The key here to see if they can pull this off is the addition of 3000 buses.
LA Metro currently only runs 2000 buses, and that’s for the entire service area, I’m guessing the new buses are going to be concentrated in the Olympic areas.
I used to rely on the bus back in college. It was not convenient. The bus schedule controlled your schedule. My bus to school ran every hour.
If I wanted to travel from the San Gabriel valley to downtown LA, it was over two hours.
An early job I had, 20 mile commute, combined riding and walking (job was a mile from the bus stop) meant a 5:30am bus trip to get there by 8.
It’s functional but hardly convenient. It’s a far cry from a 10m wait for a subway train. One mistake in the chain, and it was quite punishing.
One year, the last bus from campus (at 8:05pm, which i really hated — just too early for a college student) was late. It was caught in LA traffic because of the World Series at Dodger Stadium. Which was 30 miles away.
And the riders that night were trapped. Last bus, had to sit and wait for it. Couldn’t pop back into the library and come back in an hour for the next one. Hour and a half late.
LA is huge. As busy as downtown is, it’s busy everywhere. Buses are the most scalable and flexible solution. All you need for a new bus route is a bus and a sign.
But as a user, all I can say is they beat walking, but just barely.
LA Metro currently only runs 2000 buses, and that’s for the entire service area, I’m guessing the new buses are going to be concentrated in the Olympic areas.
I used to rely on the bus back in college. It was not convenient. The bus schedule controlled your schedule. My bus to school ran every hour.
If I wanted to travel from the San Gabriel valley to downtown LA, it was over two hours.
An early job I had, 20 mile commute, combined riding and walking (job was a mile from the bus stop) meant a 5:30am bus trip to get there by 8.
It’s functional but hardly convenient. It’s a far cry from a 10m wait for a subway train. One mistake in the chain, and it was quite punishing.
One year, the last bus from campus (at 8:05pm, which i really hated — just too early for a college student) was late. It was caught in LA traffic because of the World Series at Dodger Stadium. Which was 30 miles away.
And the riders that night were trapped. Last bus, had to sit and wait for it. Couldn’t pop back into the library and come back in an hour for the next one. Hour and a half late.
LA is huge. As busy as downtown is, it’s busy everywhere. Buses are the most scalable and flexible solution. All you need for a new bus route is a bus and a sign.
But as a user, all I can say is they beat walking, but just barely.