Is it absolutely necessary to have a car in LA?

[MB8abovetherim]

Originally Posted by davect1

I started a thread JUST like this before moving to LA. I ended up selling my car and my boyfriend never had one. There are a growing number of people who live here without cars. I recommend living in Hollywood/West Hollywood or certain safe areas of Downtown if you want to be able to walk a lot. And make sure to live near work.

It's nowhere near NY in public transit, but it works. Supposedly LA has the largest bus system in the country, but it's a very spread out city. There are plenty of places that will take you forever to get to on the bus, but usually they aren't places you'd want to go.

Also, the must-have-a-car crowd on this website were VERY close-minded and downright wrong about LA. Listen to people who have given public transit a chance, whether they've had a good experience or not.

I don't have a car and I've been everywhere in LA. Los Angeles has an Amazing bus system, go downtown and you'll be able to see convoys of them. Between Foothill Transit, LADOT, Metro Local and Metro Rapid I counted 11 buses at an intersection once....it had to have been Broadway/6th or something...

Anyway, the Redline is very useful though limited. If only the Purple line actually extended further than a few blocks it would be great

The Blue Line is great, though it does go through some shady neighborhoods. The Green line is good, and oh I don't know...maybe someday if we all cross our fingers it might ACTUALLY GO TO THE AIRPORT!

And perhaps the best thing is Zipcar. I love it! It makes those trips that would otherwise be inconvenient on PT enjoyable. All in all, LA gets a bad reputation (on just about everything...) for it's public transport. Give it a chance people! you might be surprised

[ducviloxi]

Is it necessary...well, it takes me 30 minutes to drive to work in traffic (a distance of about 10 miles in Orange County), so for the fun of it I used LA Metro Home to see how long it would take me by bus, estimated time 2 hours and 8 minutes and I had to change 3 buses...so you decide if a car is necessary or not

In my opinion public transport is virtually non-existent in the LA region, my opinion is based on experience with other major world cities like New York, London, Paris, Tokyo etc. where there are subway stations virtually on every block corner and trains every 5-10 minutes going virtually anywhere you want to go.

The morons that run this state want to build bullet trains to nowhere but they will not fund infrastructure development that can actually make a big difference. To convince people to switch from using cars to public transport you have to satisfy four main goals - it has to be less expensive (subsidized) than driving, has to be reliable/consistent, has to be efficient timewise and easily accessible.

[TurcoLoco]

I don't think it is necessary if you have a personal helicopter or if you can actually fly (red cape, red boots, etc.).
For short trips, public transportation, though cumbersome at times, would suffice.

[munchitup]

Originally Posted by ducviloxi

Is it necessary...well, it takes me 30 minutes to drive to work in traffic (a distance of about 10 miles in Orange County), so for the fun of it I used LA Metro Home to see how long it would take me by bus, estimated time 2 hours and 8 minutes and I had to change 3 buses...so you decide if a car is necessary or not

In my opinion public transport is virtually non-existent in the LA region, my opinion is based on experience with other major world cities like New York, London, Paris, Tokyo etc. where there are subway stations virtually on every block corner and trains every 5-10 minutes going virtually anywhere you want to go.

The morons that run this state want to build bullet trains to nowhere but they will not fund infrastructure development that can actually make a big difference. To convince people to switch from using cars to public transport you have to satisfy four main goals - it has to be less expensive (subsidized) than driving, has to be reliable/consistent, has to be efficient timewise and easily accessible.

Last time I checked Orange County and Whittier are not in Los Angeles. I'd love to see how long it takes to get from one suburb to another in Chicago or NY on their trains/buses.

Before you get angry at our state lawmakers, you should probably realize the real culprits behind the lack of funding for PT in LA are located in the House of Representatives in Washington DC.