Friday, January 20, 2006

The Subway and More

Not that it's anyone's business, but today I took the subway.

It was inconvenient, took almost twice as long had I used my car instead. And yet, I am still so very happy that I used the public transportation system that this city is trying to cobble together.

A very serious twenty minute walk is required to get from my house to the Red Line at Hollywood and Highland. It's a low uphill grade the whole way. The train does come with regular frequency. I took it three stops to Sunset and Vermont and then walked the ten minutes to where I was going on Hollywood Boulevard (a little music rehearsal, if anyone is asking).

After the rehearsal, I walked back to my house (3.8 miles).

I got so much exercise. I enjoyed taking public transportation instead of using my car.

Now I beg the city of Los Angeles, the State of California and the federal government: Please build monorails. La Brea, Fairfax, La Cienega, Olympic, Santa Monica Boulevard, Venice, Jefferson, Sepulveda, Moorpark, Hollywood Way, Laurel Canyon, PCH, and more. Just do it. Do it.

2 comments:

Rebecca Waring said...

They do rule when they are done well. We have one here and my experience with it is quite comparable to Don's. Except ours breaks down constantly. I work 20 miles from my home and it takes me an hour to drive, plus I have to pay $6 to park. The subway takes and hour and a half - unless it breaks down - and costs $8 round-trip, or $12 if I want to park my car at the station. I can walk to the station in 15 minutes. Oh and the other issue - the DC Metro makes me nauseous. Don't know what the diff is w/the NYC Subway, which I could ride comfortably. Bottom line - I usually drive. For some reason, they seem to do this public transportation thing so much better in Europe.

Todd HellsKitchen said...

I wish they would trash this idea of a Second Avenue subway in Manhattan and buid a cool sleak monorail instead... Digging through the bedrock under Manhattan is a costly and dangerous process....

Why not a Monorail that links to the crosstown buses and subways?

Even as a young child, I could never understand why they abolished street cars... They were cool, too...