IS the LA subway system up the to point where I can go anywhere to the city with it? (Los Angeles: fit in, transplants)

[SandyCo]

A "line" is the light rail or subway. A "transitway" is a dedicated bus line that doesn't have to share its route with other vehicles.

[Dangerous-Boy]

Originally Posted by King0fthehill

^^ It'll look like this in 3 years:

so that will cover most of the city once completed? it's looks sort of like septa in philly.

[CESpeed]

This will still not cover L.A. It would only service white collar workers from the Valley and West L.A to downtown LA so they don't have to drive into Downtown. In the meantime, the janitors, maids, busboys and other minimum wage workers will be tuck with substandard bus service because all of MTA's focus is on the rail system.

[EscapeCalifornia]

Originally Posted by Dangerous-Boy

so that will cover most of the city once completed? it's looks sort of like septa in philly.

That's sort of like saying the interstates cover most of the country. They do, but there's still lots of spaces in between. You'll still have to get that last few miles from wherever the rail line goes to wherever you actually want to be.

[Dangerous-Boy]

What about commuter or regional rail like septa regional or njtransit rail? i don't expect the rail to cover the whole city. Just enough so I can walk it. the main purpose of rail to for people to get from home to work and get the cars off the street.

[timelesschild]

No, you can't walk it. It just isn't like other cities. If you are fortunate (or well-planned) enough that all your destinations are within a mile of one or another train station, you can walk it. The trains are great, just not enough of them. There is waaaaaay more than a mile between rail-served areas. If you look at a real street map, like the Thomas guide, this begins to become clear. The rail lines are marked on the Thomas guide.

The buses are sketchy by all accounts, although some bus lines are better than others.

Apparently, if you budget plenty of time, you can achieve travel all over the city via mass transit. The problem arises if you have to be somewhere on time.

Again, if you can arrange your life such that your home and work are within a walk of a train station, it's doable. Otherwise, not.

HTH...

[calipoppy]

One suggestion for anyone planning a trip to LA....

RENT A CAR

[CESpeed]

I strongly second this suggestion.

[the one]

thats not what it will be like in 3 years. the sub to the sea is years away. the ontario extension i hope is not prioritized anytime soon. and missing is the possible crenshaw corridor line.
LA has a long way to go in terms of public trans. the rails are great, and so are the rapid lines but the regular bus lines are not. problem is that the priority is not on the economic back bone of los angeles like CESpeed said. the rails are being added in order to make living in the west side "nice" or living in pasadena "urban experience". its not about necessity its about luxury. an example of that is the fact that the silly lil pasadena gold line was built years before the east la section of it. it sould have been the east LA gold line first then maybe some rail in pasadena. but other areas south and east of downtown, which are already densely populated, poor and trans dependant, should be prioritized. will this happen? probably not.

[LASam]

^ I don't see a subway to the sea on that map... I see the Expo Line phase 1 which opens in 2010. Then I see a planned extension for it.