take public transportation

and unless I make a major change in my living or working situation, I think I’m going to have to leave it at that for now.

Of course it’s a great reminder to be here in public transit heaven (relative to my SoCal norm) and to hear fellow out of towners complain about how difficult it is to navigate. With a smart phone and google transit I feel like the whole city, outlying Burroughs included is my oyster.

to two different events yesterday evening, one downtown, the other in santa monica. and I decided that rather than deal with parking, I’d bus it. the downtown (28) and downtown to SaMo (733) legs worked pretty well. Getting home though… was not pretty. waited about 40 min. for a bus that was scheduled to run every 15 min. when it came of course it was filled to the overflowing and the next ones didn’t come around for another 20 min. by that time, no amount of reading or knitting could make the wait feel productive. it was just sheer (sleepy) arrrgh.

of taking the 7 Pico bus on Saturdays to the beach. It comes fairly frequently and reliably. Big Blue Bus is cheaper than the Metro. And it sets me down right across the street from where we meet up to run. On returning home, I’m just where I need to be in order to pick up a baguette for breakfast on Sunday.

summer commute test #2 was remarkably similar to July timewise.

home to work: 2:20

walked 10 min. to the local bus, took the train to NoHo to try a new commuter bus, when you catch this bus after 7 am, it’s either a 35-40 min. walk to work from there, or as I did it today, making transfer #3 to another local bus.

the longest haul was the wait for the commuter bus (20 min or so), which could be avoided if I just timed everything a bit better – the whole thing could’ve taken about 2 hours (which would have been an all-time record!) Maybe next time.

homeward bound: 3 hours door to door.

Had to make a 20 min. walking detour to get change for a $20, then ended up walking another extra 15 min. or so because the bus stop was basically unmarked and I didn’t want to risk getting passed up which has happened to me with these commuter busses before, more than once. the longest wait, as always, was about 20-25 min. on the last transfer. and a fellow awaiter seemed to have been standing there at least 10 min. before I showed up. After about 10 min, he even tried the trick of lighting a cigarette (like opening an umbrella leads to sunshine), he finished it before the bus showed.

If I’d used a pass, or had more small bills on me, I would’ve made the commuter bus that was 1/2 hour earlier. But from multiple experiences, there’s no telling when that last local bus will come.

All in all it was a long haul. Did get some bits of reading done, but more people watching than anything else.

If you have an alternative, it still seems kind of insane to make a commute like this.

on public transportation for their first time in their neighborhood. the bus was clean and cool and on time and one of our drivers had a tour bus driver-like attitude with helpful commentary.

Overall we were more satisfied with the bus than we were with the kinda expensive boat ride that we rode the bus to take. Mom said she’d definitely ride the bus again – the boat, not so much.

to and from the rapid bus – means .75 to 1 mile walks each way. what’s good is – these walks are seeming reasonable, not crazy long.

720 and 728 = current favorites.

summer is a diagnostic time. with enough margin to try out public transit to and from work, and see how it’s coming.

since my route is against traffic, transit options are relatively few and far between. the commuter bus on the way up – I got on at the point of origin and the driver was completely startled. he never has passengers at this time of day evidently. we picked up one other woman a couple of stops later then hit the freeway, just the three of us.

while she dozed, I drew out stories of the driver’s youth as the lead singer of a rock en espanol group that once opened for cafe tacuba, and an extra in an early Bruce Willis pic. convo was completely easy and entertaining. when the other passenger woke up near our destination, she said aimiably: it was like I was sleeping in the back seat on a road trip with friends with you two chatting away up there.

door to door: 2:30 including a 10 min. detour for a bathroom break.

1. rode one local bus, that turned out to terminate just a couple of blocks from where I got on.

2. rode a second local bus that was boogeying and almost seemed to make up for the first.

3. the commuter bus I was trying to make appears to have either left more than a couple of minutes early, or never to have been there at all. took the opportunity of the 25 min. wait to get a cup of coffee and a scone.

4. rode commuter bus with chatty driver

5. 1.25 mi. walk to campus, stopped along the way at the community college to use the pristine bathrooms.

On the way home, I thought I’d be able to catch the 2nd to the last return bus at 5:30, but had to stay for a meeting that ended at 6, so ran out of the building by 6:02 to make the last bus of the day!

door to door: 3:30 including all kinds of wanderings…

1. 1.25 mi. brisk walk to the bus stop.

2. arr. at bus stop 15 before bus is scheduled. wait patiently.

3. at scheduled bus arrival time, bus appears, clearly marked, proceeds to speed up rather than slow down as it approaches. waving, jumping around has no impact. in fact, the driver makes what looks like a dismissive gesture with his hand.

4. annoyed, but also a little panicked since that was the last bus of the day, keep walking another .5 mi. down the road to a transit station. driver on break points me to another commuter bus that ends at the subway. I board. this time around 5 people on the bus.

5. take the subway in to wilshire/vermont, emerging on the street, instead of taking a bus home, I followed the sandwich board that invited: WATCH. LAKERS GAME HERE

6. the combo pizza, teriyaki bowl, cheesesteak place had two screens mounted up high on either side of a pillar, each half of the customers able to watch the game and each other. there was a small vocal Celtics minority. get a sandwich and settle in to watch most of the third and all of the 4th Q.

7. Lakers pull out a win. and we stream out the door and onto the local bus which is stopped as the driver negotiates the purchase of a couple of celebratory inflatable toys.

8. and a .5 mi. walk home

Now having ridden it 3x, I think I understand the power of the 780.

It’s the rapid bus that goes from very near my place in the Fairfax district via surface streets to Pasadena, passing through Hollywood, Los Feliz, Glendale and Old Town Pasadena.

This is an incredibly useful route for me, and the large rapid busses run frequently and reliably during the day meaning almost always room to sit and relatively little waiting. (meaning lots of potential for quality bus knitting and reading)

took the bus downtown to a play tonight, by the time it was all over it was near on 11:30 pm (yep, it was long). relying on google map routes, it appeared that this meant having to walk an extra four blocks or so to pick up the local instead of the express (I know, counterintuitive, but THAT’S WHAT GOOGLE MAPS SAID).

The bus stop was next to a club with a line of plaid shirted guys around the block and a taco truck and a Korean-style taco truck dutifully parked outside. resisted food, but enjoyed watching the girls in their teetering heels navigate their long legs down the dark sidewalk.

On the bus it was too bright for midnight. a middle aged man was monologuing w/o making much sense. everyone stared pointedly in other directions.