Riding the Big Blue Bus

I feel like a true urbanite using public transportation every day.  Los Angeles is the city of the car, but the roads (rather the highways) scare me and the little CRV, so I stick to the bus as often as possible.  Plus, parking on campus costs something like $20 a day and that is waaayyy beyond the grad school budget.

I am starting to get a handle on the bus routes through the process of trial and error (example: even if the route looks close enough, where the bus will actually stop may be much further away than desired.  Duly noted).  Going to school I pretty much have to chose a line and commit, as there are 2 close by but in opposite directions.  At first I was closely following the printed timetables (ok the Google Map timetables) but somehow I was waiting 15-20 minutes for the bus EVERY TIME.  So I have started just leaving when I am ready and hoping it works out for the best.  (Where's your equivalent of nextmuni.com, Los Angles? Get on top of it!).

Given the erratic nature of the bus schedule I typically leave my house fairly calmly, then begin to get nervous I'm going to miss the bus and power walk the alley to the main street.  I have found that the alley is my best option because it provides 2 options - if I don't see the bus I can walk half a block against traffic and wait at the closest stop.  More often than not, however, I seem to time it and see the bus passing me just when I am nearing the end of the alley.  Luckily (in these situations, anyway) there is usually enough traffic in the morning to hold the bus up at the next stop light and I'm able to make a run for it through the 7-11 parking lot and make it on.  Nothing like a little heart pumping action first thing in the morning.  It is incredibly frustrating when I see the bus whiz by on a quiet morning and have no chance of catching up with it and am stuck waiting a full 20 minutes for the next one to come along.  Some day I will get brave enough to ride my bike...

On a side note, the walk down the alley gives me a chance to observe one of the other urbanite experiences, that of the bottle (or just trash) collectors.  There are dozens of people that methodically go through every recycle bin in the alley looking for cash-redemption bottles and cans.  The 7-11 may draw them in, but there are clearly enough gems to keep them coming back.  The major downside to this is that there is a dumpster grouping just outside of my window and there aren't conventional business hours for this system.  The other morning I was startled awake around 4am by a bang- the dumpster lid being thrown open and hitting the side of my building (aka the wall 3 ft from my head).  Good morning to you, too, Los Angeles.