Tell me about living in Escondido: UPDATE: Completed our move, now living here

[FiredMissiles]

Besides the transit, how are you finding Escondido? I'm looking for an apartment but I'm centered in Carlsbad and Vista at the moment.

[Those Who Squirm]

(5) I've noticed that the trend in suburban commuter/intercity bus transport is towards curbside pickups and away from old fashioned bus terminals like Manhattan's notorious Port Authority Bus Terminal, which the curmudgeon Paul Fussell once called the "locus of every vice, menace, and outrage". While this trend does have the advantage of eliminating the unsavory bus station experience, it also eliminates the experiences of an information counter, ticket windows, a place to sit while waiting, and signs telling you where exactly you need to board the bus. As it happened I needed to be across Broadway from the Santa Fe station, which is not entirely self evident. I might have reasonably assumed that the train station was the last downtown stop before heading north again, in which case you'd expect the stop to be on the north side of Broadway.

[Those Who Squirm]

Originally Posted by FiredMissiles

Besides the transit, how are you finding Escondido? I'm looking for an apartment but I'm centered in Carlsbad and Vista at the moment.

Hi, sorry I missed this! I think we cross posted.

We're very happy here, thought still not quite used to the hot summer which seems to be about 10 1/2 months long. It'd be nice to be closer to the ocean but we know from experience that this usually brings about more noise, traffic, and lights at all hours. And since Escondido is a small, mostly safe city, there's not nearly as much exterior lighting in the residential sections. At our last place in L.A., the building across had such bright lights that we could read a newspaper in our bedroom with the blinds down and the lights off.

If you can afford it I'd choose Carlsbad. Vista doesn't seem to have a "there" there.

Every time we go back to L.A. the happier we are to be gone. We made a lot of progress on smog during most of my adult life, and I've always been quick to point this out to detractors. But the past couple of times we've been back, it's started looking like the 1960s and 70s again, with the ugly orange brown miasma obscuring the mountains. It's really depressing, and I don't know what's been happening recently to cause this.

[kettlepot]

Originally Posted by Those Who Squirm

(3) It's unfortunate that the transit stations couldn't have been designed so that buses wouldn't have to completely exit the freeway. The stations I saw were mostly right next to the freeway, which helps, but it still takes time for the bus to turn off, make the stop, and then get back on the road. Every turn a bus has to make costs time. I've seen other HOV-lane BRT routes where the passenger, so to speak, is require to meet the bus halfway where the bus pulls off into a bus-bulb area right by the road.

By 2017, the El Cajon Boulevard and University Avenue stops of the 235 will be in center lane pockets on the freeway itself. There will be no more exiting the freeway, waiting for the local streetlights to cycle through and entering back on the freeway.

As for local running, the Clairemont Mesa Boulevard stops will serve a hospital that's being built near the I-15 and the City's Metropolitan Operations Center, near the 163. It's an inconvenience to a direct route to downtown, but both of those are major destinations and too many potential riders to pass up.

[Those Who Squirm]

Originally Posted by Those Who Squirm

(4) The 280 is much, much better from my perspective, as there is just one stop (Del Lago) between Escondido and DTSD. I was also very impressed with the bus itself, which is a typical intercity coach minus the bathroom. I wish it ran all day in both directions, but at least with jury duty I'll be keeping a regular commuting schedule so it'll work.

ETA: Correction: The 280 does make several downtown stops, but once it gets to the 163 there is only the one stop at Del Lago