Red Line, Blue Line, Bus Line--It's All Online

Red Line, Blue Line, Bus Line--It’s All Online

By RICHARD SIMON

Dec. 13, 1996 12 AM PT

TIMES STAFF WRITER

Trying to figure out how to get to Asuza by bus? Or find out how to get around Paris by subway?

You can hop on the information superhighway for help in navigating the asphalt highway.

A wide array of transportation information is available online, from tips on bicycle commuting, to bus and train schedules, to descriptions of the cars that police drive throughout the country so that you can slow down in time.

If you want to ride public transit, you can punch in your starting point, destination and departure time and find out what bus to take and where to catch it. Or if you want to drive yourself and don’t know the way, you can get a map with directions and an estimated travel time.

All that information is in addition to what’s available from Web sites--reported in earlier Street Smarts--where you can survey maps for up-to-the-minute information on Southern California freeway conditions or find out about speed traps.

The Southern California Rideshare page, operated by the organization responsible for promoting carpooling, also offers tips for reducing driving stress, such as--surprise--”Join a carpool and relax while someone else does the driving.” You can register online for a carpool partner, or a biking buddy if you want to pedal to work.

The Southern California Transit Information Page offers information on bus service from Santa Monica to West Covina.

The Los Angeles rail transit page offers routes and schedules on the Los Angeles region’s expanding rail system, including the Red Line subway. You can even find trivia: “The Red Line was featured in the movies ‘Lethal Weapon 3,’ ‘Speed’ and ‘Strange Days.’ ”

The Subway Navigator page guides you around the rail system in Los Angeles and other cities. You fill in your departure point and destination, and the navigator tells you which line to take, where to transfer and even estimates your travel time. You also can view maps of subway systems around the world and a photo essay of New York City subway graffiti on the Subway Page. The Cop Car Registry describes the kind of police cars used in cities nationwide. “Simply find the states you will travel through on your next road trip and find out what will be hunting for you as you fly along in the fast lane at 80 mph,” the page says.

But not everything may be accurate. A Huntington Beach police spokesman insisted that the department does not have a Corvette, as the page claims. The San Jose Police Department has a blue-and-white Corvette, seized from drug dealers, but uses it only for talks at schools.

And throughout the World Wide Web are pages portraying future transportation systems, from automated highways, monorails and high-speed trains to something called the People Pod, a one-or two-passenger, computer-operated vehicle that would run up to 100 mph on guideways.

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Web Sites

Here are World Wide Web sites for transportation information:

Yahoo!-Transportation

https://la.yahoo.com/transportation

Southern California Rideshare

https://www.scag.ca.gov/commute/

Southern California Transit Info:

https://socaltip.lerctr.org/index.shtml

Cop Car Registry

https://www.speedtrap.com/speedtrap/copcars/

L.A. Rail Transit