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where are you moving from? if youre expecting public transport to be comparable to NYC or Chicago youll be disappointed. But in all honesty the public transportation is not bad in LA.
A lot of people bash it and im not sure why. I lived in Boston, MA and took the train and buses everywhere i had to go. I would compare LA to Boston. If the train doesnt take you everywhere, there ar likely buses that will.
I live in Pasadena and taking the train from the last stop Sierra Madre to DTLA (Union Station) is usually around 25mins.
Thats very comparable to living in Boston. the last stop on the orange line (Oak Grove) usually took 20mins to DTB.
if you need help with getting around you can simply type the addresses in google maps and click the little bus icon. it will give you public transportation options and in my experience it is very accurate.
to get to westwood from hollywood you'll either take the sunset blvd bus (#2 I believe) or the santa monica blvd bus (#704), it depends on which part of westwood you need to get to. as for compton, i'm not entirely certain, but i do know the blue line goes through compton.
I am moving to LA next month and have some questions about the public transportation and work.
First question:
How do I get from West-Hollywood to Westwood with the public transport
and how do get from West Hollywood to Compton (BULLIS Road)?
And where are the most restaurants, bars and clubs located?
I hope someone can help me out! Thanks in Advance though!
xx,
Elisa
Elisa, let me explain something to you, and I'm going to explain it to you in great detail so you get a really clear picture of what it's really like here, so be patient with me for a little bit here. I'm going to give you a nickel's worth of the best free advice you will ever get your entire life. You want to know about public transportation in Los Angeles? What to do? Here's what you do: The best public transportation you are going to get anywhere in Los Angeles, or for that matter, anywhere in Southern California, is to buy a car and "publicly transport" yourself along the "public" roadways.
Now, I know there are those on this forum who will think I'm a nut job for telling you this. They're going to say of me, "What a moron! She does that, she'll be stuck in traffic for hours on the freeway! She's far better off taking the bus or the Metro Rail/MetroLink!" To those people I respond, as someone who was born and raised in Southern California and who has spent almost all of his 45 years here, that they are partially correct. Yes, I readily grant that if you buy a car and drive yourself around town, there will be times you will get stuck in rush-hour traffic, sometimes bumper-to-bumper. That is all too true. And I also grant that it is a bit more expensive to own a car than to ride buses and trains.
However, for the part that they are wrong about, consider this: Buses get stuck in the same rush hour traffic that every other vehicle does, and it's even worse for them because they have to stop at bus stops every three blocks or so, sometimes spending 5 minutes or more at each one. (I used to drive buses around here for the MTA, too, so believe me, I know-I know not only from the passenger's point of view but the bus driver's point of view as well. So, not to toot my own horn or anything, but I guess you could say I'm somewhat of an authority on the subject.) As bad as traffic can be around here- and make no mistake about it, it can be extremely bad-I will guarantee you right here and now that the trip that takes you even an hour in rush-hour traffic, and would take maybe a half-hour when traffic is good, will take you generally between about 2 hours to as many as 4 hours or more on public transpo. Yes, you heard me right-it will take you roughly 3 to 4 times as long, or even longer than that, depending upon how far you're going, to get almost anywhere on the public transportation system as it will driving yourself.
For example, the kind of trip you were talking about, from West Hollywood to Compton (which I call Compthell for reasons you will see in that thread) is a journey of some 24 miles. In decent traffic it will take you maybe 35 minutes to drive that distance, probably a little over an hour during rush hour. You take public transpo, you better bring a good book to read or something, because you could be on those buses or trains a good 2 hours or more! I know, because I've spent many years traveling around the Southland both ways-driving as well as riding public transportation, so I have extensive experience with both methods, and given the choice, I'd drive myself in my own vehicle any day of the week and 9 times on Sunday. Case in point: My wife and I were heading home from Santa Monica only 2 days before I wrote this post. We live in Carson. Those two cities are roughly 19 miles distant from each other. Unfortunately we do not currently own a car (much to our chagrin), so we had to take public transportation. But from previous experience, I know that I could have driven that distance at that time of night, on a Friday night, in no more than about 45 minutes to an hour tops, even in rush hour traffic. We boarded the #733 bus on Ocean and Santa Monica Blvd. in Santa Monica at about 6:30 pm. We rode that bus to downtown Los Angeles, took the Silver Line south to the Artesia Transit Center over near 182nd and Vermont in Gardena, then took the #205 bus the rest of the way to our home near 214th and Vermont in West Carson. We did'nt finally make it home until just a little before 9:00 pm-nearly 2 1/2 hours later!
I'll give you one more example, just to reinforce my point that much more. One time we wanted to go to a church in Lake Forest, CA called Saddleback (maybe you've heard of it?) Lake Forest is in southern Orange County. Our home in Carson is in the inland South Bay area of Los Angeles County (the southwestern part of the county, north of San Pedro). That's roughly a 40-mile trip each way between those two points-80 miles round trip. We wanted to go to the 11:00 am service. We had to leave at about 20 to 5 in the morning in order to get there by 11 am-that's over 5 hours ahead of time! On a Sunday morning like that, had we had our own vehicle, it would have taken us only about 45 minutes to drive it with no problem at all. The return trip was worse-we left at about 1 pm and we did'nt get home until 7:30 pm-6 1/2 hours later!!!! The entire roundtrip ate up 11 1/2 hours of our day-11 1/2 hours of doing nothing but riding buses or waiting for buses!
Have I adequately made my point yet? I suspect I have! Therefore, I think you now can clearly see why I stress to you so strongly-DON'T WASTE YOUR TIME WITH PUBLIC TRANSPORTATION HERE-those people on this post who are saying that public transpo is so wonderful here obviously have not been forced to live a transit-dependent life like my wife and I unfortunately have through no fault of our own, and they clearly have no CLUE whatsoever what it's like to have to use these worthless buses and trains (some of which are deathtraps with well in excess of a million miles on them) day in and day out. If you don't have a car now, do yourself a HUGE favor-buy one before you come here or at least the minute you arrive in town. I promise you, you will be FAR, FAR better off.
I mostly agree with the above. West Hollywood to Westwood is very easy (4 or 704). WeHo to Compton is not. The problem with public transport in LA is that the vast distances between places make bus transit impractical. But West Hollywood is the ideal place to live if you have to rely on it because it is centrally located to most places you'd want to go. That same bus going east will take you to hipster Silver Lake and Echo Park, and eventually downtown. It may take you up to an hour to get downtown during rush hour though (45 minutes to Westwood, 60 mins to Santa Monica going west). And the 217 and 780 buses that run on Fairfax go straight into the heart of Hollywood, from where you can catch a subway to either downtown or North Hollywood.
Until LA builds substantial light rail or subway, public transit is not going to be a practical option for most people here. There's always going to be some place you're going to need or want to go where the bus doesn't with any kind of ease.
My advice would be quite the opposite. Why spend the money maintaining and insuring a car, especially when you don't need one? Unless you need one for work, they're a big money drain. A lot of people live very successfully in LA without one. That goes double for somewhere convenient like West Hollywood. (my cousin lives there and commutes daily to Westwood without a car; why anyone would make that drive WITH a car is beyond me!). I think the majority of the nay-sayers are running off of outdated stereotypes from years gone by. And yes, I did live a "transit-dependent" life. I just chose to live in a neighborhood that had very good public transit options. Many, many parts of LA do have those these days, so it's not like you'll be heavily limited. I got to work, to our daycare, to doctors (mine and my son's), to shopping, to explore different areas, and to everywhere else I needed or wanted to go, all without problem.
If you're spending a lot of time in Compton then I suppose it might be worth it to get a car, as that is a longer distance and if you're going back and forth a lot it would be inconvenient. iLife2008's bitterness seems to stem from living in Carson and being transit-dependent in that part of the LA metro area. That is a VERY different experience then living in West Hollywood. It sounds like Compton may also be in that inconvenient area; can't comment on that myself. But if you're spending the majority of your time in, say, the stretch of the city from Santa Monica through Holllywood, Los Feliz, downtown and out towards Pasadena (which is where I spent the bulk of my time) transit is great, it's generally quick (thanks to light rail, subway, and Rapid buses) and you don't have to waste the money on a car.
If you don't have a car now and prefer not to get one, I'd suggest holding off until you see if you need one. Maybe you do, maybe you don't. If mostly you're just going between West Hollywood and Westwood you really don't. And once you factor in all the costs (including possibly a parking spot), you might find that if you're heading to Compton, say, once a month or week, it is STILL cheaper to just rent one when you need it, or maybe to join a car sharing program like Zip Car. City of LA – Zipcar There are Zipcar locations in Westwood and in Hollywood, and it would be very easy (and affordable) to pick one up in Hollywood and then head south.
Sometimes when you need advice about a new city you have to simply find out for yourself. No offense to the people who were born here or have lived here most of there lives but come on. I was told public transportation was the worst. I think its one of the best of all the cities I'ved lived in. When I started working in Santa Monica I found out we had NO parking so I paid $9 a day to park. That lasted 1 month. I started taking the SM Big Blue Bus which cost $1 each way. After that I started exploring public transportation in L.A. Artwalk in dt, I did the bus. I've done Hollywood, Pasadena, Long Beach, Laker games, the Grove, my brothers house in Leimert Park, the Tarpits, Venice Beach, all quite a few times. Its so cheap and simple. Today I'm dropping my car off at the Saab dealership with absolutely no worries about getting around town.
pwright1 -- I've found, and it sounds like your story backs this up, that it's the people who have lived in LA for most or all of their lives are the ones who tend to have the lowest opinion of public transportation in LA; my theory is that part of it is because it wasn't nearly as good in the past and people tend to shape their opinions about a place pretty early on or perhaps because they're only comparing it to places like NYC. I admit, I had assumed the worst about LA before we moved there, so I was pleasantly surprised when I realized just how good the public transportation system really is! There are certainly failings and gaps, to be sure, but it's still pretty good, and it seems to be getting better every year.
i agree. i am able to get around the city and its different neighboring suburbs (including compton[serviced by the blue line]) quite easily.
some parts like carson might not be as well served as other denser more urban areas, but the central part of LA and "greater LA" (5-10 mi. radius from DTLA) are.
my last 3 jobs have all been conveniently located next to Public trains (rail). my new offices are by the soon-to-open expo line.
it cant be pure conincidence...
Quote:
Originally Posted by pwright1
Sometimes when you need advice about a new city you have to simply find out for yourself. No offense to the people who were born here or have lived here most of there lives but come on. I was told public transportation was the worst. I think its one of the best of all the cities I'ved lived in. When I started working in Santa Monica I found out we had NO parking so I paid $9 a day to park. That lasted 1 month. I started taking the SM Big Blue Bus which cost $1 each way. After that I started exploring public transportation in L.A. Artwalk in dt, I did the bus. I've done Hollywood, Pasadena, Long Beach, Laker games, the Grove, my brothers house in Leimert Park, the Tarpits, Venice Beach, all quite a few times. Its so cheap and simple. Today I'm dropping my car off at the Saab dealership with absolutely no worries about getting around town.
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and have some questions about the public transportation and work.
