Good News, Everyone!
Well, you know (if you’ve stumbled upon one of the posts in my long series of attempts -see end of this post- to remind one or two people that they should not believe all the myths about LA not having any public transportation) that I’m continually excited about the steady stream of improvements that are being made by Metro in response to the increased pressure of usage put on the system by the general public.
Well, in addition to adding more and more of the red “Metro Rapid” bus routes*, which are faster than the locals (which -ridiculously at times- stop every block) because they stop mostly only at major intersections, and in addition to adding more of the nice and roomy double buses (“bendy buses”) they’ve done something just great (which I’d been hoping for for years) – introduced true express routes! It makes sense to have three levels of granularity on the bus service here since it matches the three levels of granularity on the road system! Excellent. (I don’t know if many people think of it in this way, but there’s three grid systems in LA – the basic city streets, the big major streets like Beverly and Wilshire, Pico and Olympic, and then there’s the freeways like the 10, the 101, the 110, etc**. Correspondingly, you typically move along at three characteristically different speeds when you’re on them, but I’m digressing….)
Anyway, the new express bus system is still experimental right now, but if you get out there and use it, they’ll notice, and you’ll help make it a permanent fixture. You can read all about some of the new developments here. The journey time across town to Santa Monica on Wilshire using the new “Express Rapid” 920 service will be much shorter than even the ride on the “Rapid” 720, for example- by as much as 15 minutes! Isn’t that great? This will make the wait for the two new crosstown train lines (the Expo, underway, and the currently-imaginary Purple line. See here.)
-cvj
(*The 704, and the 760, the former running along Santa Monica Blvd… hurrah!
**Arguably there’s a scale in between the last two as well, but I’ll be really babbling off-topic if I continue on this…)
Pingback: Purple not Pants - Asymptotia
Maybe, but I suspect that you’d be very surprised how much I am not, as well.
-cvj
Pingback: Taco » Public Transport Update ~ Los Angeles
I’m always happy to hear about rapid transit improvements, especially in L.A. But reading this, I couldn’t help think, Ah, Clifford, you’re such a city kid.