Metro Schedule? Who Needs A Stinking Schedule
When I decided to try the “green” commute thing, I got all anal and printed out all the schedules for the rail and connecting buses (there are 2 possiblities for me to catch), both going and returning, for all possible time-windows. I had nice tables like this for my 2:00 to 2:30 pm departure from work:
Bus 240- Encino to Universal City
01:41PM 02:12PM 31 mins
02:16PM 02:47PM 31 mins
02:46PM 03:16PM 30 mins
03:10PM 03:40PM 30 mins
Bus 150- Encino to Universal City
02:00PM 02:31PM 31 mins
02:32PM 03:02PM 30 mins
03:00PM 03:30PM 30 mins
It took me all of 3 days to realize these schedules don’t mean sh*t. The buses come when they come- deal with it. Yesterday I was on the other side of Ventura Blvd, waiting to cross at the LONG red light, when the 2:31pm bus goes by on the other side at about 2:20pm. Then I wait about 1/2 hour for next bus. Today, same thing- I’m there at 2:10pm, and no bus until about 2:40pm- very frustrating in the 95-degree nastiness that is the Valley. I ask a few people “what time is bus supposed to be here” and I always get “I don’t know- I just come and wait”. Today it took me 1hr 45min to get home, as the more minutes that tick by after 2pm, the more stops are made on Ventura Blvd, slowing bus to a crawl.
So if you plan on taking a bus- if it’s daylight, just show up at the stop- don’t worry about trying to get there at any specific time, or you’ll be frustrated. Look at it as a game of Roulette, and you’re betting on Black- your odds are a little greater than 50/50 that you’ll be waiting longer than you expected…
Wait a minute - buses come every half-hour? Seriously?
August 13th, 2008 at 8:51 pmB- the 240 bus runs every 15 min according to sign at bus stop. If you take the cube root of the logrithm of current time divided by Pi and it’s modulo is even, then the bus MAY arrive in 15 min… no schedule needed!
August 13th, 2008 at 9:14 pmHaha
August 13th, 2008 at 10:40 pm…so it’s a crap shoot in all the wrong ways, huh, Eric. Still, there must be some golden moments when the bus shows up immediately and sooner than you could possibly expect, right?
August 14th, 2008 at 3:42 pmHey Joe- funny you mention the “right timing”- today I hit it on way home- bus came within 5 min, and only 5 min wait for train. But 1hr 15min to get to my door, under perfect conditions leaving office at 2pm. That Ventura Blvd takes 25 min in at 5:00am and 50+ min at 2pm. Glad I don’t stay around to 4pm… The people watching is still entertaining too, so all-in-all I’m not bummed yet. I’m off to gym then to Jim and Celia’s raw material preview sale to check it out. We miss you and Ruby!
August 14th, 2008 at 3:47 pmhey! were you at art walk then?? sorry i missed you.. seems like I was everywhere and not really for very long.
August 15th, 2008 at 2:45 amI stopped by raw material around 5:30 I believe on way home from gym- then went to Rocket Pizza for a calzone- that was the extent of my Art Walk…
Did you get lots of pics? I want to see them!
August 15th, 2008 at 3:45 amhey! I have a few that I uploaded to flickr but I’m waiting to see what gets posted on BlogDowntown first so I am not just posting similar subjects. ;P
August 15th, 2008 at 8:39 pmYou’re such a tease, Meeko! You took the pics- post them first! It’s not like you have a contract…
August 16th, 2008 at 1:34 am