incandragon

When we were in Los Angeles, we decided to take the bus to the Getty Villa. My mom is a big believer in public transportation. Los Angeles, alas, is not. Ebeeman says that she just caves and rents a car when she visits L.A. because the buses are unreliable, and the city is so spread out that shuttles or taxis can run over a hundred dollars to get to and back from some places.

But we didn't know that, and we asked for bus directions to the Villa. And we got them. And they were bad. It told us to get off at a stop that does not exist. That's unhelpful. It was an eighty-minute trip that included a bus change ... but we weren't told how long each leg might be. So we blithely got on and rode, and rode, and rode. We eventually panicked, and asked the bus driver when our exit was coming, and he told us ever so politely that we would not be in a pickle, now, if we'd told him where we wanted to go back when we got on.

In retrospect, I believe he lied. I think we needed to stay on that bus to the edge of the continent, and then turn right. Seriously. It would only have been another fifteen minutes.

As it was, we got in a taxi, which took us somewhere fifty bucks away. Which is not good, since I just looked up the Villa on Google Maps, and we were actually not that far away at all, and not in the direction that the taxi headed.

The takeaway, here, is that in Los Angeles, rent a car and own a GPS.

However, the good news is that on our interminable bus ride, I passed a sign that said "La Brea Tar Pit" and when I looked out the window, I saw a bubbling pit of tar. So, there was that goal, scritched off the list.

On October 1st, 2008 12:27 pm (UTC),

mouser commented:

The takeaway, here, is that in Los Angeles, rent a car and own a GPS.

Unless you know the area, definitely. Buses are "unreliable" because the area is so spread out. It's only a good thing if you've lots of time.

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On October 1st, 2008 12:45 pm (UTC),

j_cheney commented:

I got directions from the El person in Chicago, and ended up two miles from where I wanted to go. (The Field Museum) I only had to walk through the projects to get there. ;o)

I did for a while, but finally spotted a cabby who said..."Man, they just should have told you to take the bus. It goes right there."

Yeah, he was right. I took the bus right back to my hotel....

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On October 1st, 2008 03:14 pm (UTC),

texanfan commented:

Hey, at least you saw the Tar Pits. Even better, you spoke the same language as the bus driver. :)

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On October 1st, 2008 05:52 pm (UTC), (Anonymous) commented:

unreliable LA busses/buses/busi

And if you do travel by bus and get a day pass it might not be good for another bus because all of the vehicles are not of the same company.

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On October 1st, 2008 06:10 pm (UTC),

incandragon replied:

Re: unreliable LA busses/buses/busi

Hmm. You're Mr. Unsigned, so I don't know if you KNOW that happened to us ... but it happened to us. My mom just refused to pay.

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On October 2nd, 2008 08:34 pm (UTC), (Anonymous) commented:

Next up: Hitchhiking to Carnegie Hall

Yeah, as I recall the Getty is a little northish up the PCH. It's also fairly high-brow. You may well have been the first human beings in the history of LA public transportation to ever try to find it...

If you'd had the time you could've cut your losses and just gone to the Tar Pits. It's a pretty cool little museum. Sabertooth tigers and dire wolf skeletons galore. And I seem to remember a bear roughly the size of a Winnebago. I guess that's not exactly a mom-and-daughter thing, though. Brian probably would've liked it if he'd been there.

Sincerely,
The panhandler on the corner of Braker and 183, Wednesdays from 2:00-6:00 (I need to build up seniority before I can get a lunch shift)

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La Brea Tar Pit & the Bus Ride to ...?

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11:00 pm 9/30/08 6 comments Leave a comment	incandragon When we were in Los Angeles, we decided to take the bus to the Getty Villa. My mom is a big believer in public transportation. Los Angeles, alas, is not. Ebeeman says that she just caves and rents a car when she visits L.A. because the buses are unreliable, and the city is so spread out that shuttles or taxis can run over a hundred dollars to get to and back from some places. But we didn't know that, and we asked for bus directions to the Villa. And we got them. And they were bad. It told us to get off at a stop that does not exist. That's unhelpful. It was an eighty-minute trip that included a bus change ... but we weren't told how long each leg might be. So we blithely got on and rode, and rode, and rode. We eventually panicked, and asked the bus driver when our exit was coming, and he told us ever so politely that we would not be in a pickle, now, if we'd told him where we wanted to go back when we got on. In retrospect, I believe he lied. I think we needed to stay on that bus to the edge of the continent, and then turn right. Seriously. It would only have been another fifteen minutes. As it was, we got in a taxi, which took us somewhere fifty bucks away. Which is not good, since I just looked up the Villa on Google Maps, and we were actually not that far away at all, and not in the direction that the taxi headed. The takeaway, here, is that in Los Angeles, rent a car and own a GPS. However, the good news is that on our interminable bus ride, I passed a sign that said "La Brea Tar Pit" and when I looked out the window, I saw a bubbling pit of tar. So, there was that goal, scritched off the list.
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