4 ms·

This is pretty much spot on. I live in LA and am an avid driver, motorcyclist, and bicyclist. I'm also a huge proponent of public transport, and use it wheneve

This is pretty much spot on. I live in LA and am an avid driver, motorcyclist, and bicyclist. I'm also a huge proponent of public transport, and use it whenever I can. That last bit is often a bummer; it's very rare that I truly can use public transport to get to where I'm going. The nearest train station is a 15-minute walk from my apartment. That gets me onto a pretty good train system that can take me to Santa Monica and Downtown Los Angeles on one train, but not many other places. Changing trains adds time, and then they also go to a limited number of places. Buses are a bit all over the place, and victimized by the very traffic I try to avoid by using public transport. My current office is about 9 miles from my apartment (Mar Vista to West Hollywood). This translates into 35 minutes by car, 20–25 minutes by motorcycle, and 1 hour and 20 minutes by public transit, involving at least two different methods. It would be a great 1-hour bicycle ride if I could shower at work. I start a new job in a few weeks, and that office will be only 4 miles from my apartment. This should translate into 12 minutes by car, 10 minutes by motorcycle, and 40 minutes by public transit. It might also be a relatively sweat-free (low-sweat?) 25-minute bicycle ride. Most people aren't as fortunate as I am.

photojosh 8y ago
If sweating is the primary thing keeping you from riding: get an eBike.
- nkantar 8y ago
  Sweating is the primary thing keeping me from riding to work. I solved that with a motorcycle, which does many things an eBike wouldn't. Riding a purely-manual bicycle would be awesome because of the exercise, something an eBike wouldn't provide.
  - photojosh 8y ago
    Yep sorry, thought that the ride to work was assumed. You can always turn off the assist so you get exercise on the way home, but don't sweat on the way there? I've commuted via bike for 4 years now - 6mi with a big hill each way. Started on an ebike but moved to nonmotorised pretty quickly.
    - nkantar 8y ago
      I guess the split (on there, off home) would kinda work, but it seems like half measure when I already have a road bicycle for serious rides and a motorcycle to get around the city.
semi-extrinsic 8y ago
9 miles you could run in a little over an hour, by bicycle it should be more like 35 minutes, no? (Assuming it's not too hilly.)
- baroffoos 8y ago
  I'm a fairly fit person and I am not going to run for an hour twice a day. 30 minutes by bike is fine but if I am gonna get on my bike I might as well go all the way to work which is what I do. Public transport is just no use to me until I move somewhere with better access.
- nkantar 8y ago
  Here's a link for reference: https://goo.gl/maps/qTq3CfWFUrm https://goo.gl/maps/qTq3CfWFUrm (not my exact address, nearby intersection) Having done that route in a car and on a motorcycle, I can say that Google is being a bit optimistic about the cooperation of traffic lights and the safety of traffic.
- maxxxxx 8y ago
  You must be in incredible shape. Biking at an average of 24 km/h for 30 mins twice a day is not that easy. Same for your running times.
  - semi-extrinsic 8y ago
    Ouch, looks like my mental milesToKm() hit a logic bug and multiplied by 1.1, not 1.6... Yes, my times up there are pretty crazy.
    - maxxxxx 8y ago
      Cool. I thought you are a smug marathon professional who doesn't understand that not everyone can run a marathon under 2:30 :-)
- starpilot 8y ago
  Wtf? Running 9 miles in an hour is under 7 minutes per mile. That's a very high level of fitness.
rlabrecque 8y ago
My biggest problem with the buses is frequency. My gf lives just off Glenoaks in Burbank/Glendale, there's a bus that comes right by, but it's so infrequent that it rarely makes sense. "If I head out now, I might make it to the bus stop in time, if I don't I can walk to my destination quicker than the next bus will come. Am I willing to take that risk?" (The answer is almost always no.) I looked at taking the bus from BUR to her place. There's a great route, right from the airport to San Fernando Road, just down the block from her, maybe a 5 minute walk. Except the bus only stops at the airport HOURLY. Google maps was saying the ride would take over an hour, because the next bus wasn't coming for nearly an hour. If you set the "Leave by" time to when the next bus arrives though? The bus takes maybe 3-4 minutes longer than a lyft to that stop.

photojosh 8y ago

If sweating is the primary thing keeping you from riding: get an eBike.

nkantar 8y ago
Sweating is the primary thing keeping me from riding to work. I solved that with a motorcycle, which does many things an eBike wouldn't. Riding a purely-manual bicycle would be awesome because of the exercise, something an eBike wouldn't provide.
- photojosh 8y ago
  Yep sorry, thought that the ride to work was assumed. You can always turn off the assist so you get exercise on the way home, but don't sweat on the way there? I've commuted via bike for 4 years now - 6mi with a big hill each way. Started on an ebike but moved to nonmotorised pretty quickly.
  - nkantar 8y ago
    I guess the split (on there, off home) would kinda work, but it seems like half measure when I already have a road bicycle for serious rides and a motorcycle to get around the city.

semi-extrinsic 8y ago

9 miles you could run in a little over an hour, by bicycle it should be more like 35 minutes, no? (Assuming it's not too hilly.)

baroffoos 8y ago
I'm a fairly fit person and I am not going to run for an hour twice a day. 30 minutes by bike is fine but if I am gonna get on my bike I might as well go all the way to work which is what I do. Public transport is just no use to me until I move somewhere with better access.
nkantar 8y ago
Here's a link for reference: https://goo.gl/maps/qTq3CfWFUrm https://goo.gl/maps/qTq3CfWFUrm (not my exact address, nearby intersection) Having done that route in a car and on a motorcycle, I can say that Google is being a bit optimistic about the cooperation of traffic lights and the safety of traffic.
maxxxxx 8y ago
You must be in incredible shape. Biking at an average of 24 km/h for 30 mins twice a day is not that easy. Same for your running times.
- semi-extrinsic 8y ago
  Ouch, looks like my mental milesToKm() hit a logic bug and multiplied by 1.1, not 1.6... Yes, my times up there are pretty crazy.
  - maxxxxx 8y ago
    Cool. I thought you are a smug marathon professional who doesn't understand that not everyone can run a marathon under 2:30 :-)
starpilot 8y ago
Wtf? Running 9 miles in an hour is under 7 minutes per mile. That's a very high level of fitness.

rlabrecque 8y ago

My biggest problem with the buses is frequency. My gf lives just off Glenoaks in Burbank/Glendale, there's a bus that comes right by, but it's so infrequent that it rarely makes sense. "If I head out now, I might make it to the bus stop in time, if I don't I can walk to my destination quicker than the next bus will come. Am I willing to take that risk?" (The answer is almost always no.) I looked at taking the bus from BUR to her place. There's a great route, right from the airport to San Fernando Road, just down the block from her, maybe a 5 minute walk. Except the bus only stops at the airport HOURLY. Google maps was saying the ride would take over an hour, because the next bus wasn't coming for nearly an hour. If you set the "Leave by" time to when the next bus arrives though? The bus takes maybe 3-4 minutes longer than a lyft to that stop.