MultiModal Weekend (Part II)

On Saturday, October 15th we took Metro Bus 94 from Glendale to Downtown LA.  It was totally liberating to travel without a car or bicycle.  It was also totally convenient since we live 0.3 miles from the San Fernando / California bus stop, and the training we were going to is 0.2 miles from the Hill St / 6th bus stop.

Of course, we wouldn't have had to leave our bikes at home to take the bus... you can always put your bike on a bus.  Also we learned that Metro has purchased enough 3-bike racks for all their buses, but they won't replace a bike rack on a bus until the old one breaks!

When people complain that Glendale isn't well served by public transit, I have to laugh because that just isn't true.  They'll say, well I have to drive because it isn't convenient for me to get to a bus stop. Or something about their schedule being not so flexible.  We left our house an hour before the event we were trying to get to, waited at the bus stop for over 10 minutes and still arrived at our destination 20 minutes early.  

Taking transit gives you the freedom to allow yourself extra time.  Therefore you arrive at your destination less stressed.  We were the first to arrive at the training we were going to.  We had time to get a cup of coffee and relax before the meeting got underway.  It's a good thing we were there early so that we were there to greet the other attendees who were worried about being in the wrong place. We didn't have to pay for parking or remember where we had left our car.

An interesting thing we learned was that 80% of people in Los Angeles county live within biking distance of Metro Rail or fixed-guideway bus service like the Orange Line.  I learned this fact from downloading the podcasts of KPFK Bike Talk.  If you haven't listened to it, it's a great way to feel like less of a bike nut.  Another thing I learned from Bike Talk is that when someone in a car makes you angry (or almost runs you over), the best thing to do is wave at them with all 5 fingers.  It sounds simple, but really just hearing someone else tell me to do that goes through my mind when I really want to wave only 1 finger.

When Metro holds an open house workshop, it's important that community members participate because many of the city planning professionals don't bike, take transit, or walk.  For example, we recently attended a Walkabout in our community.  The planners that are writing the Community Plan asked the people who actually live in the community to come out and let them know what needs fixing in their neighborhood.  

Unfortunately turnout was low and it was mostly people from outside our neighborhood who were making the observations.  The planners are objective, but they don't have the perspective of how those streets actually work on a day-to-day basis because they don't live here.  Maybe a Saturday observation is nothing like a Monday-Friday observation. A morning observation is not reflective of how that street flows in the evenings.

My apologies for the tangent... back to the 94 bus.  It was great.  We've taken it from our house before, but going in the opposite direction.  When we've left our car at the Downtown Burbank Metrolink station, we can take this bus (stop Olive / San Fernando) walk over the I-5 freeway on a bridge, then take an elevator down to the train platform. We have also taken it to see a movie at AMC Burbank 16.  

This MultiModal weekend showed us that we can take the 94 bus to access Angel's Flight, Metro Bike Share, the Jewelry District, and Chinatown.  At Pershing Square, it's also possible to access the Metro Red or Purple lines (below-ground light rail, a.k.a. subway). It would also be possible to access the Mission San Fernando on the 94 bus, if you don't mind a 1.8 mile walk.  It could also get you to the Sylmar/San Fernando Metrolink station (which actually runs on the weekend) to Newhall, Palmdale, and Lancaster.

Transit really works wonderfully when different modes have points of contact or intersections. Sometimes I think people are simply unaware of how to make those connections.  For example, those city planners I mentioned gave us a token to take the bus and the bus driver said, "we don't accept those tokens anymore." Again, those who are making transit planning decisions don't even take transit enough to know how it works and how it has evolved.

We (my dear husband) and I were at odds with how to get to downtown LA.  I insisted (for Friday night at least) on biking, while he insisted on driving.  What we found using Google Maps is that Google suggested that the bus was actually the best way at 5:00pm on a Friday.  After driving, dear husband acquiesced the next day and agreed to ride the bus.  We both enjoyed the trip.  

The NextBus app has really changed our lives and our confidence and security with taking transit. If you allow the app to use your phone's location, it will tell you the nearest bus stops and routes on the "Nearby" tab. For visual people, you can click on the "Map" tab and get the same information.  For more sophistocated users, click on the "Transit" tab and define what Authority (e.g. Los Angeles Metro) and the stop number (if you're not using the location from your phone) or route (if you already know what bus number you want to take).  Tell it which direction you're going and it will tell you the length of time until your next bus arrives.  

Then if you click on a little folding-map icon with a location droplet on it, it shows you exactly where all the buses on that route are currently located.  So cool!  The last feature is most useful if you're walking to the stop but aren't there yet or you're in a meeting but haven't left yet and want to define which route you'll be taking to get home even if that route doesn't have a stop that is the closest to your current location.  With a smart phone in hand, you can actually free yourself from having to drive your car.

Research has shown that apps like NextBus can reduce uncertainty in wait times, which makes taking transit more competitive with driving your car. For your next visit to Downtown LA, consider taking a bus!