safest and fastest public transportation route?? (Long Beach, Culver City: home, transfer, neighborhoods)

[nobody067]

i'm wondering if any seasoned LA public transportation veterans can help me out with my problem. i was just hired to work near LAX right next to the Aviation Green Line Station and the nearest cross street to where i live is Vermont/Hollywood. Now i know that the easiest way for me to head from work to home is to take the Green Line from Aviation/LAX and get off at the Vermont Athens station and then take the 204 all the way to my destination.

my problem is that i will leave work at 8:00 PM and quite frankly i am scared to be in the area of west athens and riding the bus through those rough neighborhoods at that time. according to the LA times homicide map,that area is full of homicides and i do not want to take any chances. i was thinking about taking the green line from LAX/Aviation to the Willowbrook Station,then connecting to the blue line all the way to the 7th street metro center and then taking the red line and getting off at the Vermont/Sunset station and walk a few blocks home but i also have heard and read that the blue line can get shady at night.

i am a male by the way and i have no car but i do have a monthly tap card so there are no problems there,its just that i am scared of bad neighborhoods. so,can anyone give me any advice as to which is the "safest" route to take from the LAX green line station to Hollywood/Vermont?

[mayorhaggar]

Honestly the green line is just as ghetto and shady as the blue line. Man up and ride at the front car by the driver, nobody will bother you. Probably.

But that is a really long way to have to go, I'd look into moving way closer to LAX soon. Taking a non-express bus all the way from the Green Line to Hollywood would take forever, and taking the red to blue to green line would take a long time too.

[HaemophilusAphrophilus]

though some shady characters ride the blue/green lines, Ive never felt in any actual danger. There are enough people on the train, and like the above said you could just ride in the front car if youre really concerned

there are many times Ive taken the blue line around 11 PM-12 AM from downtown Long Beach and I never felt in any true danger. Youre really not even riding it that late so you should be fine as long as youre not lookin for trouble

I cant comment about taking the bus back from that area, I definitely see your concern there. I would still probably do that easier route going into work, but coming back the blue/green line shouldnt cause any safety issues

[saybanana]

You might want to look into the Culver City Bus 6. Check their webpage for schedule. It goes from LAX Aviation Station all up to Westwood UCLA. you have several options on where you can transfer like Venice 733, Wilshire 720, or Leconte 2/302 which is direct to Sunset/Vermont subway. You can get an EZ bus pass which I think you can use for most buses in LA county (you might to look into that). This way may take you way longer, but is probably the safest for your concerns.

The fastest and more frequent service is to do Green to Blue/Silver to Red.

[wrcousert]

Originally Posted by HaemophilusAphrophilus

though some shady characters ride the blue/green lines, Ive never felt in any actual danger. There are enough people on the train, and like the above said you could just ride in the front car if youre really concerned

there are many times Ive taken the blue line around 11 PM-12 AM from downtown Long Beach and I never felt in any true danger. Youre really not even riding it that late so you should be fine as long as youre not lookin for trouble

I cant comment about taking the bus back from that area, I definitely see your concern there. I would still probably do that easier route going into work, but coming back the blue/green line shouldnt cause any safety issues

Is it a good idea to bring your laptops or other electronic items on late night trains? Do people get robbed on trains at that time of night?

[Carlite]

To the extent there are safety problems on Metro, and there aren't a ton, they're more likely to happen at stops or stations than on the vehicle. So the question would be what's the transfer point at the Vermont Green Line station like. Are there many people there at 8:30 or so when you'd be transferring? Is the area well lit? Are there open businesses or other sources of activity? You've got other options, but they're all likely to take longer.

[mayorhaggar]

Originally Posted by saybanana

You might want to look into the Culver City Bus 6. Check their webpage for schedule. It goes from LAX Aviation Station all up to Westwood UCLA. you have several options on where you can transfer like Venice 733, Wilshire 720, or Leconte 2/302 which is direct to Sunset/Vermont subway. You can get an EZ bus pass which I think you can use for most buses in LA county (you might to look into that). This way may take you way longer, but is probably the safest for your concerns.

The fastest and more frequent service is to do Green to Blue/Silver to Red.

That I think would be like 90 minutes all told if you get good connections (30 minutes or so on the 6 and at least an hour to get to east Hollywood on a Rapid bus) but definitely it would be a less shady option--people on buses in LA are less shady than on the rail lines. I don't see a blue/red/green combo or bus/green combo being any faster than 90 minutes though.

[PDF]

Originally Posted by mayorhaggar

but definitely it would be a less shady option--people on buses in LA are less shady than on the rail lines.

Any theory on why you think this is? This is something I definitely noticed.

[mayorhaggar]

Originally Posted by PDF

Any theory on why you think this is? This is something I definitely noticed.

Well, let me qualify that, the green line and blue line run through some pretty poor areas. The Gold Line and Red Line don't so much, so the clientele is wealthier. If you're taking a bus instead of rail it's maybe because you're traveling through somewhere comparatively wealthy where there isn't a rail line, like down Wilshire or on a Culver City bus. But I've noticed even when I ride a bus through a kind of crappy area, everyone just behaves better and they're usually dressed nicer. But ride on the blue line and practically everyone's screaming and yelling and eating smelly food (and spilling it everywhere) and occasionally getting in fights and playing music really loud on their cell phone speakers. People seem better behaved on the green line though.

My theory is people respond to the crappiness of the train...when I'm on one of the nice new blue line trains everyone seems well behaved...when I'm on one of the dirty old smelly Nippon Sharyo trains, everyone seems to go nuts. The green line is all new train cars so maybe that's why everyone acts better, and most buses in the Metro system are fairly new (though often worn-in) and maybe people react more to that.

[Carlite]

The only LA bus or train that I've ever seen potentially serious trouble on was the 33/733 on Venice Blvd.