Public Transportation in L.A.!?

There’s an unexpected – or at least “previously unknown to me” – advantage to the location of my new apartment (the one I’m moving to in a couple of weeks). It seems that it is located easily within walking distance of the LA Metro “Orange Line”. What this translates to is that, theoretically, I should now be able to get around Los Angeles without needing to put Precious (my ’02 Trans-Am Firehawk for those just joining this discussion…) at risk on the mean streets that are the freeways of the L.A. Metropolitan Area. This, as anyone who’s had the privilege to partake in this madness knows, is a good thing … a very good thing…

All I now need to do is figure out the system. I think I’ve made quite a bit of progress in the last few days by investigating the Metro.net website (we’re between tapeouts here at work which gives me plenty of free time…); although I am still a bit confused – mainly with the fares, passes, and this thing known as “TAP”. I’ve even been able to (at least I think…) find two bus lines that I could basically take to work. If I’m correct with my research, then I do believe I’m going to once again become a frequent user of public transportation as I so easily was able to do during the time I spent in Europe. Now granted, this depends greatly on whether or not I have successfully cracked the Enigma code that is the Los Angeles County Metropolitan Transportation Authority. Here’s what I’ve surmised thus far…

The two lines that I should be able to use to commute to and fro work are the LA County Metro Local line 161 and the aptly named Commuter Express line 422. Both lines (as well as a few other intermediate local Metro lines) were presented to me via the Metro Trip Planner tool. All I did was enter my apartment address as the start point and my work address as the destination. This got me the 161 line. The 422 line was discovered after messing around with the day and time settings a bit and increasing the maximum walking distance. It soon started looking like the Commuter Express (line 422) was my best bet as the travel time was somewhere on the order of half that reported for the 161 line. I decided to check out the maps and timetables for these routes to see why this was, exactly…

I was able to find both a map and timetable for the Metro Local 161 line directly on the Metro website. The 422 line, however, was mysteriously absent. The reason for this is because the Commuter Express lines are actually part of the LADOT (The City of Los Angeles Department of Transportation) system as opposed to the LACMTA system covered by the Metro.net site. The trip planner found on the Metro.net site includes connections utilizing the LDOT (Commuter Express lines – perhaps DASH lines too although I haven’t checked this yet…) routes as well. It’s very convenient although a bit more explanation might be helpful to us newbies there… I was able, in time, to find the map and schedule for the 422 route through the LADOT website.

These two routes differ in a couple key areas. Although the Commuter Express 422 route is actually a somewhat quicker trip (it has fewer stops than the local 161 route), it has the disadvantage of having a much more restricted service schedule. It only travels from the San Fernando Valley (where my new apartment is) to Westlake Village (the location of my work) on weekdays between the hours of ~6:00am until ~8:30am and the return trip utilizing this route would need to be done between ~2:15pm and ~6:45pm. Buses basically run every 20 minutes within these hours and this route is not available on weekends.

By contrast, the Metro Local 161 route (although the trip could take up to an hour) is usable throughout the day from about 5:45am until approximately 8:30pm for my commute each and every day – weekend and holiday service is a bit more limited, however it is available. The main problem with this route is that the buses are far less frequent – runs are scheduled with as few as one run per hour at times. I do however believe that I should be able to figure out an optimal routine utilizing these two routes in time. If only I could figure out the fare issues…

You see, that’s currently what I’m trying to make sense of. It’s rather obvious that I could pay for each trip with cash (exact change only) and keep track of any transfer fees I would need to purchase; however carrying the amount of coins this would require would quickly become a nuisance. What I’m looking to do is purchase some sort of monthly pass that would allow me to use the public transportation systems easily. When I was in Braunschweig, this was easy to do – I purchased a monthly pass at the train station that allowed me to take any bus or tram in the city without hassle. I was even able to figure this out without speaking any German – the system was very user-friendly. Here in L.A. – where I speak one of the common languages rather fluently – it’s quite a bit more complicated … or at least it currently appears so to me…

So I’m pretty sure that what I need to get for my standard work commute is an EZ Transit Pass (“Good for travel on Metro bus, Metro Rail and many additional carriers”) and one EZ Premium Stamp (in order to travel between the “San Fernando Valley” and “Thousand Oaks / Agoura Hills” zones on the 422 Commuter Express line); but what the heck is all this nonsense about a TAP card? Apparently “all Metro passes are now sold on TAP” which is “a durable plastic card you can use again and again.” That’s great for the Metro passes; but what about the EZ Transit Pass? Since this pass appears to be equivalent to a Metro Monthly Pass with additional features (allows travel on additional carriers outside of the Metro system – LADOT, to be more precise…), am I correct in thinking that this card can be used in lieu of a TAP card for intra-Metro travel? I suppose I should call somebody and ask about this…

Whatever the case, it now looks like I’ll have something to occupy myself with once I move into my next apartment. I suppose this is good as my standard routine of doing basically nothing during my free time has become excruciatingly boring. Add to that the sure excitement I’m bound to experience with the myriad of tasks that need to be completed upon my move – furnishing the apartment and such – and it looks like an absolute flurry of activity is soon to be heading my way. Who knows? Maybe I can turn all this into something positive…? The ability to get out and about whilst avoiding the need to drive in the L.A. gridlock sounds like a nice start to me.

bis später,

Coriolis