After realizing that our uncomfortable futon was not working as a couch, and never would, we decided we needed to get a couch. However, without a car (and with a budget of like…$150) this presented some problems. How were we supposed to go look at couches, try them out, purchase one, and somehow bring it back without the aid of a car?
I figured there were a few options. Probably the best option would be to just one Saturday rent a Zipcar. Some of the Zipcar options are very spacious (I think there’s a Scion available). It would be easy and it would be about $66 for the day.
This option also made me wonder how small-car-owners do things like buy couches. Perhaps they too would have to rent a Zipcar. This, of course, made me feel very validated that I had sold my car, because I didn’t have a small car AND need to rent a Zipcar (this is completely ignoring the fact that the one and only car I’ve ever owned was a Subaru Station Wagon).
However, since I’m (as previously mentioned) lazy, I have yet to actually apply for a Zipcar. So I would need to do that before I would be able to rent one. Due to sheer laziness, that option was out.
I like crossing things off lists. Thus, I asked my mom if one day she would be willing to drive us to the hotel surplus store. She agreed, saying several times “It’s a REALLY weird place.” Two things I really liked about my mom driving us :
1. More opinions on the “is this the right couch?!” question and
2. We could do it in one day. Efficiency. That much closer to crossing it off the list.
Unfortunately, the hotel surplus store did not work out. We looked around at a couple other places. Nothing. My one-day-only couch plan had failed.
Coming back to our apartment, the failings of my plan, and the inability to go back tomorrow and look around, forced me to get a little creative with the couch. I put the futon folded up on the floor (no, horrible); I moved things around; I looked up floor cushions.
Then, in my carless-forced-creativity, I had the greatest idea of all time. I thought about couches I have known and loved. This reminded me of the couches in my friends’ apartment in Morocco. We didn’t have the space for a shisha/pillow pile, but we could build bench couches.
We took the two halves of the wooden futon frame and placed them on the ground in an L-shape. Through the power of foam, old pillows from my parents, and scouring the Pier 1 sales (“where are your biggest, cheapest pillows? do you have more?”), we’re on our way. Now we just need to make one of the benches sit flat on the ground, and keep buying more cheap, giant pillows. Then we’ll have TWO couches, the bases of which we would have thrown away.
Would I have come to this idea if I had a car and could easily drive around, checking out Ikeas until satisfied? Maybe. But maybe not. So as of right now, I’m glad the loss of my station wagon prodded me into some design creativity.
In French class, I remember learning all the names of the different markets. There was the boulangerie, the fromagerie, the patîsserie. Naturally, I pictured myself walking with purposes between the different markets. I’d have a basket on my arm weighed down by fresh produce and a baguette, purchased from my different stops.
Without a car, I’m starting to realize my French class daydream. For a couple Saturdays, we’ve done a market-loop. All in all, the walk is only a couple miles, but it’s pleasant, and a good way to combine exercising with something that actually needs to get done (um, buying food).
The patented market-loop starts in either Little Ethiopia or at New India Sweets and Spices. There, we get giant bags of good, affordable spices. Usually we also get some dried or canned goods like chickpeas or kidney beans. More often than not, I find some sort of snack item that I get desperate for (Digestive crackers are SO reasonably-priced at New India Sweets and Spices). If we’re at New India Sweets and Spices, we also usually buy samosas when we check out, so we get a mid-market-loop samosa with tamarind chutney.
Next in the market-loop, we walk up Fairfax to Whole Foods. Whole Foods is the closest market to our apartment, but it’s still about a mile or so away. At Whole Foods, we get whatever we need for the week that we didn’t get at New India Sweets and Spices or in Little Ethiopia. We try to keep our Whole Foods shopping minimal since it’s pretty pricey.
From Whole Foods– the bags are usually pretty heavy by now– I make a quick stop at Chado to buy loose leaf tea. I’m kind of a tea addict, and since selling my car and walking to buy everything, Chado has become a weekly staple. Most of the time, I get about 2 or 3 oz of 4 or 5 different teas for about $10 or $15. 2 oz of tea yields about 20- 25 cups of tea. So I get about 100 cups of tea for $15. That’s a pretty good deal considering bagged teas often hover around $7 or $8 for 22 cups of tea (yes, I have obsessed over justifying my Chado purchases).
From there, we loop back to the apartment. All in all, it doesn’t take too long (okay, that depends on how involved with the snack items I get in New India Sweets and Spices)– probably about 2 or 3 hours tops. But it’s a good break in the day, and a nice way to fit in some exercise, all while doing a very necessary errand. And I get to turn the Miracle Mile into my own personal Paris.
I’ve realized that more than taking the bus everywhere, I’ve been walking. A lot. And although walking takes, um, longer than the bus to get somewhere, it definitely has its positives. For example:
–Less expensive. I’m not wasting gas driving somewhere within a mile or two.
–Better for the environment. See above. Also, no guilty feeling while driving of “I could have walked here. I could have walked here. Why didn’t I walk here?”
–Better for me. Since I’m not driving short distances, I’m getting quite a bit of exercise in. As I’ve mentioned, I’m pretty lazy. So not being able to drive to Trader Joe’s to get Tofutti Cuties? Probably good. Then, when I’m walking down Santa Monica Blvd, clutching a massive thing of toilet paper to my chest, and hoping my frozen treats don’t melt, I can think about all the exercise I’m getting WITHOUT EVEN MEANING TO. Then I can go home and sit, and read, and eat my Tofutti Cuties, and not have to do something like go to a gym. Or even think about going to a gym.
So during my absence the past few weeks, I got a comment with a couple questions.
Zbuckster asked: “Here’s what I want to know. Yes you may be able to get anywhere in LA using public transit, but does the hassle of several bus changes perhaps discourage you from going places? Please comment.”
My answer? Maybe. It depends. Basically, I can be really lazy. However, if there is somewhere I want to go, bus changes won’t stop me. In Portland, I often had to take 2 or more buses to get somewhere. Did that stop me from going? Not usually. If it’s somewhere I was looking for an excuse NOT to go to? Honestly? Probably.
So all in all, I would say driving and busing it are tied here. If you don’t want to go somewhere, you’re going to make excuses about not wanting to drive somewhere. If you don’t want to go somewhere, you can make the same excuses about not feeling like changing buses.
So, if you are like me and sometimes incredibly lazy, or looking for an excuse not to go somewhere: don’t worry. Busing it will not rob you of your “but that’s such an annoying drive” excuse.
It’s been a mixed bus day.
Recently, I’ve been having no trouble at all with the bus. Some stand-outs: the 218 (bus profile: cedars-sinai to studio city; cute, little, comfortable; looks like a rental car bus) can be late sometimes, but it’s quick and easy. The 720 (bus profile: Rapid; takes Wilshire for forever) is always crowded, but also prompt.
However, today, I was forced to review an old bus lesson. The 305 has become my holy grail bus. Quick walk from my apartment. Takes San Vicente to Sunset, with 3 stops in UCLA. Usually crowded, but there’s always a vacant seat. Good bus all in all. But, alas, today was not to be. Will had to be at UCLA at one. After we missed the 11:20 bus, we figured the 12:05 bus would be fine.
So we got to the bus stop at 11:50, just to be on the safe side, and waited.
And waited.
And waited.
The bus went Godot on us today. At 12:30, we gave up and walked to Trader Joe’s instead. Still not sure what happened (maybe something existential?). But I was reminded about the constraints of not having a car. As Will said as we left TJ’s, “I like not being a slave to a car, but being a slave to the city isn’t always great.” Too true. Too true.
However, post-walk to Trader Joe’s, we were rewarded with some good bus karma. The 105 came immediately and was a 5 minute ride back to the apartment. Quick, easy, comfortable. Hopefully tomorrow will be another gem of a bus karma day.
The street that I live on requires parking permits. So the one night that I had the Subaru in LA, I parked it on a pretty major street near my apartment. The next morning my boyfriend awoke at 7:50am to put money in the meter.
I awoke with quite a start when he came back in carrying a very confusing parking ticket. As two about-to-be-grad-students, money is pretty short. An unexpected $55 parking ticket (which we are contesting, but that’s irrelevant) is a major expense for us right now.
The night before I had been a bit wishy-washy about giving up my car. That morning however, I started to think even more about the money we would be saving without a car.
Zipcar has a calculator that shows you the price difference between owning a car and having a Zipcar membership. Even without factoring in the cost of tickets, I would be saving quite a bit. But now, annoyed with parking restrictions, I realized something else.
One thing I hated about owning a car was not knowing EXACTLY how much I would have to spend on transportation any given month. I could approximate gas, but I couldn’t guess if my alternator was going to make it through the month.
One thing that’s great about a bus pass is I know the exact cost for the month. Sure, I might use a Zipcar a couple times this month, or take a taxi once, but those costs would be minimal, much less than an unexpected $55 parking ticket. It makes it much easier to set up a budget for myself with less surprises. And I feel more confident adding in a little bit of wiggle room, since I know the wiggle room is closer to $20 than $300.
Now that I’m feeling impassioned, guess I should get back to contesting that parking violation.
1. Caltech Public Transit: Caltech has a GREAT public transit guide. The guide even has a link to Experience LA, an online resource that explains how to get to major attractions in LA via public transit. I also really like that they’ve included a bike map to LA. While I haven’t tried biking in LA yet, it’s something I’m interested in. In fact, this week or next, look for an interview with Zoë Buck about biking in LA!
2. Occidental College Public Transit: Well, to be honest, not a whole lot on this site. There is a bit of information about Oxy’s “Bengal Bus” shuttle service, but the information on LA public transit is pretty limited.
I figured it would be very helpful to have some links that would help with being carless (or at least car-lite) in LA:
1. Google Maps Public Transit feature: Google had a public transit feature for Portland and when apartment-hunting in LA, I spent a lot of time wishing they had one for LA too. They’ve recently added the feature and it’s AMAZING. All you do is type in 2 addresses to get directions. Then from the pull-down menu, choose “public transit” instead of “driving.” Then, Google gives you up to THREE options of public transit routes. It is the single most helpful resource I have found.
2. LA Metro website: LA Metro also has a trip planner. I find it not necessarily as useful as the Google one, since LA Metro seems to assume that you don’t want to walk at all. But it is also a great resource. The website also has maps of the LA Metro system, which are pretty cool to look at.
Helpful if you’re going to school:
Side Note: Taking the bus is always an affordable alternative, but if you are a student or can get a bus pass through your place of work, taking the bus is EVEN CHEAPER! You can get a three month bus pass for the LA Metro system for 50 dollars through UCLA. Compare that to 3 months worth of gas!
1. Ucla Public Transit: The UCLA transit website is actually really great. They have a list of all the bus systems in LA (yes, there are several different bus systems), and list student bus prices. There is also a Zipcar lot at UCLA (which I’ll talk about when I get my zipcar membership).
2. USC Public Transit: USC also has a transit website. Similar to the UCLA one, but with a focus on USC. USC also has a zipcar lot.
3. CSUN Public Transit: CSUN’s public transit page also includes a metrolink train how-to and information about rideshare.
4. CSULA Public Transit: CSULA offers tons of information. Not only do they note perks that employees who arrive at work before 11am and take public transit may receive, but they also include information about shuttles. The CSULA site also has some good information about the environmental effects of commuting.
Much of what I’ve seen so far about going carless in LA, makes it seem as though you have to be an elite public transit guru to get around. As if only if you can only get around if you have 25+ years and advanced degrees in public transit.
This, clearly, worried me. While I’m not completely baffled by public transit, I would never call myself an expert. In order to assuage any fears of not measuring up to the crème de la crème of public transit users, here is my public transit cv:
high school: subway from north hollywood to civic center about twice a week; bus rides from valley to ucla in summer [no transfers]; occasional bus rides down ventura blvd or subway rides to watts towers, hollywood highland, etc. Perhaps a “light” public transit user.
college: buses around Portland, OR; lightrail (the “Max,”– Oh Portland, how I miss your adorably named public transit) to airport, etc. Portland has a foolproof bus-system that I used pretty frequently. I’d say a “moderate” public transit user. However, Portland is a city of 500,000 vs LA’s 3.8 million. So the public transit is not as overwhelming upon first glance.
misc public transit experience: random public transit in cities I’ve visited. As I said, I didn’t grow up fluent in a public transit system like New York or London.
So all in all, a little spotty. Yes, I’ve had probably more public transit experience than the regular valley girl. Basically, all I’m saying is that I am by no means The Greatest Public Transit Hero of All Time. And I get lost constantly. As in driving from my parents’ house to my old high school. If I can navigate the bus system in LA, it really can’t be The World’s Most Complicated System as it’s made out to be.
Response to goldenbeauty’s comment.
1 Comment
Thanks for the comment goldenbeauty! Glad you’re a fan of the blog. Hope being carless is working out well for you.
Anyway, in response to your questions:
1. Public transit combos: bus + metro: I haven’t done the bus + metro combo since moving back. I did it occasionally in high school, but haven’t recently. I don’t live very close to a metro station, so it’s not in my daily public transit routine. That said, I am VERY much looking forward to the proposed Westside metro and hoping that it does appear before the proposed date of 2036.
I have done a two-bus combo a few times recently though. If possible, I prefer to walk a little farther instead of taking a second bus. But sometimes that isn’t possible, or I’m too lazy. Recently I took the 704 to the 720, getting from the Poquito Mas on Westwood and Olympic back home. It was a really easy transfer, and I got home pretty RAPIDly (sorry). The 704 was nowhere near as crowded as the 720, and it was nice to mix it up. Yesterday, I took the 218 over Laurel Canyon to the 750 down Ventura Blvd to Woodman. I also found that you can take the 240 down Ventura, so that was nice to know.
2. Are transfers worth it? Well, the buses don’t actually sell transfers anymore. So you have to pay separately for each bus you take. It’s $1.25/ride (unless you have a bus pass, obviously). Usually, it’s worth it if you don’t want to/can’t walk. On Google Maps, if you type in where you’re coming from and where you want to go, it will tell you how much the trip will cost in gas. More often than not if you’re taking two buses to get there, the gas cost is a lot more than $2.50.
3. Taxis? I really want to take one of these new, prominent taxis. I haven’t had the opportunity yet. But now that you’ve asked, I think for research’s sake, I’m going to have to try one out one night. Also an FYI: If you are in Beverly Hills, they only allow certain taxis to pick you up in Beverly Hills. Not sure about other areas, but something to keep in mind in Beverly Hills.
Tags: answers, bus transfer, bus-metro, car, car less, carless, comment, comment response, cost of owning a car, exercise, google maps, i walk in la, LA, la metro, laziness, lazy, los angeles, no car, questions, taxis, transfers, two-bus