‘Why You Ride (or Don’t Ride)‘ is a series where you, our faithful readers, share your transportation routines in L.A. and your thoughts on how to make things better – read more about the concept here.
Want to share your story? Take the survey here if you ride transit regularly, or take this one if you don’t ride.
Who You Are:
Name: Tim
Occupation: Membership Consultant
Location: West L.A.
Your Transportation Routine:
How often do you drive and for what purpose?
Daily 20-30 miles on average mostly for commuting to work in Hollywood.
Where are you typically traveling from and going to?
West LA to Hollywood.
How many vehicles do you or your family have?
1
How long does your commute typically take?
45-60 minutes
Briefly, how would you describe your typical driving experience? Love it, deal with it, or hate it?
I deal with it.
On average, what do you spend each month on transportation?
$100 – $300
Do you use any forms of alternative transportation?
I take the Red Line from Hollywood when I can to meetings and/or events at Universal, Hollywood and Vine and Downtown.
Why do you drive?
It is convenient, I also have to rely on my car over the transit schedule due to my job.
Your Perspective:
Why can’t/don’t you take transit?
Bus lines/schedules can be daunting to figure out and are over crowded as well. It also seems that my 45 (on average) drive to and from work would be lengthened by taking transit
Have you tried to use transit before? What was your experience?
Yes, I LOVE the subway (go Red Line!) and promote it as often as I can to people visiting Hollywood. Besides being accused by a woman of stealing her suit, I find it to be a great resource and great for people watching. I would add, it would be nice to see a little more security present.
What could local transit agencies do to encourage you to take transit more often?
Subway to the sea!!!
While I do require my car a lot for work, I could imagine that at least one day a week I could take the train to work. West L.A. is so disconnected from L.A. it is crazy! How about a line that runs from West L.A. through Hollywood and then on to Downtown??
How do you feel about buses?
I’d ride a bus if there was a route that served my needs.
How do you feel about rail?
I’d ride rail if it there was a route that served my needs.
Given limited funds, how would you address L.A.’s transportation issues?
More rail for sure. Like it or not their is a stigma to bus riding and a romance to riding the rails. I would imagine that with increased access to rail would come increased ridership.
Rather than a carpool lane up the 405 there should have been a light rail through there. Time and time again, freeway expansion has been proven to be only a short term fix to traffic. Within a few years, the traffice will return and we will be discussing how to add another lane. Stop using this space for lanes that won’t help and start using it for rail!!!
Categories: Feedback, Metro Lifestyle, Transportation News, Why You Ride
yes I agree with P.C.A. but with the passage of Prop R, They should allocate some of the funding to maintain the aging blueline fleet which is starting to have many failures , its getting bad.
As I am reading the above comments, especially from the blogger who was late twice – via the use of the train, I think it would help commuters if they knew that they would not be penalized so hard, if being on time to work was such the issue.
If “L.A” proper is to go green, then we should look internally into orginizations who “back” going green. They will provide incentivs to ride Metro, or go green to work, however, if that means of transportation were to break down, or cause you to be late, you are then penalized?
I think Meto’s new slogan of moto if you will should be, “Easy Up LA”. By easing up, you would allow your employees to utilize such means of transportation, albeit not burden them down with such stick rules and regulations if they were to be late do to greener transportation.
EASE UP LA! We woul all benifit in the long – and short – run.
I have been using the Blue Line Daily for years and it has always been reliable, with few delays, But Lately the trains have been breaking down all the time, they make us switch trains, this is happening daily and I have been late for work twice!! Whats going on ??? I talked to a Metro Employee and they said they stopped inspecting the trains!!! No Wonder!! If this keeps up I am going to have to find another way to get to work.
Hi there.
The trains are still being inspected.
Steve Hymon
Editor, The Source
Kimberly – we have the Blue Line that parallels the 710 freeway between LA and Long Beach. Freeways are not proven to be a popular train route or destination. There’s no walkable destinations. You want to have the train out of the freeway median and where the destinations are (which is off streets, not freeways).
I completely agree with the 405 light rail line. I also wish there was one that ran up through Downtown Long Beach up along the 710.
Adding lanes for more traffic is annoying when those lanes could be used to “carpool” hundreds of people each day. Talk about going green!!