because i can no longer stand the ever-rising price of gasoline, i thought that i should try out the metro. the route is not so bad since i found out that there is a bus nearby my home that takes me to union station in los angeles and from there i transfer to the red line which takes me to about a half mile from my work place.
i took it on a test ride one monday morning and it went as smooth as you can expect. the red line runs frequently enough that there is never a wait of more than 15 minutes. the total trip on the test ride took an hour and 45 minutes. total ride time on both lines took about 45 minutes, so the extra hour went to waiting and walk time. and the ride back home in mid-afternoon was a little quicker. each way was roughly an hour longer than if i was to drive myself. but i didn't mind knowing that i was saving a bunch of money and taking one vehicle off the road in the process.
and two days later, i made a decision to commit to this mode of transportation and bought a monthly pass. on this day, the morning commute went as usual. however the ride home was quite a different manner. i got off work at around 17:30 this time. the ride on the red line to downtown was no problem. but when i got to the bus stop for the second leg of my trip home, i had just missed my bus by about 3 minutes (according to the schedule). so i waited for the next one, which is due to arrive 40 minutes later at 19:17. this bus did not arrive on time, and when it finally did arrive, the "no service" light was on. it just drove past everyone uncaringly.
now my thinking was that since this one was not in service, that another would be due to arrive soon. no such luck. 20 minutes went by (now 19:39) and i decided to take an alternate bus. this route requires me to take a third bus to arrive at my destination, but i didn't have a choice since the next one was not due until 20:15. so i hopped on the next arriving bus, knowing that it goes partially in my direction and that i could stop along the way to catch yet another bus to finally take me home.
i arrived at the next stop at 19:50, and waited until 20:18 for my final ride. finally got home at 20:45 but had to hop into my very own vehicle to go to my mother's for a quick dinner. finished my dinner and left my mother's at about 21:25. two minutes later (now 21:27...duh), when i got onto my home street, guess what i saw. that's right, the bus that was supposed to take me home in the first place.
this, on the day that i made a commitment to public transportation and purchased a monthly ticket to show it, is not making a good impression on me.
the rail lines are very reliable but the buses are sadly lacking.
it took me 3 hours and 15 minutes to get home.
