Better off on the bus.

It's 7:30 AM and I walk about twenty minutes from the Bundy Expo Line stop to meet up with Max Cabaj who moved to his apartment off of Barrington and Santa Monica Boulevard about a year ago after completing his undergrad at USC. Despite living on the Westside, which sometimes has the reputation of being a transit desert, Max commutes the 2.5 miles to his cardiac research lab at UCLA each day via the Big Blue Bus. For Max it isn't a necessity, but a choice; he has had a car since moving to the neighborhood but Max finds it easier to leave the car at home. The same is true for many of his colleagues, "Most of my coworkers live in the Westwood area so they walk or bike or they live in Culver City or Palms where there are a lot of buses that go up Sepulveda or Westwood. Actually, a lot of people in my building take the bus there. Parking is $80 a month at work." 

“Most of my coworkers live in the Westwood area so they walk or bike or they live in Culver City or Palms where there are a lot of buses that go up Sepulveda or Westwood. Actually, a lot of people in my building take the bus there. Parking is $80 a month at work.”

While walking two blocks to the Big Blue Bus stop, Max talks about how quickly this part of town grew on him, "I actually really like my neighborhood. It's very walkable. There are tons of restaurants and shops; there a Ralph's and a Trader Joe's withing walking distance...Sawtelle is like 0.4 miles away." An example of the access to nearby shops is the corner bagel shop where we stop to grab a coffee. Located in a strip mall with no available parking, we realize it would have been quite an ordeal with a car. While waiting in line, he jokes that the bus was an obvious choice compared to "having to pay to park at my own job," but it makes sense when you consider how many people drive on and off UCLA's campus. UCLA states they have 43,301 students enrolled and 4,300 on staff, not including the hundreds of contracted employees that keep the school running on a daily basis that's roughly 47,000 people at one location, and that much parking on prime L.A. real estate isn't cheap. Steep parking prices are an essential tool  that allows dense job centers and businesses to prevent a complete traffic standstill. However, it isn't acceptable to price people out of parking and not provide a viable alternative, and that is where the Big Blue Bus 1 comes in, which Max describes as "a direct shot" to work.

“UCLA states they have 43,301 students enrolled and 4,300 on staff, not including the hundreds of contracted employees that keep the school running on a daily basis that’s roughly 47,000 people at one location, and that much parking on prime L.A. real estate isn’t cheap. ”

With Max's morning coffee in hand we walk one block to his stop and he adds, "my TAP card is $33 a quarter for unlimited taps on the blue Santa Monica's Big Blue Bus and green Culver City Bus." I ask him if growing up in Boston has played a role in his transit experience while living here: "I think I that's part of why I am very inclined to take it in LA. I think that I grew up with the idea that taking the bus or the train is very normal; just because it often is the most efficient way of getting around the city there. I feel like I seek it out often, whereas people from other parts of the country may not." Even with his transit history, Max was surprised about the ease of taking the bus to work on the Westside. "I think it's surprisingly very good here. You just have to spend ten minutes looking it all up. I think that people on the Eastside are more used to it, having more rail lines running through gives people more wiggle room, people are down to take the train but not take the bus. People think it's a hassle even though it's really not...this bus comes every 10 minutes."

“For the longest time all I wanted was to have a car in LA because it’s just the thing people do...but the end result was I was paying $110 a month for car insurance and my car just sits, and I’m paying $1,200 a year to insure a car I barely drive”

After waiting just a few minutes the bus came on schedule, and we receive a warm "Good Morning" greeting from the driver. As we pass under the 405 I ask Max how often he uses his car: " I would say my car is vacant about five days out of the week unless I have to go somewhere on a weeknight across town or something. If I'm going to meet up with a friend sure, I'll use it, but to go to the store I walk half the time because I'd rather not lose my parking spot." His car use has reduced to the point where he has considered selling it numerous times, "For the longest time all I wanted was to have a car in LA because it's just the thing people do...but the end result was I was paying $110 a month for car insurance and my car just sits, and I'm paying $1,200 a year to insure a car I barely drive...eventually I switched insurance to a pay-by-the-mile service called MetroMile. I pay a flat rate every month and then I pay six cents per mile. My bills are now about fifty to sixty bucks...It's this little device you plug in your car, it monitors where you drive...it has these stats, they text me when I'm on a street cleaning spot."

We jump off at Westwood and La Conte Avenue for a mere two-minute walk to his work. As we make our way to campus we talk about how the future purple line will make coming to Westwood increasingly easy. The subway won't make or break Westwood as a pedestrian-friendly area. Improvements in street crossings like the diagonal scramble are helping facilitate a safer experience. As Max explains, the stigma many have about the bus keeps transit mobility stunted even if it is the best option. He has been lucky enough to pay $10 a month to get to work, though most Angelenos would rather drive, no matter the cost. 

“my TAP card is $33 a quarter for unlimited taps on the blue Santa Monica’s Big Blue Bus and green Culver City Bus.”

Unfortunately, Max is moving soon and is a little nervous he won't be able to find an apartment that offers the same level of transit access as his current set-up: "just under half an hour, door to door." It is unfortunate that, due to the sprawling nature of the city, one street can be a transit dream and another just a few miles away can be a nightmare - a problem all Angeleno's with a commute share. If you ask anyone in LA what is on their mind when deciding where to move, no matter the means, transit is often near the top. If only we had a more interconnected system that could reliably move people around...perhaps one day we'll get there.

Big Blue Bus route 1. Provided by CityMapper

Learning to find community.

“It was absolutely intentional. I have always been really passionate about community; not just taking in your neighborhood by osmosis, but really taking in the faces and names of your neighbors”

It's 6:50 in the morning and Taylor Slavens, or Mr. Slavens as he is known at work, is getting ready in his Los Feliz apartment, in a neighborhood where he has lived in or adjacent to for the last five years. While living here he attended USC to undertake a Master's in Education, after which he quickly found a position teaching English and 'Intro to Theatre' at John Marshall High School, located only 1.7 miles away from Taylor’s apartment. Having a commute of just under two miles is a dream that most Angelenos can only envy but Taylor was determined to live close to where he ended up teaching saying, "It was absolutely intentional. I have always been really passionate about community; not just taking in your neighborhood by osmosis, but really taking in the faces and names of your neighbors...I wanted to be a part of the kid's lives that walk by me every day on the streets." 

While walking through the neighborhood I asked Taylor how he travels the 1.7 miles each day, "I drive my Mini Cooper; it takes about thirteen minutes." A choice that is made even easier by the fact that the school provides free parking for the staff. I understand Taylor’s choice: driving is convenient, easy, and cheap. Also, his school, which is located on the border of Los Feliz and Silverlake, is not close to any obvious rail or bus routes. Yet, as I hear what Taylor says about the importance of interacting with his neighbors I see his commute as one of his best opportunities to find out what, and who, truly make up Los Feliz. There are a couple options to get to work, but Citymapper informs me of the most convenient: a bus that runs during rush-hour between Hollywood and Silverlake. The 175 bus picks us up about one block from Taylor’s apartment and drops us off at the front of Marshall high in about twenty-six minutes.

Map of Bus 175 provided by Citymapper

As we make our way to the stop, across the street from the infamous, yet-to-be-completed Target on Sunset and Western and I ask Taylor how most of his students get to school, "most of them take public transit; a good number of them get picked up by their parents; a very small number drive because there is no parking for them...a lot of them don't think twice about using Metro" a statement which he says he can't apply to much of his friend group adding, "most think of it as occasionally helpful but largely kind of inopportune." As we walk up to the station I see his assessment as fairly accurate at least on this occasion. There are none of the hip Coachella outfits or manicured beards that Los Feliz and Silverlake have become so synonymous with as of late, but there are about four people at the stop, one of whom is wearing John Marshall gear.

“I remember I was with a friend using the Redline to get downtown ten years ago, I remember thinking this is great but limited in its scope...at least the rails. I’ve been on a bus one other time, I’ve always wanted to utilize it, but I’m always nervous or afraid of doing transfers and getting lost. I don’t know what I’m doing.”

As we board the bus, Taylor talks about his own experience with Metro, "I remember I was with a friend using the Red line to get downtown ten years ago, I remember thinking this is great but limited in its scope...at least the rails. I've been on a bus one other time, I've always wanted to utilize it, but I'm always nervous or afraid of doing transfers and getting lost. I don't know what I'm doing." After stopping a few times, the number people on the bus goes from about seven to forty fairly quickly and the vast majority are students. Taylor laughs saying, "I'm already obsessed with it...riding Metro creates space for connection and learning that a thirteen-minute drive doesn't offer. What is this twenty-six minutes? So what - am I losing fourteen minutes? I get up at five every morning, it's not that different."

“I’m already obsessed with it...riding Metro creates space for connection and learning that a thirteen-minute drive doesn’t offer. What is this twenty-six minutes? So what am I losing fourteen minutes? I get up at five every morning, it’s not that different.”

Taylor has learned a lot about his community from teaching in his neighborhood.  We reminisce over our college years, going to cafes and bars in the area, but we can't recall many times where we saw teenagers in the neighborhood. "Marshall has challenged me to really understand the culture that I can name but can't really speak about at length. It has shown me a personal side of what is going on in Los Feliz with gentrification. My students, a lot of them, might not have the money to go to the restaurants my friends enjoy...it is easy to be nearsighted and myopic to think 'my experience of my neighborhood is the only experience of my neighborhood,' and it takes effort to see the reality of what your neighborhood actually is."

“My students, a lot of them, might not have the money to go to the restaurants my friends enjoy...it is easy to be nearsighted and myopic to think ‘my experience of my neighborhood is the only experience of my neighborhood,’ and it takes effort to see the reality of what your neighborhood actually is.”

The biggest thing I notice on this bus ride is that I'm seeing a Los Feliz I've never seen before outside of a taqueria or chance encounter with a stranger. Unlike Downtown or Koreatown, where density makes old residents interact with new, side by side, in this part of town it is easy to avoid anyone that isn't in a person's daily sphere. Taylor talks about the similarities between transit and his job, "Where else other than a bus or a school, or maybe jury duty, are you forced to interact with all the different people in your neighborhood?" We can't rely solely on coffee shops, or any other private enterprise to integrate neighbors when many in the community cannot afford them. That doesn't mean the private sector isn't adding great and valid institutions but they cannot be responsible for bridging the divide. Unfortunately, Taylor doesn't see many of his friends using buses as a valid option, mostly due to their perception, "people see rail and subways as being more expedient and efficient, but a bus can also be really efficient." 

By the time we get to Taylor’s school 75% of the bus unloads directly in front of John Marshall. Whether by choice or simply being too young to drive, Metro is certainly a working option for these kids whereas Taylor didn't even know this route existed. I can't blame him. It is hard to learn the schedules and routes, particularly for buses that don't run all day like the 175, when they aren't advertised the same way rail lines are. One has to use a map like Citymapper or Google Maps to find it or scour the Metro page for a possible route. People want easy and convenient options. There are many, like Taylor, who are actively seeking out ways to engage with their community, and we shouldn't make it harder for them to engage rather than travel solo. Taylor might not switch to Metro full time, but at least now he is aware of how many of his students are getting to school. That dialogue, that shared experience, is just one more way to build a community that didn't exist before.

Trying Something New.

It's 8am on Friday morning and I meet Izzy Schloss, a friend from college, who agrees to my request of joining her on her commute to work. With one condition: we take public transit. She agrees, with slight hesitation but an open mind, and I plot our voyage from Vermont in Los Feliz to Old Town Pasadena. 

Izzy's starting point in Los Feliz

Living on the southern part of Los Feliz near Vermont & Hollywood, Izzy has two options to get to work. There is the Red line that she can ride to Union Station and then transfer to the Gold line to Pasadena, walking included it takes about 1 hour. This is the obvious route. The one Google Maps would often advise, however there is an alternative. Metro's often criticized "Rapid Buses" (the red busses) were introduced in 2000 as a way to speed up bus travel. They make limited stops more akin to a subway or light rail. However, most common maps of metro don't feature them and the bus stops don't exactly advertise any particular significance so they are often overlooked, even by avid transit users. 

We discovered this route worked well only because of my favorite transit app, CityMapper. Its interface makes it almost seem like Waze for mass transit. It is quick and efficient, and most importantly uses more logical connections then other interfaces like Google Maps. For Izzy, who wished to avoid cumbersome connections and being underground, the 780 was a great option. 

Using the Citymapper App

The 780 would get us to where we needed to go for $1.75 in about 45 minutes. About 50% longer then her average car trip that takes "20-30 minutes most days depending on traffic." Which proved Izzy right when asked to comment on mass transit in LA saying "it's terrible...not on time, and usually takes at least twice as long to get anywhere then it would in your car." I couldn't refute the time argument and there is a lot of room for improvement, however, I found it interesting that we usually talk about commutes from only a single angle: time. Izzy went so far as to say, "its about efficiency. I want to get from my home to work as fast as possible, I'm not saying that it's right, but if anything that means I get to spend more time at home, and if I get really illegal, I can do it in 15 minutes."

CityMapper

We begin snaking through Atwater Village and Glendale, and I ask Izzy if she has had positive experiences with mass transit. She talked about a recent summer spent in Spain being an Au Pair where a good bike network and bus system allowed her to get everywhere she needed to go. What struck me the most was that, while Izzy loved the efficiency of the system, what she really loved was how it taught her about her surroundings and helped her learn Spanish by listening to others. One could argue that we are allowed to be more carefree about time on vacation but being an Au Pair and taking Spanish lessons Izzy still had places to be and speed was a factor. Many of us love to utilize the social benefits of mass transit when we are in cities that have systems that are perceived as efficient, but ignore the benefits in our own cities. LA is a perfect example. Izzy doesn't use Metro because she perceives it as being inefficient but the irony is the freeway system in LA, particularly during rush hour is far from efficient with traffic jams and accidents effecting your arrival time (add to that a million other factors.) So if time wasn't the main issue, maybe something else was. 

The 780 Rapid Bus in Los Feliz, and the Local 181 behind it

As I asked Izzy what was the quality of time spent on her commute like she said she enjoyed "time to herself...listening to NPR.." I definitely understand the desire for alone time and it makes a lot of sense, but the funny thing was when asked what her least favorite aspect of her commute she responded, "well I don't like the terrible traffic sometimes...and it's funny I usually keep my windows down because I don't like the isolation. That separation to everyone around me." 

LA is the product of being a civic experiment in how far we could take the idea of privacy and private property. The car has become an extension of our home and many often end up with a community solely consisting of those either in their home or work. In many parts of LA, you can find it difficult to run into people in parks, or on the street, or any other public space because they tend to not exist or are engineered as an after thought. This can be tempting for the individual, particularly those that adore privacy, but dangerous for a society. We isolate ourselves. If desired, we ignore problems of those with different lives then us whether it be racial or economic. For example, the massive homeless problem brewing in LA can easily be avoided if one just turns up their radio, rolls up the window, and takes the right route. 

780 stop in Old Town Pasadena

So, is there a way to have a city that looks out for one another and yet allows for the very healthy desire of a certain amount of privacy? That is a very large issue and not the sole responsibility of any one Angeleno who's just trying to get to work. The funny thing was, by the end of the trip as we were passing through Eagle Rock, she remarked that trip had been so easy. She enjoyed seeing the evolution of the city between Los Feliz and Pasadena. She enjoyed a coffee. She talked to a friend. She wanted to try it again, and next time bring a book. The ride turned out to only take 39 minutes (I tried it twice just to make sure.)

Not everyone has  the luxury of the door to door route that the 780 offers Izzy, for many of us transfers are required. Increased frequency is needed. Those are all valid and very real concerns. Yet, the thing that I find most fascinating is that Izzy had no knowledge of this very convenient route prior to our investigation. There are so many transit routes in this city of 4 million that many have little to no knowledge of. Metro can do a far better job of advertising our system, but if you are annoyed by traffic and feeling isolated, if you want more time to read or watch a show, or even just desire the ability to feel like you live in a city, I advise you to download Citymapper, or any other transit app, and discover your options. Or leave me a comment asking for a hand, I'd love to explore the city with you.  

Passing the historic Langham Hotel.