Help! Commute times from beaches to LA downtown (Los Angeles, Long Beach: renting, buy)

[mlake]

I am new to this forum, so forgive me if I the answers are already here and I have missed them. We are a young couple considering a relocation to LA. We thought that for lifestyle purposes, we would live in one of the beach cities, Santa Monica, Manhattan, Redondo, maybe even Long Beach. I am having a hard time understanding the commute times say at 7 a.m. and 6 p.m. from these locations to downtown financial district. Please help!

[fastfilm]

At least you're already understanding that, in L.A. we refer to driving/commuting time rather than mere distance, since distance is irrelevant with our traffic snarls. It is ALWAYS better to leave well before 7:00 a.m. anytime one is commuting in Los Angeles. Better to have a calmer drive and arrive 10 minutes early to enjoy your coffee rather than sit fuming in your car at a standstill on the freeways for two hours.

Your only other option than driving can be found on this site
http://www.mta.net/default.asp
and it only applies if you choose Long Beach. The other beach communities do not have the public transportation options.

[mlake]

So let's say I get in my car in any one of these beach towns around 6:30, coffee in hand, and want to get into the city? Then let's say (ouch) 7:30!!!

[fairweathergolfer]

I used to commute from Brentwood/Santa Monica to USC not far from the financial district at around 4:30 or 5:00 for a 7:00 class. Usually I was 1 hour or more early to class, which was great (sometimes I thought I was so stupid for leaving so early-most students did not). I also avoided the 405 and went down a main street (Bundy) instead. If I left later then 4:45 I got anxious, because it can take awhile to get on the freeway, no matter where you are at a certain time and then you have the freeway itself and then there may be another freeway before you arrive.

If there is a problem on any one of these it can really eat up the time and if two or more are backed up, well, that 2 hours and a half hour lead time wasn't such a laughable plan after all. But usually I'd say 45 minutes to 1 hour and 15 minutes. On a good day when all is open 20 minutes! How cool is that?

Just remember there will be loads of good commute days and some SOB commute days. Your stress levels will be much lower if you make it a habit to cushion in this time when driving here. I think one is either early as a regular habit or stressed. Sometimes one mixes it up. But I like to be relaxed and in control and that is the only way I have found allows a zen type day.

Good luck to you and remember it is a commute both ways, so buy lots of good tunes or books on tape or whatever you are into. Maybe learn a new language. I made the most of it. Best to you and good luck with your move. I love Santa Monica. Hope you find something here.

[fairweathergolfer]

By the way I do apologize. I am unsure where the true financial district is in LA I assumed downtown LA and if so it is as I say close to USC. If it is mid-Wilshire (miracle Mile area), it won't be as far.

[Des_Demona]

Commute times vary depending on traffic. I drive 26 miles and it takes me over an hour so it's safe to say that wherever you are going at least double the drive time compared to the miles. The situation is this: there are SO many cars on the road at any given time that there are always accidents, stalled vehicles, etc. that can dramatically change commute times. From Santa Monica to the financial district? I'd say give yourself an hour unless you leave really early (before 7:30ish). Our rush hour is really more like many hours. It gets bad from 7am-noon and then again from 2pm-7pm (often later than that!). I drive into LA after work again to go to practice and I leave around 7:30pm and traffic is still really bad. In LA the traffic just sucks no matter what time you leave. In the middle of the night even there is road contstruction and they'll close down all but one or two lanes creating a bad traffic situation. In LA... it's inescapable. I still say double the miles you are driving to give you an estimated drive time (that's for freeway driving only). If you are doing any street driving then it's going to be much more than that, then figure in accidents, construction, detours, stalled vehicles which happen almost daily... ugh... just writing about it makes me want to jump off the highest building.

[Des_Demona]

To follow up - if you left from a nearby beach town like Santa Monica leaving by 6:30am you could most likely reach where you need to be by 7:30am. Redondo and Manhattan Beach are a little further and Long Beach would be a horrible commute if you had to drive into LA from there. If you had to be there at 7:30 I would definitely recommend leaving around 6am rather than 6:30.

[dougmangin]

The place we are looking at renting is in north Redondo Beach - more near Hawthorne than Manhattan Beach. How does anyone who isnt an NHL player or already won the lottery afford MB???

We found a place we like a ten minute walk from the Redondo Beach Park and Ride where I can catch either the Green Line or the LADOT Commuter Express 438. The metro requires riding green and the switching to blue plus all of the fun that comes with riding the LA metro - I wont elaborate.

The Commuter Express is a bus that from what I can tell makes very few stops and is 99% professionals working downtown - but its on the road. Has anyone used the Commuter Express before? The DOT site shows it takes 35 minutes in the morning and 45 minutes in the afternoon - do those seem right? Would driving be faster?

From around the Redondo Beach Park and Ride to the SoCal Gas tower how long would you estimate it would take to drive if leaving between 6:00 and 6:30?

[Cloudwalker]

Don't know about from Redondo, but your commute from SM to DTLA is against the flow of traffic and should on average be around 30-45 min in the morning, even in peak hour.