Getting to the Palms / Mar Vista / Culver City area from Santa Monica is turning out to be a real problem, as I discovered over the weekend. I’d already complained about it taking so long, but I gave it another chance — The plan: Take the Big Blue Bus’ 2 to the 12 to get to my friend Erin’s place near Overland / Palms.
But the #2 came 20 minutes late, so of course I missed the connection to the #12. All in all, I got to Overland / Palms 40 mins after I was supposed to.
Luckily, I was originally gonna get to Erin’s place early to hang out and chat for a half hour or so before going to the theater. As it happened, Erin had to come to pick me up at the bus stop; We got there about a minute after the musical started.
The lesson learned: I’m not gonna be going to the Mar Vista / Palms / Culver City area by the bus again anytime soon — The ride’s long to begin with, and something always seems to go awry.
Interestingly, the Big Blue Bus just launched a new line today — the SMC commuter — which basically goes between SMC and the Mar Vista / Palms / Culver City area. However, it only runs like twice a day….
One of these days, I’ll try Patrick’s part bus, part bike idea. I need to learn how to clip the bike onto the bus first though. For some reason, this scares me –
The bike/bus combo works quite well, actually. Where it’s really nice is getting out of Santa Monica in the afternoon. Westside traffice makes biking really appealing. Actually westside traffic makes rolling naked over broken glass really appealing.
Comment by don hosek — February 5, 2007 @ 12:20 pm
Yeah, I like living in Culver City and the #3 Culver Bus is a good connecting line, but forget about any nightlife. The last connections aren’t much later than 10:30pm.
If I go to anything downtown at night, I have to either drive the whole way, or drive to park at the first stop on the Purple Line at Wilshire/Western.
Comment by Lisa — February 5, 2007 @ 12:35 pm
Ha! Putting the bike on the bus rack always scares me too. I guess I’m just afraid I won’t be able to figure it out quickly enough.
Comment by Kristen — February 5, 2007 @ 3:35 pm
You’ve probably seen this, but there is an illustrated guide to using the bus bike rack here: http://www.bicyclela.org/transit.htm#Bikes_LADOT. So if you bring your laptop along, you can follow the instructions. :)
Comment by michael — February 5, 2007 @ 6:59 pm
Don’t be intimidated by the bike rack on the front of the bus. I promise you, it’s super, duper, duper easy. In fact, the rack itself has simple 1-2-3 instructions printed right on it, enabling you to learn how to do the thing while you’re actually doing the thing.
Trust me. I’m so confident you’ll breeze through this, that I make you this pledge: if you try it and you consider it difficult, I’ll give you a dollar.
Patrick Meighan
Los Angeles Greens
Comment by Patrick Meighan — February 5, 2007 @ 8:45 pm
I agree - it is pretty easy to use the bike racks on the buses. Some tips: Try to make eye contact with the bus driver as you load your bike. This will give you confidence that the driver won’t accidentally run you over as you’re standing in front of the bus. Also, for the same reason, tell the bus driver as you exit that you’re going to be unloading your bike.
I live in Del Rey and commute by bus to Santa Monica. The connections in the morning are pretty good. The evening, though, is a whole different story. It often takes me twice as long to get home, especially if I leave after 7 PM. I wish we could get the Big Blue Bus to increase the frequency of the #14 at night.
Comment by Ken Weiner — February 5, 2007 @ 11:19 pm
agree with everyone’s post re simplicity–but i do want to add one caution. perhaps this is less true on the bigbluebus than on mta, but on the latter it’s really a good idea to lock your bike as unlocked bikes on the front of the bus are very easy to steal. btw, i never comment on your site siel, but i did want to mention that it’s becoming one of my favorite blogs and you’ve inspired to replace most of my lightbulbs with cfls (and am giving a set to my boyfriend for valentine’s day…i’m not sure he’ll be so thrilled but oh well!). all the best,
jeannine
Comment by jeannine — February 6, 2007 @ 10:39 am
I used to think the same way about the racks, even after reading the instructions online. One day, I decided to try it out, which turned out very quick and easy. If you’re still not comfortable, find a parked non-servicing bus at the beginning or end of a line and ask the driver to try the rack.
If I use my nice bike, I sit in the front of the bus and always watching it If I have my old 10 year old run-down bike, I can easily take a nap without worrying.
Comment by jason — February 6, 2007 @ 11:01 am
I used to worry about getting my bike stolen from the front of the bus, but I kinda stopped worrying about it and (I’m probably jinxing myself, here) it’s never happened to me. Occaisionally, while riding the bus, it occurs to me, “Oh crap, is my bike still up there?!” And then I look and there it is.
Has anyone here ever had your bike actually stolen from the front of the bus?
Patrick Meighan
Los Angeles Greens
Comment by Patrick Meighan — February 6, 2007 @ 11:23 am
And as for going to Palms/Mar Vista/Culver City area, you should try biking all the way. Its probably around 6 or so miles. Taking the bus or driving makes it feel much far farther. A casual bike ride is usually 10-15 mph. If I’m in a hurry, 18-20mph. Plus you get exercise too.
Comment by jason — February 6, 2007 @ 11:23 am
Patrick, just lock your bike before you put it on the bus rack. You can do this while your waiting at the stop, for the bus to arrive. A nice small u-lock, attached to the frame and a wheel, will prevent the bike from being ridable. It’s a deterant.
Comment by Zack — February 6, 2007 @ 1:22 pm