Northridge Public Transportation (Los Angeles, Riverside, Glendale: transfer, school, bus)

[antialphabet]

How well connected is the Northridge area as far as public transportation? Specifically, down to the Metro Station in North Hollywood? How difficult is it too make that trip down to North Hollywood? Time, number of transfers, etc.

I have a car, but I'm under the impression that Northridge is pretty isolated, and far from everything.

[zenkonami]

I'd love to hear some other opinions on this, as my fiancee attends CSUN and would far prefer public transit if there was a speedy, efficient way of getting there. I think we worked out that the bus was the cheapest route, and even that required one or two transfers (assuming departure from the North Hollywood Metro station.) Takes her 20 minutes to drive there, but I think the bus schedule came out to over an hour. Not really acceptable given that she also works on top of school.

I think bus to Metrolink was also an option but a sloppy one that actually wound up taking even longer (total trip time) and costing more.

Personally, I don't know why the Metro doesn't run all the way up to Burbank Airport...except that maybe they are worried about Air Traffic and airport capacity (it would take about 20 minutes to get to Hollywood if that was the case, without a car...and only about 30 minutes to downtown L.A.)

If our research has been faulty, please someone let us know!

[antialphabet]

Originally Posted by zenkonami

I'd love to hear some other opinions on this, as my fiancee attends CSUN and would far prefer public transit if there was a speedy, efficient way of getting there. I think we worked out that the bus was the cheapest route, and even that required one or two transfers (assuming departure from the North Hollywood Metro station.) Takes her 20 minutes to drive there, but I think the bus schedule came out to over an hour. Not really acceptable given that she also works on top of school.

I think bus to Metrolink was also an option but a sloppy one that actually wound up taking even longer (total trip time) and costing more.

Personally, I don't know why the Metro doesn't run all the way up to Burbank Airport...except that maybe they are worried about Air Traffic and airport capacity (it would take about 20 minutes to get to Hollywood if that was the case, without a car...and only about 30 minutes to downtown L.A.)

If our research has been faulty, please someone let us know!

I don't think the MTA.net information is too accurate. I've heard a lot of different numbers. I haven't had the chance to try it out myself.

[antialphabet]

bump

[King0fthehill]

Car is your best bet.

New Yorkers need to stop coming here and expecting comprehensive, effective mass transit! Outside of the Ktown/Hollywood/DTLA nexus (and a few other locales; Old Town Pasadena, the urbanized part of LB, etc) , mass transit in Los Angeles leaves a lot to be desired.

[antialphabet]

Originally Posted by King0fthehill

Car is your best bet.

New Yorkers need to stop coming here and expecting comprehensive, effective mass transit! Outside of the Ktown/Hollywood/DTLA nexus (and a few other locales; Old Town Pasadena, the urbanized part of LB, etc) , mass transit in Los Angeles leaves a lot to be desired.

Yeah, I know how bad transit is, but I had heard that the valley was a little better connected by bus than other areas. With the Orange Line and what have you.
I guess I thought it'd make sense to have a lot of connections to the only Red Line stop in the valley.

[Kymberleigh Richards]

CSUN is building a transit center which is expected to be in use by the end of 2010. Metro has already announced their intention to route several bus lines (including the Reseda Blvd. Rapid Line 741) there beginning in mid-December, and LADOT has also said they will reroute the DASH Northridge circulator through there.

Rapid 741 takes less than 15 minutes to get to CSUN from the Reseda Orange Line station.

[missionhome]

Metro Rapid 741 from Cal State Northridge to Reseda Orange Line Station is 15 minutes.
Orange Line Transitway from Reseda Orange Line Station to Northridge Orange Line Station is 25 minutes.

That is the fastest route.

[Kymberleigh Richards]

Originally Posted by antialphabet

I guess I thought it'd make sense to have a lot of connections to the only Red Line stop in the valley.

Actually, there are two Red Line stations in the Valley, and both have a fair amount of connections to/from them:
Universal City Station:
Line 96 provides connections to the Burbank Media District, downtown Burbank, and Sherman Oaks along Riverside Dr. Line 155 also connects to the Burbank destinations along a different route, on weekdays only.
Line 750 provides Rapid (limited-stop) service along Ventura Blvd. all the way west to Warner Center. Local Line 150 duplicates that route and Line 240 duplicates Line 150 as far as Tarzana and then turns up Reseda Blvd. as far as Devonshire.
Line 156 operates along Ventura Blvd. (a block away) through the Cahuenga Pass.
Line 224 operates north from that station along Lankershim Blvd.

North Hollywood Station:
Besides the aforementioned Orange Line to/from Warner Center, Line 224 on Lankershim also serves this station. So does Line 156.
Line 152 operates via Vineland Ave. and Roscoe Blvd. all the way across the Valley from here. At rush-hour, Line 353 duplicates the route west of Lankershim and operates limited-stop (which means it only makes stops at streets with connecting cross-direction service). Line 363 does the same thing during rush-hour, but on Sherman Way instead of Roscoe.
Line 154 operates between Tarzana and Burbank, weekdays-only, primarily on Oxnard St. and Burbank Blvd., and deviates to/from NoHo Station. Similarly, Line 183 on Magnolia Blvd. between Sherman Oaks and Burbank makes a deviation to connect with the Red Line seven days a week.
LADOT's Line 549 Commuter Express (weekday rush-hours) between Encino and the Burbank Media District, downtown Glendale, and downtown Pasadena also has a stop at NoHo Station.
Santa Clarita Line 757 operates from that city to/from NoHo Station seven days a week, all day.
Burbank Bus runs peak-hour service between NoHo Station and various destinations in their city. (They don't have route numbers.)

Is that enough connections for you?