yes, I do enjoy riding transit.
No, I don't hate cars.

Well, I'm glad we got that out of the way.

2003-10-12T21:57:00.000-07:00

I had quite a few errands to take care of this weekend, and with the weather being so nice I decided to use my bike for the trips I needed to make. All the major supermarkets, including my neighborhood Ralphs, are facing an employee strike right now, and since I didn't want to cross the picket lines I ended up riding down Santa Monica Blvd to my local Trader Joe's for groceries -- toting my purchases back on my panniers. Later on I went to the Rite-Aid drug store to pick up a few things, and then had lunch while I waited to get a hair cut. For a few moments this weekend -- usually while I was pedaling down a quiet side street while going from one place to another -- I felt like I was a kid again, biking to the corner store for some sweets or some item my mom needed for dinner. With so many people in Los Angeles trying to stay young, I wonder why more of them don't try running errands on their bikes. It's healthier than driving, and for those of us who grew up in neighborhoods rather than subdivisions where we could walk or bike to everything we wanted without asking our parents to drive us, it can bring back memories that sure make you feel younger.

2003-10-09T21:40:00.000-07:00

Today was a busy day. I started my morning by taking the #304 bus down Santa Monica Blvd to the grand opening of a new affordable housing development in Chinatown. The developer of the complex is part of a partnering with Livable Places and another developer to build over 300 apartments and condominiums at the new Metro Gold Line station in Lincoln Heights. After the mornings events, I hopped back on the #304 at 11:30am to head back to Hollywood for a meeting of the Hollywood Business Improvement District at 12 noon. At a little past 1pm, the meeting was over, and I walked down Fountain from Wilcox to Vine, where I caught the #210 just as I got to the intersection, and rode it up to the Hollywood/Vine Red Line station. My luck was running high, because the train going downtown arrived just as I got to the platform, and I made it to the office a little after 1:45pm.

In the afternoon, some of my co-workers and I took a Flexcar out to Playa Vista, a huge new development near Marina del Rey, for a event and tour organized by the Westside Urban Forum. On the way back, I was dropped off at a LAUSD community meeting in Pico Union (albeit a bit late). After talking to a few people and getting the meeting materials, I walked up to 3rd St and after waiting 5 minutes, boarded a westbound #16 bus. I got off at La Brea, and again waited about 5 minutes before a #212 bus came to take me home. Whew. Good night.

2003-10-08T17:28:00.000-07:00

The organization I work for is expanding its office, and today a co-worker and I took the #38 bus from the Livable Places office down to the USC surplus warehouse to look for some office furniture. After a short wait, we boarded a southbound #38 bus, and after a 15 min trip, arrived practically at the doorstep of our destination. However, we ended up waiting 30 minutes for a bus on the return trip (the bus is supposed to run every 15 min). This seems to happen occasionally, and I am really starting to wonder what causes buses to end up MIA? I can understand running behind schedule, but there's no excuse for a bus to not show up. Hopefully I'll have the opportunity one day to ask someone at the MTA why this happens, and perhaps contribute some ideas on how to improve reliability.

2003-10-06T12:39:00.000-07:00

I used a Flexcar for the first time yesterday. It was pretty cool. You call the automated line to make a reservation. Then when you get the car, you just hold your membership card over a sensor on the car's rear window to open the doors, and type in a PIN number on the dash before starting the car. The cars are brand new, fully loaded Honda Civic Hybrids, which are quite nice. I'd never driven a hybrid car before, so I was fascinated to watch the gauges that indicated when the car was charging, and listening for the engine to turn off when I stopped at a light. While there's no car close by to where I live (something that I'm working on with the Flexcar people), I'm think I'm going to make the trip downtown get a Flexcar for a day a couple times a month to run errands and make a few big shopping trips. If I get it on a Sunday (like I did this time), I can keep it overnight and drive to work on Monday morning.

2003-10-05T13:58:00.000-07:00

So last night was quite an adventure to say the least. I had decided to visit my friend at his place in Marina del Rey, which is about 13 miles away. I checked out the MTA trip planner, and figured out the best way to go was to take the #212 bus down to La Brea and Venice Blvd, and then hop on a #33 or #333 bus to Venice and Lincoln, where my friend said he'd pick me up. I caught the #212 going south at about 6:15pm. I had forgotten my portable music player, but that didn't matter, since the bus provided plenty of entertainment. Let's just say the Saturday night transit crowd basically consists of three types of people -- those going somewhere to have fun, those already having fun, and those who never stop having fun. I made it to Venice and La Brea at 6:35pm, and joined about 10 other people waiting for a westbound bus on Venice. Unfortunately, the next bus didn't show for almost 25 minutes (the trip planner had indicated a 6 minute wait), and was very crowded. That ride proved to have some other interesting characters, including one drunk man who, in the words of Arnold Schwarzenegger, was rather "playful" with some of the women on the bus. By the time I arrived at Venice and Lincoln at about 7:25pm, I had even been offered marijuana to buy.

The trip home was even more eventful. I had checked the trip planner before leaving my friend's place, and had thought that it had shown me that I could get back home the same way I had come. Since we'd been drinking, I asked my friend to drop me off at Venice and Lincoln in time to catch the 1:06am #33 bus. Well, the bus came on time, but it was so packed that the driver didn't even stop. The 15 or so people at the stop with me were pretty pissed, and I learned that the two previous buses had also not stopped, and some people had been waiting since before midnight. Luckily the next bus that came a few minutes before 1:30am did have room for us all, and I tried not to dose off on the bus so I wouldn't miss my stop. I made it to Venice and La Brea at about 2:00am, with no clue if the #212 was running. I decided to wait to see if a bus would come, and by 2:20am when I was ready to give up and hail a taxi, a southbound #212 passed by, which made me think I only needed to wait a little bit more for a northbound bus. This proved to be a bad decision. Three guys who passed by decided I'd be an easy target, and swung back to rob me. They were nice about it (they didn't point a gun at me or anything), and I tried to negotiate with them. But when they starting reaching for my wallet, I decided to skip any trouble, just open my wallet and let them take the money I had -- all $21 of it. They walked off gloating about their windfall and taunting me to "try and call the police". I walked up the block to a gas station, and grabbed a $12 cab ride home, pissed off at my assailants and at myself for being in such a stupid situation.

So, what lessons did I learn from my experience? Well, the first lesson is something I already know, but will be practicing a lot more. Don't be all alone at a dark bus station at 2:30am on a Saturday night in Los Angeles, or any big city. It's just asking for someone to mess with you. I could have walked up the block to the well-lit gas station, or any place with other people, and waited for the bus there. Secondly, I've learned that you need to be absolutely sure of the route you're taking, especially late at night. After rechecking the MTA trip planner, I realized I had taken the wrong way home, and that the #212 doesn't even run after 1:30am.

Next time I take the trip, it will hopefully be more successful and less costly.

2003-10-03T10:53:00.000-07:00

This morning I biked to Urban Insight's office on my last day as an employee. On Monday, I'll start working full-time as a policy analyst for Livable Places. While I'm sad to be leaving Urban Insight after three great years (and the short commute on my bike), I'm very excited to be given the opportunity to contribute to an organization like Livable Places and its efforts bring about a paradigm shift in urban development towards sustainability here in Los Angeles.

In other news, the bike rack and grocery bag panniers I had ordered online arrived at my front door yesterday, and after a few failed attempts, successfully fastened them to my bike. I took a maiden voyage to the grocery store, and emerged with two bags of groceries (including some bulky items, i.e. a six pack of soda and a couple of bottles of wine). My purchases fit snuggly into the panniers and all the foodstuffs made the ride home safely. Now I can make even quicker trips to the grocery store and bring back bulky items without breaking a sweat.

2003-09-30T11:17:00.000-07:00

Recently the MTA has launched several marketing campaigns to urging Angelenos to put trash in its place (since many people don't seem to understand that garbage cans exist for that purpose) and not chase after buses and trains for risk of being run over.

In my opinion, the next campaign should teach transit riders some basic etiquette -- things like making room for other riders and offering seats to seniors and disabled individuals. While most transit riders are a courteous bunch, my experience has shown me that quite a few people's mothers were slacking on the job when it came to teaching their children how to behave.

2003-09-26T16:26:00.000-07:00

Today I gave a presentation to some of the staff at the Union Rescue Mission in Skid Row about some issues impacting the downtown area. When I called to confirm the time, the organizer mentioned that he would reserve a spot for me in their parking garage. I told him there was no need, since Livable Places' office was close by and I didn't have a car anyway, I figured I walk or take the bus. He sounded surprised, and then unsure if I knew what I was doing (being that Skid Row isn't an area most people walk around).

Since I was taking some equipment for the presentation, I ended up hoping on the #18 bus down 6th Street to the mission, and I caught the #18 on the way back on 5th Street. Other than dealing with some unpleasant smells on the street corner, the trip was quick and easy.

In other news, I rode the bus home on Wednesday instead of riding the subway so I could listen to the California gubernatorial race candidate debate on the radio. The trip took about an hour instead of the usual 45 minutes, but I hardly noticed because the debate participants put on quite an entertaining show. Too bad one of them might be governor.

2003-09-24T13:59:00.000-07:00

This weekend some friends of mine came into town to visit me. I was looking forward to their arrival, not just because they're my good friends, but because when they had planned their trip and the fact that I didn't own a car came up, they told me they were totally up for riding transit.

I didn't turn out that way though. When my friends arrived in L.A., they called me and told me that they had decided to rent a car at the airport. Being that is was their vacation, I told them it was their call, even though I expressed a small amount of disappointment about missing out what were sure to be many adventures on transit.

We did end up riding transit, though not in L.A. On our side trip to San Diego, we hopped on the San Diego Trolley around downtown and down to the Mexican Border.

2003-09-19T17:55:00.000-07:00

I've been feeling a little sick the last few days. This morning I was running late, and I didn't feel like walking the 15 minutes to the train station, so I walked a couple blocks down to the #304 bus stop and took that to the Vermont/Santa Monica Red Line station. It worked out great considering my last experience with the #4 on Santa Monica. I don't think I'll do it every morning, but for the times I'm feeling lazy or tired, it's a good option.

2003-09-17T14:18:00.000-07:00

On Monday afternoon, after leaving Urban Insight, I biked down to LACMA to pick up some tickets. I didn't feel like biking all the way home, so I decided to take my bike on the bus for the first time. About 90% of the MTA buses have racks that allow you to secure your bike to the front of the bus. Since I'd never used the rack before, I had some problems securing my bike when the bus came, but fortunately a fellow rider showed me what I was doing wrong, and I didn't hold up the bus too much. Once I was familiar with how the rack operated, getting off was a cinch. I hope to start using this option a lot more.

2003-09-15T12:14:00.000-07:00

Let me apologize in advance for the rant that follows.

I am sick and tired of people telling me about how riding transit -- indeed how walking down practically any street in this city after dark is unsafe. I know full well that Los Angeles has some issues with crime (it is well documented). But guess what -- the solution to crime is not locking yourself in your car, people!!

A) Being in your car does not make you immune to falling victim to criminals (anyone heard of car jacking or staged accidents?)

B) Being in your car does not reduce your chance of being killed (40,000 motorist fatalities vs. 10,000 pedestrian fatalities in 2002)

In my opinion, the way to improve the safety of our cities and neighborhoods would be to get more people out of their cars and on to the streets, creating activity in those public spaces that have been left abandoned and harbor criminal activity. Take back the streets, people!

2003-09-11T10:23:00.000-07:00

On Monday, an op-ed article I wrote about my experience switching to public transit was published on PLANetizen. Since then, the response I've received has been great, and mostly positive.

In my article I mentioned a car sharing service called Flexcar as a great option for people without cars while also suggesting they expand their presence in the Los Angeles area (particularly into Hollywood where I live). To my surprise, several Flexcar representatives, including the company's CEO, read the article. I've since chatted with the LA Sales Manager, who informed me the Flexcar is indeed planning to put cars in the Hollywood area, and invited me to cruise the neighborhood to identify possible locations.

He also told me that Flexcar is running a promotion (in the LA area) offering free lifetime membership through the end of September. (Starting in October, membership will require an annual fee of $25)

So, if you have been thinking about joining Flexcar, now's your chance (there's really no reason why you shouldn't since there's no cost to you until you use it).

When you sign up, make sure to enter the promotional code D-0-RMF and a September starting date. (As an added plus for me, if you put my name as the person who referred you, I get $20 in free usage)

Happy car sharing!

2003-09-09T13:46:00.000-07:00

To show that life on transit is far from perfect, I'll share with you my less than perfect experience today.

I usually take the Red Line downtown to work. It's a 15 minute walk, but it's good exercise, and sometimes I try and catch the bus up the street to the station. But, when I use the MTA's online trip planner, it tells me to take the #4 bus all the way to downtown. The trip planner said trip would take 40 minutes, which is a little shorter than my normal method. So today I thought I'd try taking the #4.

Unfortunately for me, the bus ended up being almost 15 minutes late. On top of that, when we got to downtown, the streets weren't moving because of a terrorism drill that had disrupted traffic. I ended up walking the last six blocks to work, drawing to a close my hour trip.

I think tomorrow I'm going back to the train.

2003-09-08T10:23:00.000-07:00

So another weekend has come and gone. Weekends are the time where not owning a car is most felt, because they're the time (at least in my case) where I used my car the most. When I had my car, I'd spent many a Saturday or Sunday running errands all over town, or else I'd just go explore a part of the city, or head to the beach, or cruise the city with friends moving from place to place.

Now, while I can still do most of those things, it's a bit more involved. The biggest change is running errands. With a car, you don't really have to think about much. You just make a list and head out -- without much in terms of planning. Running errands now means deciding exactly where I'm going and what I'm getting. Then I figure out how I'll get there. If it's nearby (which is preferable), I'll walk or ride my bike. If I need to take transit, I figure out the schedule, and plan when I'm going to go. So the main point is travel much less "spur of the moment" than with a car.

As for hitting the beach or spending a night on the town, I've become a bit more dependent on friends to do the driving. Of course, the MTA does offer bus service to several local beaches, and a night of pub-crawling is never far away with all the bars and clubs in Hollywood practically at my doorstep, so I don't feel too disadvantaged.

2003-09-05T10:06:00.000-07:00

So I was up late last night again, so I decided to read the MTA's Short Range Transportation Plan -- which I thought would be a sure fire way to put me fast asleep. And while it definitely wasn't thrilling reading, the policy wonk/newly born transit patron in me found many of the plans for improving bus service in the region quite interesting. If the plan is any indication, it seems that the MTA is indeed aware of some of its own weaknesses, and is at least planning on implementing a bevy of changes that will try to address the issues. Of course, plans have come and gone, but I'm thinking it's safe to say that the MTA's slogan has some truth to it -- it is "getting better on the bus" -- or at least it will be.

For example, the highly successful Rapid bus program is being expanded at the rate of 4 new routes a year, so that by 2009 there will be 29 routes serviced by the faster, more frequent, headway scheduled service that is currently all the rage on the Wilshire corridor. Okay, 2009 sounds a long way away, but it's better than 2025, no? In addition, plans are in the works for an "Advanced Transportation Management System" to come online by 2005, which among other things will allow the MTA (and assumably riders) to track vehicle location from specially equipped stations as well as the web (this is something that Portland and other cities already do -- but you know California, always leading the way). Last but not least, there will be a whole lot more buses, including larger articulated buses to relieve overcrowding on many routes.

In other news -- a good friend of mine from high school is coming to visit me this September, and while I was excited she had decided to visit, I was a little concerned about the fact I didn't have a car to show her around town. I mean, this person was coming from my hometown of Orlando, FL, a city where buses run only once an hour and an upstanding person riding the bus is likely to be suspected of have their driver's license suspended for a DUI (though to it's credit, the local transit system seems to do the best with what it has). When I broke the news that I had recently sold my car and that any sightseeing would be restricted to transit or walking, the response I got was not "what do you mean?" or "could you rent a car?", but "cool." Not only did she not mind riding transit, but she was actually excited about the prospect. Of course, I'm curious to see how much excitement remains after her trip, but I'm encouraged by her attitude.

2003-09-04T00:57:00.000-07:00

I continue to be amazed about how comprehensive the bus system is here in Los Angeles. Today after work (oh look at time, I mean yesterday) I had planned on going to the LA County Art Museum for a new member reception that started at 6 p.m. But then I found out about a meetup for -- shameless plug alert -- presidential candidate Howard Dean (http://www.deanforamerica.com) that was starting at 7 p.m. at the Knitting Factory in Hollywood. So, thinking I might be able to check out the art museum for an hour and then swing by the meetup, I fired up the MTA trip planner to discover that there was in fact a bus that went up Fairfax and east on Hollywood Blvd -- you couldn't ask for a much more direct route. So, I could take the #720 Wilshire Rapid at 5:30 from 5th and Broadway down to LACMA (30 minutes), and then at 7:00 I'd hop on the #217 up to the meetup and arrive by 7:30. Problem solved.

I ended up working late, skipping the art museum, and just taking the Red Line up to Hollywood/Highland at 6:40, but it's nice to know it was possible.

2003-09-01T21:38:00.000-07:00

Okay, okay. It's been a month since my last post. What can I say but that I'll try harder to post more regularly. (My goal is twice a week).

Here's what's happened in the last month...

It's official. I sold my car on August 27th after having it up for sale for two weeks. Not as fast as I had hoped, but I wasn't exactly in any real hurry. My road trip to Spokane was nice, but also pretty long. I think it used up my last taste for driving.

I posted some photos from the trip here:
http://www.polyvium.com/photos/Thumb_Photos.asp?Cat=Washington+State+Road+Trip

My day to day routine is pretty much still the same, and my experience riding transit has continued to be an overall positive experience (though I continue to see room for improvement...I'm planning on elaborating more on that later.) I am writing an op-ed article about my experiences thus far to be published on PLANetizen in the next week or so, so keep an eye out for that. Yesterday, I took the #156 bus up Highland Avenue to the Hollywood Bowl to pick up some tickets for next Sunday, before walking back down Highland to my local Supercuts to get my haircut. And unfortunately for me, I left my September MTA pass at work, so I'll have to pay a cash fare on the way in tomorrow morning. Oh well, another lesson learned.

2003-08-01T13:19:00.000-07:00

Since I'm leaving for Spokane this afternoon, I drove to work today for the first time almost a month. It was faster than my commute via transit, but after spending more than three weeks reading on a train, it didn't seem worth it. I had to fight traffic, and when I got to work, the building's parking lot was occupied by film crews, and I had to circle around and park in a lot a block away. I am excited about my trip driving up the west coast. But when I get back, I'm hanging out the 'for sale" sign.

2003-07-30T23:38:00.000-07:00

Today after work I took the Red Line one stop past where I usually get off to Universal City. I needed to go to the Hard Rock Cafe at CityWalk to buy a t-shirt for a friend. I rarely go to CityWalk, partly because it's such a pain to get there, and once there, they charge you $8.00 to park. But going by train seems easier, since they provide a shuttle a block from the station up to the complex (it's up a big hill), and cheaper, since the shuttle is free. Though, once I was there, surrounded by all the loud music, gaudy neon signs, and sunburned tourists, I realized that probably would not visit much more often. I just bought the shirt and headed back down the hill, this time walking two blocks west to Ventura Blvd to catch the #156 bus home.

2003-07-29T22:11:00.000-07:00

My journey on transit today was a little more than usual, because after work I had a meeting at the office of the East LA Community Corporation in Boyle Heights. Fortunately, I just had to take the #18 bus down 6th Street, and then walk about 4 blocks or so up to ELACC's office. The way back, not knowing when the next #18 would pass, I walked a little further down to Soto and Whittier, so I could catch the Wilshire Rapid Bus back to downtown (of course, the #18 passed as I was walking to the rapid bus stop -- Murphy's law, right?). Once back in downtown, I hopped on the Red Line as usual to get home to Hollywood. All in all, a successful day riding transit.

One observation I've had since beginning my experiment is that one of the best economic development strategies any city could do for neighborhood businesses would be to take everyone's cars away. Okay, I understand that cities can't just go and take people's cars away, nor should they. But I say this because I have never frequented local businesses so much as in the last two weeks. I always liked having stores and restaurants nearby my apartment, and I did patronize them on occasion, feeling that I was doing my part to support neighborhood businesses. But with no car, I now patronize those businesses before I would consider traveling somewhere by bus or train. Case in point -- I usually go to Sammy’s Camera on Fairfax to buy photographic supplies, and I had intended to take my manual SLR camera in for repair there as well. But, it turns out that I have a perfectly good camera store 2 blocks from my apartment that I had completely ignored for the 2+ years I've lived in the neighborhood. It would make sense to use the local shop since it's more convenient (car or no car), but I guess I never had a reason to consider not traveling 3+ miles to drop off some film or buy a new neck strap.

2003-07-28T00:19:00.000-07:00

This weekend was a big event for transit aficionados in Los Angeles. The MTA Gold Line officially opened to the public. Stretching almost 14 miles long, the Gold Line connects Downtown Los Angeles to Pasadena, and linking a string of historic neighborhoods in between. I had the good fortune to actually have a real occasion to use the Gold Line, since I was traveling to a co-worker's house for a weekend barbeque. To my surprise, when I arrived at Union Station I encountered a huge amount of people waiting to catch a ride on the new light rail line. I ended up waiting almost 15 minutes just to get on the train. It was like Disneyland. On Sunday, the Los Angeles Times reported that 70,000 people rode the new line on its first day of operation. Twice the number the line was designed to handle. Thought it seemed most people in the crowd were just out for a weekend joyride and will not be regular riders, it still seems like a good sign for the future of transit in L.A.

2003-07-24T22:38:00.000-07:00

No transit today. I rode my bike to work. Usually I spend Thursdays (and Mondays) working at Urban Insight, a web development firm whose office is a little less than two miles from my apartment. It's nice because the way there is downhill, so I don't get too sweaty or anything when I get into work in the morning. The ride home is uphill, which makes it a little tougher, but it's good exercise.

I've also since taken the habit of stopping at the local Trader Joe's on the way home, to buy a bag of groceries. One of the things about not having a car is that trips to the supermarket, or any store really, are much smaller affairs. There's none of the "I'm doing my shopping for the next two weeks" kind of shopping. Trips to Costco are definitely out (not that I shopped there much anyway). The disadvantage is that you spend a little more time shopping for food. The plus is that you tend to buy fresh food to eat for the next two days or so. This is something I always thought I'd like to do, but never really did until now, when it's more of a logistical necessity.

Speaking of my car, I took it to the auto mechanic today to get it all fixed up and ready for my road trip, and its subsequent sale. While dropping the car off, the mechanic made it a point to assure me he'd have it back to me in less than a day, so I wouldn't be without my car too long. When I told him there was no rush, because I don't use it really, he gave me a puzzled smile. He probably doesn't get that much from his customers.

2003-07-24T00:18:00.000-07:00

Hello out there. Thanks for reading the inaugural post to my new blog, which I've called "An American on Transit." I have set up this blog as journal of my experience of living without a car and using public transit in Los Angeles, CA -- a place often dubbed the car capital of the world. In the coming months, I hope to record my daily adventures riding transit, as well as my thoughts, opinions and observations on the state of public transit in Los Angeles and the United States on the whole.

Now a little background. In July 2003, I found myself a couple months out of college after graduating with a B.S. in Urban Planning and Development from the University of Southern California. Working part-time at a new non-profit organization that promotes "Smart Growth" development, which among other things promotes transit use, and being a person of some principle, I started thinking that I should practice what I was helping to preach. At the same time, I was lacking the full-time job and salary that everyone believes will land in their lap after college, and the cost of owning and using my car (loan payments, car insurance, gas, parking, maintenance, etc.) was taking a serious toll on my budget. I've had a car for almost all of my time in Los Angeles while in school, but saddled with student loans and credit-card debt that had accumulated during my four years in college, I began to seriously entertaining getting rid of my car, patronizing transit, and saving over $500 a month in the process.

On July 3rd, 2003, I decided to commence a test run period where I left my car at home, and got around by walking, biking or using public transit. As of the time of this post, 19 days later, I've continued to ignore my car with reasonable success. Though I'm still adjusting to my new situation, I’ve become confident that I can exist without a car and still maintain a practical level of mobility. I have since made the decision to sell my car in August (upon return from a road trip to Spokane, WA -- a farewell voyage of sorts), and begin a new car-free lifestyle. Wish me luck!