Commuting Sentences

Old habits die hard. And so, when I moved to Los Angeles recently after a 15-year career as a straphanger in New York and, more recently, Moscow, I decided to give public transit a try here as well.

Don’t misunderstand. I’m a native Californian: I like to drive. But, arriving here without a car, I couldn’t abide the thought of buying two at once, and since my wife’s need for one seemed to outweigh mine, we decided that I’d get to work via the MTA, at least for now.

But why do I have to defend myself? I’ll come right out and say it: I like public transportation. I like to read; I like to rub shoulders with my fellow citizens; I like the idea of contributing to a cleaner environment.

But, man, I’m starting to hate those MTA buses.

Here’s the commute: At 8 a.m., I walk out of my house, near Olympic and La Cienega, and stroll to Wilshire Boulevard. The walk takes about eight minutes.

At Wilshire, I hop on a bus and open the morning paper. On days when the stars are properly aligned and the bus gods are smiling, I get to the Metro’s Red Line station at Wilshire and Western about 15 minutes later.

I bound down the steps to the subway, and get whisked away to the Civic Center station, a block from the Times building downtown. This part of the trip, on clean, comfortable trains, takes 10 minutes. Ideally, I arrive at my desk in just under 40 minutes.

There haven’t been many days like that.

More commonly, I get to Wilshire and wait 10 minutes or so for a bus. As it rattles and lurches down the street, I try desperately to read, but find the words jiggling into mush. (In fairness, some buses are smoother than others.)

I arrive at the Red Line station only to hear the dreaded sound of a train whooshing away. It’s a 10- to 12-minute wait for the next one.

The waiting adds 20 minutes, sometimes more, to the commute. On the worst day, on my return trip home, I waited half an hour for a train--there was some sort of mechanical problem--and then had to wait 20 minutes for a bus. That turned a 40-minute commute into a 90-minute one, and made me seriously consider the wisdom of my choice.

Certainly, compared to other cities, commuting by public transit in Los Angeles can be trying. In Moscow, I rarely waited more than two or three minutes for a subway at rush hour (I also rarely got a seat). New York’s subway was less reliable, but in either city I could get almost anywhere by subway, as fast or faster than by car.

Public transit here has a long way to go. Fortunately, I don’t, and for my relatively short commute, I’ll take the MTA.

Distance: 8.5 miles

Time: 40-90 minutes, average of about 50 Cost: $2.30 roundtrip (Metro tokens and transfers)