MetroRiderLA

Image courtesy of femaletrumpet02 via Flickr.

Today on the LA Times Daily Travel & Deal Blog there was a post asking, “In California, is it cheaper to drive or fly?” According the the author, if you’re going to San Francisco it’s cheaper to fly and if you’re going to Las Vegas it’s cheaper to drive. Of course, the author ignores other modes of travel to those two cities that may be cheaper, namely taking a bus (either Megabus or Greyhound).MetroRiderLA is going to give you the information that the LA Times neglected in order to help you find the cheapest way to appease your wanderlust.

San Francisco

In the spirit of Wad’s Bay Area transit adventures, we’ll start with a trip to San Francisco. According the the L.A. Times Travel blog, flying is the way to go if you’re looking to save money. Total flight cost, when taking advantage of a Southwest Airlines sale, is $109. Driving will cost you $129 round trip. And what about the missing element? A trip on the Megabus, booking tickets at the last minute, will cost you $73. The Greyhound will set you back $88.

If you’re looking to save money on a trip to San Fran, riding the bus is clearly the way to go.

Las Vegas

You may be a high roller, but you’d rather spend your cash on the slots rather than the ride. The LA Times Travel blog says you should consider driving if you want to get to Vegas on the cheap. Putting the pedal to the metal will cost you $87. If you hop on a cheap Jet Blue flight, you can get to The Strip for $113. Of course, if you’re a real bargain traveler I’d recommend the Megabus, at $62 for a round trip ticket, you can afford to take some risks in Vegas. The Greyhound clocks in at $85.

Of course, if you’re traveling with a group, driving may turn out to be the best deal because costs can be shared. That is unless you and your friends manage to nab some of those $1 seats on the Megabus.

From Metro:

Share your ideas for funding transit at the next live chat, noon to 1 p.m. Wednesday, Jan. 23. Tell Metro Board Chair and Santa Monica City Council Member Pam O’Connor where you think the money should come from to pay for future transit projects and keep the system running. Should it be a half cent sales tax? Public/private partnerships? Parking fees? Toll roads? Or something entirely different? Talk to the Metro Board Chair live today by going to metro.net/chat.

The BusTard over at The Bus Bench blog deserves a MetroRider Award of Blogging Excellence for reporting on the most glaring example of Metro’s inability to hold together even the most basic elements of their rag-tag transit system. Anyone who has ever descended into or ascended out of a Red Line station knows that, more often than not, the escalators do not work. They are either not moving, blocked off, or completely ripped out as men in jump suits tweak around parts of an escalator normal citizens are never supposed to see.

The thing is, most of us, in our complacency and relative good health, just pass it off as an annoying example of bureaucratic ineptitude and continue on up the stairs. The Bus Bench isn’t having that any longer, and with its nearly daily video reports of out-of-order Metro escalators, it’s shedding a very bright light on that bureaucratic ineptitude that has long been ignored.

The results are almost humorous in the fact that in the first 15 days of the year, not a day has gone by without a broken escalator. In fact, January 15th set a record with five escalators out between Westlake/McArthur Park, 7th Street Metro Center, and Pershing Square. Those are three consecutive stations. Insane!

For more information about the times/shifts of each location check out the the strike information at the WGA site.

Monday Jan. 14th

Warner Bros. Studios
4000 Warner Boulevard
Burbank, CA 91522

Metro: 155, 292 (get off Hollywood Way, walk south to Olive, walk west on Olive to the studio)

NBC Studios
3000 W Alameda Ave
Burbank, CA

Metro: 155, 292 (get off at Olive) 96 (get off at Olive)

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For the past three+ months Los Angeles has nearly come to a complete production halt costing the city of Los Angeles hundreds of millions of dollars. Now there are some pluses to such a halt in that the roads are much less congested and my bus time to work has been nearly halved since the beginning of the writers’ strike. But aside from this and the cancellation of the circle jerk… err, the Golden Globe Awards, there aren’t any more. Now I’m not going to tell anyone which side one should or shouldn’t take but if you do side with the writers then here’s how to support them– by public transit of course.

Seeing as all the protests (the classic sign in hand kind) are near the studios to which the WGA is protesting, parking will be atrocious unless you have access to said studio lots/buildings. Therefore, to help you avoid the crisis of parking and to help save your energy that would be wasted on yelling at other drivers, here’s a quick guide on where the protests are and which transit lines get you there. And remember to check back every week with the new list on where the strikers will be and how to get there by public transit.

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The North San Diego County Transit District has put off the opening of its light rail line, Sprinter, originally scheduled for this Sunday. No start-up date has been announced.

Some of the final touches, such as parking lot striping, are not complete. The California Public Utilities Commission still has not given the OK on the line’s safety measures.

See also:

• San Diego Union-Tribune: Sprinter rail service won’t start on Sunday (brief)
• North County Times: Sprinter start may be pushed back again