I don’t have a car so all of my grocery trips are done via bus. Yesterday I arrived to the grocery store to find a packed and traffic-jammed parking lot, it was a mess to say the least. Most stores seem to have this issue in the week leading up to major holidays like Christmas and Thanksgiving, where the parking lot does not have the capacity to meet the demand (although this happens frequently on normal weeks too). Lots of honking, people unsure of how to back their car out with the aisles packed, and long car lines leading out of the parking lot and into the street.
I walked out of that store past the mess of cars and right onto my bus that comes every 10 minutes. Definitely a moment of pride when people constantly want to shit on Metro, they can enjoy their parking lots, traffic, road rage, and environmental damage. Besides the obvious speed issue of public transit in LA, you will NEVER make me regret being reliant on Metro. It’s simply not worth it in my eyes to keep a car in this city (area dependent).
I've had so many friends pooh-pooh Metro because it's "slower," but somehow I usually arrive on time via Metro while they're delayed finding parking and navigating through traffic...
Saw an interesting thread a while back talking about 'zero time tasks', which are basically things we do that we assume don't take any time (grab keys and wallet, quick bathroom trip before you go, putting on your shoes and coat, etc) but easily add up to real time. There were lots of comments in the thread from people saying how their perception of these tasks shifted when they changed default modes of transportation. People going from driving to to transit got better at accounting for the time these tasks take, while people going from transit to driving got worse.
Also, transit directions in an app like Google/Apple maps are much closer to a full door to door estimate, while driving directions are only an estimate of how fast you can drive between 2 points on a map given current traffic. They often don't take into account parking(though more and more I see directions to at least the closest spot in a nearby lot or garage if there is one connected, rather than just the middle of the street in front), and are terrible at anticipating how traffic along the way will trend/change as you are driving. Especially if you are going somewhere that is more densely populated, that "45 minute" Transit estimate will likely hold true (or be faster bc walk time estimates are usually way slower than reality in my experience), while the "20 minute" drive will usually be a lot closer to 30+ minutes total travel time.
EDIT - fixed typos, edited last sentance for greater clarity.
Like Metro will literally drop you off at the doorstep of your destination sometimes, no worry about parking. That is superior imo, kinda luxurious too like…
Fr, I always feel like Metro's passenger princess when I'm using my transit time to sit on my phone or read a book instead of having to pay attention to driving
I just got a bike recently and that's a big plus! I work too far away to commute by bike but all my local errands I would want to run after work are always a pain because of how bad traffic gets at rush hour. It'd take me 45 minutes by car to get a sandwich from a place that's an 8 minute bike ride away
wow what part of the city are you in?
Palms! Venice Blvd in particular gets really backed up. There's also an In-n-out nearby that gets a crazy long drive thru line and that fucks up traffic as well
I love biking places and avoiding getting in my car if I don't have to, but in what scenario is it 8 minutes to bike and 45 to drive? I know LA traffic is bad but an 8 minute bike is 2 miles tops. There is no part of LA other than the 405 on Christmas eve, that it takes that long to go two miles
I also used to live in Culver and would frequent that In-N-Out. It's bad but not THAT bad
45 minute trip I mean, so it wasn't a one to one comparison, fair enough. I just meant that the trip itself is prohibitively slow with auto traffic and I wouldn't go, but I can get there on my bike basically as quick as ever
Oh that makes a lot more sense, I agree! Good way to burn off a few of those calories as well haha
ahh thats a bummer.
This is also where the high-frequency bus lines come in handy - there's no need to worry about missing the bus, or waiting a long time for the next one. Otherwise, I'd think twice about buying refrigerated or frozen items from faraway stores.
People going to the Whole Foods in WeHo complaining about parking when you have the 4 which comes every 7.5 minutes and the 217 which is every 12. They have options and are choosing to make it harder on themselves because they refuse to acknowledge the existence of public transit in the city.
Add walking and biking to errands too!
Walked to my local grocery shopping yesterday (for last minute stuff before the rains) and lots of other people were doing the same except driving- parking lot full and car drivers circling and waiting...
Walked in and out, so easy!
Also bike and take the bus for grocery shopping further out- so easy!
THISSS… i was legit just thinking of this after i went holiday shopping recently (by bus, of course. i also don’t drive/own a car) and i definitely felt the huge difference when i went holiday shopping with my sister by car. the parking situation was irritating me.
like throw all the “cons” of using public transportation on me all you want, not needing to worry about the parking aspect of the holiday rush beats most, if not all of them all imo.
Not having to worry about parking ANY time of the year automatically makes Metro incredibly useful in this city, especially if you choose to go car free.
This is it. The freedom of going to a crowded area and not worrying about where to store a car is unmatched.
People in LA need to acknowledge that their destination is not required to give them a parking space. Why would you go to K Town, one of our city’s most dense and Metro accessible neighborhoods, expect them to provide parking for you.
I went to the Glendale Galleria and the Americana this past weekend via transit (thanks, Metro.. 93?), and I'll just say I was very glad I didn't have to drive in the traffic mess that was Brand Blvd. and the parking structures at the mall.
Love the 93, I use it almost daily because it gets me literally everywhere. Glad you enjoyed the ride!
I hope you got all your shopping done yesterday.
I usually find myself driving to and from work because the hours I go in will usually either make driving faster, or the train quite literally just doesn’t run at the time I go in/get off. But the times where the stars do align and it’s feasible for me to take the train to and from, it’s really nice.
I went to two grocery stores yesterday and a target. Found parking without any issue each time.
Sorry sir, deleting my post now!
Good for you , nobody asked tho. Not everything is about you. Just because you feel cold doesn’t mean global warming isn’t real
Thank you so much for your delightful comment. You are such a lovely person.
Can you compile a list of all your car related bills (literally paying to pollute and make the city worse)
You're going up against $1.75 fare
This post is about jam packed parking lots?
People idling their car while waiting for a parking space instead of walking or taking transit is not good for the environment. Not to mention how parking lots take up prime real estate for housing in this city and exacerbate the urban heat island effect
Ok how does that relate to the previous poster asking me to list out my vehicular costs?