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Having driven extensively in LA and in east coast cities, I completely disagree. LA does have traffic at all times and outside rush hour. We don't have bridges and tunnels but we do have traffic at all times. Not 24 hours a day, but maybe 19 hours a day.
Also in my experience, LAs more congested areas (Hollywood, West LA, mid-city,etc) the surface street traffic is worse than DC. Worse than almost anywhere except NY. And NY isn't bad all of the time either. It's worse than LA overall, but I can also often drive around the metro off peak with little traffic. It just depends on when and where.
Yea, there are probably just too many variables to really compare the two. Both are so large and you have so many different ways of experiencing or not experiencing traffic.
Let’s just say they both suck traffic wise, but I personally like both cities a lot.
Bottom line is both LA and NYC are congested - they are major population centers, so comes with the territory. Globally, their infrastructure differs immensely, LA is dependent on freeways for mobility, while NYC is more dependent on trains and mass transit.
In some ways I would say LA has worse traffic, the sheer volume of traffic on the freeways in LA is nothing short of impressive and one could experience congestion at all hours of the day. On the other I wouldn't say it is worse, I believe street traffic around New York is on a whole other level from LA. Double parking is rampant, aggressive cabbies are everywhere (both yellow cabs and livery cars), you can't turn right on red (adding to congestion) and intersections generally lack lots of the modern conveniences of LA streets, such as left hand turn lanes with separated signal lights. I've also been stuck in literally standstill gridlock traffic at 4am in New York, something I haven't experienced in LA.
Regardless, both are congested and neither should be particularly proud of it.
Living in LA and having been to (and sat in ridiculous traffic in) many of the other large cities mentioned, I think they are in many ways apples and oranges.
I've been to New York (well, manhattan at least), and I wouldn't even bother driving there except when leaving the city for vacations or something. The streets are narrow and all the crazy stuff brought up before is true (and I was only there a few days!). San Francisco bay area has a few spots that remind me of the worst of LA (like crossing the Bay bridge at rush hour...or ever). Rush hour out of Phoenix can get pretty bad as well.
But here's the thing: while areas of those cities can get horrible, it's less widespread than in LA. I've been in stop-and-go-traffic out of Phoenix, but only for a few miles. Manhattan is the utter enemy of drivers, but Manhattan is only 13 miles long. In LA, it's not always stop and go, but the traffic stays bad for the entire trip. If you have to go 40 miles (which is not unheard of for a daily commute, let alone semi-regular trip), it will won't take you an hour and a half because the first 10 miles are gridlocked; it would take you 3 hours because the "good" parts have you maybe going 25 or 30 mph. If your timing is bad, it can take you 2 hours to go 15 or 20 miles. Taking the 91 Eastbound to Riverside on a Friday may not be not be as bad as navigating New York street traffic or the bridges of DC, but it's not gonna open up until your out in the desert, which takes about 2-3 hours going 10-15 mph to get to. And it's very true what they say about LA; people drive, a lot, and really far distances. That bad traffic doesn't take you half an hour to get home, it takes you 2 hours if you go at rush hour (which i always try to avoid). And even without accidents or construction, on weekends and off-hours, some freeways (e.g. the 405) still get jammed up for long stretches just because people wanna use them.
I think it's very much analogous to crime in LA versus other cities. There are neighboorhoods even in places like San Francisco that make most of the "ghetto" areas of LA look like beverly hills. And some cities overall are more dangerous (like Oakland or St. louis). But in LA, crime and gangs are pretty commonplace everywhere except in the most upscale areas. Even the "nice' places like Venice Beach and Santa Monica, where houses start at upwards of $600,000 and usually sell for way more, have regular gang activity and random acts of violence. Most of it ranges from "kinda slummy" to "gosh-forsaken-heck-hole" (thank you, Marge Simpson).
That's how traffic is; bad pretty much everywhere, though only in a few places as bad as the worst parts of other cities (like the 105 East in the afternoon, or the 110 North around Hollywood after 2 pm).
Which one is worse? To me it seems like kind of a toss-up. In LA the traffic stays bad for really long distances (and as people ahve said, there aren't really alternatives most of the time). Then again, you'll never find yourself stuck on a bridge for 30 minutes or an hour because you're living at the tip of a bay or on a series of islands where everyone has to take the same 1 road to get there (well, the 91 is sorta like that, but less so). I'm just glad I work close to home lol
Living in LA and having been to (and sat in ridiculous traffic in) many of the other large cities mentioned, I think they are in many ways apples and oranges.
I've been to New York (well, manhattan at least), and I wouldn't even bother driving there except when leaving the city for vacations or something. The streets are narrow and all the crazy stuff brought up before is true (and I was only there a few days!). San Francisco bay area has a few spots that remind me of the worst of LA (like crossing the Bay bridge at rush hour...or ever). Rush hour out of Phoenix can get pretty bad as well.
But here's the thing: while areas of those cities can get horrible, it's less widespread than in LA. I've been in stop-and-go-traffic out of Phoenix, but only for a few miles. Manhattan is the utter enemy of drivers, but Manhattan is only 13 miles long. In LA, it's not always stop and go, but the traffic stays bad for the entire trip. If you have to go 40 miles (which is not unheard of for a daily commute, let alone semi-regular trip), it will won't take you an hour and a half because the first 10 miles are gridlocked; it would take you 3 hours because the "good" parts have you maybe going 25 or 30 mph. If your timing is bad, it can take you 2 hours to go 15 or 20 miles. Taking the 91 Eastbound to Riverside on a Friday may not be not be as bad as navigating New York street traffic or the bridges of DC, but it's not gonna open up until your out in the desert, which takes about 2-3 hours going 10-15 mph to get to. And it's very true what they say about LA; people drive, a lot, and really far distances. That bad traffic doesn't take you half an hour to get home, it takes you 2 hours if you go at rush hour (which i always try to avoid). And even without accidents or construction, on weekends and off-hours, some freeways (e.g. the 405) still get jammed up for long stretches just because people wanna use them.
I think it's very much analogous to crime in LA versus other cities. There are neighboorhoods even in places like San Francisco that make most of the "ghetto" areas of LA look like beverly hills. And some cities overall are more dangerous (like Oakland or St. louis). But in LA, crime and gangs are pretty commonplace everywhere except in the most upscale areas. Even the "nice' places like Venice Beach and Santa Monica, where houses start at upwards of $600,000 and usually sell for way more, have regular gang activity and random acts of violence. Most of it ranges from "kinda slummy" to "gosh-forsaken-heck-hole" (thank you, Marge Simpson).
That's how traffic is; bad pretty much everywhere, though only in a few places as bad as the worst parts of other cities (like the 105 East in the afternoon, or the 110 North around Hollywood after 2 pm).
Which one is worse? To me it seems like kind of a toss-up. In LA the traffic stays bad for really long distances (and as people ahve said, there aren't really alternatives most of the time). Then again, you'll never find yourself stuck on a bridge for 30 minutes or an hour because you're living at the tip of a bay or on a series of islands where everyone has to take the same 1 road to get there (well, the 91 is sorta like that, but less so). I'm just glad I work close to home lol
Interesting... my wife has never had these problems and she has to drive from Calabasas to destinations as far as Santa Ana, Pomona, Long Beach - at all times of the day. She's been doing it for a year and a half now and I can't say she has ever been stuck in traffic for 3 hours, ever. Sounds like an exaggeration, unless you are caught in a true pileup or something.
And I'm not sure why you threw the crime stuff in there, but did you know LA is one of the safer large cities in the US? You are really over-hyping the danger of living here...
EDIT: Oh I'm curious what part of the city you live in?
Well he's never driven the distance of the New York metro either. Long Island extends as far east from the city as does downtown LA to the Inland Emipre, and the L.I. Expressway is no joke. Try taking a Saturday or Sunday drive, I've seen it very bad in both directions on weekends and it was a 3 hour trip.
Well he's never driven the distance of the New York metro either. Long Island extends as far east from the city as does downtown LA to the Inland Emipre, and the L.I. Expressway is no joke. Try taking a Saturday or Sunday drive, I've seen it very bad in both directions on weekends and it was a 3 hour trip.
Especially in the summer when going to the Hamptons....yikes.
I was in LA a few years ago, and I remember every time I got out, I stood in traffic for at LEAST 2 hours - it was horrible.
NYC, on the other hand, is actually fast-paced if you think of it. I think the longest I've been in traffic was 5 hours..and before you think this is an imply, that was during a blackout - a very valid excuse. It takes me 15-20 min. to drive 4-5 miles into the city, the most.
This bigger the metropolis the bigger its traffic becomes. Its no coincidence that NY, LA, Chicago, DC, SF, Houston, Dallas, Atlanta, and Boston have the most traffic/notorious traffic because they are the largest metros
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