I plan on taking the train in the morning. The Pasadena Gold Line, the train I will take, is pretty convenient as it is about a 5 minute walk for me in the morning. It takes me to downtown where a bus that goes directly to my building is waiting for me. As the cost is only $1.25, it is pretty cheap for me to take the train. When you take into account that gas is running $3.50 per gallon, and it looks down right cheap for me to take the train.
Up until now, I haven’t done it. It’s amazing the excuses one will come up with to try and avoid doing something. First, it was because I had to walk 5 minutes. Then it was that the times weren’t all that convenient. Then it was that nobody in California takes public transportation. In the end, it was just a change to my routine that I wasn’t quite ready to make. It’s amazing how we are such creature of habits. It affects all aspects of our lives. It just makes sense for me to take the train. It will save me money, and for the most part it will even save me time.
Speaking of this, I am starting to think L.A. public transportation gets a bad rap. I took the LAX fly away this past weekend. It travels from Union Station to LAX for only $4. Seriously, that’s dirt cheap and very convenient. Way easier than getting someone to take me to the airport.
I’ve taken that line before. It was good. Much better than the buses.
Despite my best laid plans, I ended up not taking the train. Just to show me, God must have decided to make it a bad traffic day, because it was a real pain in the ass to get to work.
Public transportation is looking mighty good with the gas prices in may area hitting $3.55. To fill my tank, I spend around $40 every 2 weeks (That’s if I don’t go anywhere far – 5 to 8 mile radius: work, grocery, mall, home, etc).
I have a friend that rides the train from Fontana into Union Station everyday. His work pays for it and he loves it. I never did it (I use to work about a 5-10 minute busride from Union Station) because I would have to take the Metrolink, which is like $8 a day. So unless gas jumped up to $8 a gallon, it wasn’t worth it from me (and up until about two years ago, I had a car payment, so it made even less sense).
If they made a subway that went from Burbank to UCLA, I would be all over that. That’s the only flaw in L.A.’s mass transit, there’s a couple of routes that have no solution yet.
I’ve taken the Van Nuys flyaway several times and it rocks. Unless it’s rush hour on the 405. Then it’s not so great.
Yeah, but if the bus can’t get through the rush hour traffic, neither would you.