[Tek_Freek]

Originally Posted by lvmensch

Don't confuse me with facts?

the one i find striking is these guys who come up on the freeway 20 or 30 mph faster than the flow and then try and wiggle through the traffic ahead. Almost appears they are playing some game. I have not seen that in LA though the traffic may always be heavy enough that it is not possible to move much above the flow.

I'm stating facts. No confusion here.

[aswontsp]

You know what strikes me most about drivers in this city? They are so polite. For example, if you get to a 4 way intersection, someone is always waving you the right-away and most everyone else waves a "thank you" with a smile when you let them go. Often times I find myself in a fighting match with a person at an intersection over who should actually go first! I'm telling you, the drivers in this city exude pure class and have manners unlike anything I have seen elsewhere in this country. Las Vegas actually does feel like this "small town" that it really is.

[lvmensch]

Originally Posted by tijlover

With all the light rail and subway in the L.A. area today, along with the 2nd best bus system in the country, why would anyone torture themselves and take a vacation to L.A. via car?

Fly to LAX, take the Green Line Shuttle to the Aviation stop on the Green Line, get your $7 TAP card, good for 24 hours of transportation on all the trains and buses, and enjoy your trip!

Before long the Crenshaw line will come into LAX and the Purple Line will be completed, running under Wilshire to UCLA, and they have extended the Expo line to downtown Santa Monica.

The ridership in LA is something like 7% and declining. 75% drive by themselves to work.

When they killed the street cars in the 60s they sealed the doom of transit there.

[tijlover]

Originally Posted by lvmensch

The ridership in LA is something like 7% and declining. 75% drive by themselves to work.

When they killed the street cars in the 60s they sealed the doom of transit there.

You're talking work commuters, and driving a car, in itself, is a lot of work. So why go all through that work when you can let someone else do the driving for you? Trains/buses come by every 15 minutes.

[lvmensch]

Originally Posted by tijlover

You're talking work commuters, and driving a car, in itself, is a lot of work. So why go all through that work when you can let someone else do the driving for you? Trains/buses come by every 15 minutes.

And as I think I have told you before you are missing the arrival of the autonomous vehicle. My guess is the jitney bus becomes the vehicle of choice. Anywhere you got trolley tracks you make it into a jitney road.

Unless you have the density and infrastructure of NYC you go that route. Small vehicles under a dozen people with variable routing.

And note that AV jitneys will be able to haul more people than a train. You simply run them nose to tail in a continuous set.

[jet757f]

Originally Posted by lvmensch

We did what some would claim is the world's worst commute for 20 years. Basically El Segundo near LAX to Orange County down the San Diego Fwy (405) . The Admiral's Alante had a phone and an early GPS tracker so I could rescue her if she got caught in a rainy night in Long Beach.

Got badly smashed once. Got rear ended in the regular slow down at the Harbor by a guy looking at the Goodyear blimp instead of the road. Brand new Toyota totaled as was my Ambassador station wagon. Walked away eventually though my legs were paralyzed for 4 or 5 minutes by the whiplash.

Other than that never so much as a scrape. Actually did most of it in a corporate car pool.

I work at LAX and have done the same commute for over 30 yrs. The traffic was never a problem when I first started doing it and got off work at 2pm. Now it gets worse every year. Rush hour seems to start earlier than 2pm these days. Bumper to bumper for most of the drive even with no accidents. Now with the cellphones and carpool lanes there are constant accidents. You can never take your eyes off the road for even a second because things stop very quickly.

[lvmensch]

Originally Posted by jet757f

I work at LAX and have done the same commute for over 30 yrs. The traffic was never a problem when I first started doing it and got off work at 2pm. Now it gets worse every year. Rush hour seems to start earlier than 2pm these days. Bumper to bumper for most of the drive even with no accidents. Now with the cellphones and carpool lanes there are constant accidents. You can never take your eyes off the road for even a second because things stop very quickly.

I likely started before you. Actually lived right off the 605/405 junction. That is I believe about the biggest interchange in existence. Something like 12 or 14 lanes. Fun to watch some days. We lived there first in the early 70s...went back east for a few years and then ended up there again in the late 70s. Came to Vegas in 96. At this point we will not leave except as ashes. My controller for many years lived in Irvine. He came in before 6AM and left at 2:30 or 7PM. The Executive staff was flexible as long as everything got done. We all lived on airplanes so attendance at the office was flexible.

And by the way there were some great drivers on that commute. Saw a number of incidents where only great driving prevented the loss of life. Even the time I was hit I think I saved all our lives. Saw him coming before he realized it and dived for the shoulder. Got hit good including taking off both driver side doors when he hit me. But my gas tank stayed in though just barely. Ended up orthogonal to the freeway blocking two lanes with no door on the driver side and engine in full race. Had to turn off the ignition as I could not get my foot off the gas.

[JonathanLB]

Originally Posted by tijlover

You're talking work commuters, and driving a car, in itself, is a lot of work. So why go all through that work when you can let someone else do the driving for you? Trains/buses come by every 15 minutes.

Hahaha in 15 minutes you’d already be where you want to go sometimes! Public transit on the West Coast is for poor people bottom line. It’s not a thing here and the city planners need to forget about it. We’ll have self driving cars for everyone very soon, sooner than you could “fix” public transit, which will become even more pointless.

[Tek_Freek]

Originally Posted by aswontsp

You know what strikes me most about drivers in this city? They are so polite. For example, if you get to a 4 way intersection, someone is always waving you the right-away and most everyone else waves a "thank you" with a smile when you let them go. Often times I find myself in a fighting match with a person at an intersection over who should actually go first! I'm telling you, the drivers in this city exude pure class and have manners unlike anything I have seen elsewhere in this country. Las Vegas actually does feel like this "small town" that it really is.

This I agree with. Happens all the time.

[Tek_Freek]

Driving north on Town Center South of Summerlin parkway to day. Light went yellow as I was in the interchange. A car at least 1/2 block behind me went right through the red light.

Every day...