“It’s easy,” that’s the motto from the Los Angeles County Metropolitan Transportation Authority about riding the metro. You simply hang up your car keys and hop on one of the five metro rail lines or 200 bus lines and you’re on your way. Smooth sailing!
I decided to take them up on their offer. For the record, I am strictly a car person and feel naked and vulnerable without my wheels. Today, however, I decided to take a metro adventure. I have ridden on the subway before but only on one line and never advanced to the next level…”THE TRANSFER.”
So, this past Saturday afternoon, I picked a destination…Chinatown…and announced to my “good sport” husband that we had a date.
According to the website, wwwmetro.net, our trip involved taking the Red Line from Universal City to Union Station and then “transferring” to the Gold Line for one stop to Chinatown Station. A piece of cake...so we headed, in our car, to the Universal City Station and parked our gas guzzler.
First step, buying the ticket. Immediately, we entered a state of mass confusion. Should we get the one-way tickets or the all-day passes? What about transfers? As we stood at the ticket vending machine making these life and death decisions, a line began forming. Feeling the pressure, we chose one-way tickets for $1.25 each and added 30 cents to each ticket for a transfer. Wrong!!!
We should have chosen the all day passes for $5.00 because on their website it plainly states, “NOTE: Ticket is NOT valid for transfer to other ones: another ticket must be purchased when changing lines.” Not knowing this, we merrily and confidently headed on our way.
Surprisingly, the metro was empty
even though their website boasts that they have an average of 94,370 riders on the Red Line on Saturdays. Regardless, I felt lucky because we immediately found seats together and even an extra one for our weery feet. Oops! As we found out mid-trip by the pre-recorded male announcer, putting your feet on the chairs is prohibited. Oh well, ignorance is bliss!
We settled in for our short journey and occasionally stared up at the “Go Metro” map saying things to each other like, “6 more stops, 1 more stop.” After about 20 minutes, it was time to get off and make “the big transfer” to the Gold Line.
Honestly, I am a directional degenerate. I have problems finding my car in parking lots and always go the wrong direction out of an elevator. But my husband seems to have a GPS system installed in his brain and at this moment, I was glad I dragged him along because changing metro lines at Union Station is not a simply task. You have to go upstairs and then find your lucky line.
In our case, we asked a metro worker who pointed us in the right direction. We still had to find the right area and trust me, even after following their signs, we felt lost.
But, we made it safe, secure and in one piece.
After my latest metro adventure, I feel like an expert. If I had to do it again, I think I could even manage it alone. Only time will tell!
I decided to take them up on their offer. For the record, I am strictly a car person and feel naked and vulnerable without my wheels. Today, however, I decided to take a metro adventure. I have ridden on the subway before but only on one line and never advanced to the next level…”THE TRANSFER.”
So, this past Saturday afternoon, I picked a destination…Chinatown…and announced to my “good sport” husband that we had a date.
According to the website, wwwmetro.net, our trip involved taking the Red Line from Universal City to Union Station and then “transferring” to the Gold Line for one stop to Chinatown Station. A piece of cake...so we headed, in our car, to the Universal City Station and parked our gas guzzler.
First step, buying the ticket. Immediately, we entered a state of mass confusion. Should we get the one-way tickets or the all-day passes? What about transfers? As we stood at the ticket vending machine making these life and death decisions, a line began forming. Feeling the pressure, we chose one-way tickets for $1.25 each and added 30 cents to each ticket for a transfer. Wrong!!!
We should have chosen the all day passes for $5.00 because on their website it plainly states, “NOTE: Ticket is NOT valid for transfer to other ones: another ticket must be purchased when changing lines.” Not knowing this, we merrily and confidently headed on our way.
Surprisingly, the metro was empty
even though their website boasts that they have an average of 94,370 riders on the Red Line on Saturdays. Regardless, I felt lucky because we immediately found seats together and even an extra one for our weery feet. Oops! As we found out mid-trip by the pre-recorded male announcer, putting your feet on the chairs is prohibited. Oh well, ignorance is bliss!
We settled in for our short journey and occasionally stared up at the “Go Metro” map saying things to each other like, “6 more stops, 1 more stop.” After about 20 minutes, it was time to get off and make “the big transfer” to the Gold Line.
Honestly, I am a directional degenerate. I have problems finding my car in parking lots and always go the wrong direction out of an elevator. But my husband seems to have a GPS system installed in his brain and at this moment, I was glad I dragged him along because changing metro lines at Union Station is not a simply task. You have to go upstairs and then find your lucky line.
In our case, we asked a metro worker who pointed us in the right direction. We still had to find the right area and trust me, even after following their signs, we felt lost.
But, we made it safe, secure and in one piece.
After my latest metro adventure, I feel like an expert. If I had to do it again, I think I could even manage it alone. Only time will tell!
RACHEL SULPRIZIO
You capture the essence of a subway ride- a thrill, an exploration, and an adventure in humility. I laughed as I could relate to this - makes me remember my first subway trip in NYC. The funniest thing I remember that day was the innocent expression of my granddaughter. She asked what was above us- as she realized the subway was underground. When I told her it was the street, she commented wisely, "That means that flowers are growing on my head." You are right - the subway captures our wit as well as our sense of adventure.
ReplyDeletePeter says...
ReplyDeleteI hate subway rides. I can never figure out where I am going. The conductor or the guy who announces the next stop talks in tongues - next stop, "%TGFDHF." I can't understand the lingo. It astounds me how riders can be sound asleep and wake up a minute or two before they get off. Amazing.
I've noticed that it's usualy Westside transplants from New York (and other East Coast cities) who don't use transit in L.A. and complain that we don't have a system. Eastside people who grow up here seem to have a lot less fear and a lot more knowledge of the the system.
ReplyDeleteWith over 500 miles of commuter rail, 70 miles of Metro and 40 bus lines that operate 24 hrs., we actually have a more comprehensive system than Boston, Philadelphia, D.C., San Francisco etc. Only New York is better.
The problem lies in when these L.A. newbies don't live in the city like they did "back home." The live a lot farther out here and are frequently complaining that it's hard to make suburb to suburb trips. It's Apples and Oranges.
Think of the subway lines this way. It's like walking around in a town with only 6 streets, and walking in the right direction.
ReplyDeleteSeriously, navigating streets and the freeway is far, far more difficult. There are THOUSANDS of streets and you can never be sure which one is the right one to take, unless you have super -explicit directions.
The subway is much, MUCH easier, even in New York City. It turns your big city into a small town, at least navigation-wise.
You might argue "I drive with landmarks!", but when you're new to the streets you don't know what the landmarks are supposed to be. When you're new to the subway you don't know what landmarks to look for, but they really are there.
It's no different than navigating when someone else is driving, except it's easier because you have far fewer "streets".
I had no idea about subways and i've always been kind of afraid to go on them. This gave me some useful information (to get the all day pass..) and it makes a lot of sense to me now to use subways. And I always pictured them being overly crowded, maybe because of seeing it on movies, which is part of what made me not want to use it. Now that I know it's not always like that, it only makes sense to use it and not waste gas. It should be easier to find your way around, though. But I guess if you're a frequent user you get familiarized with it.
ReplyDelete