4 ms·

I spent two years commuting by bike and bus and by doing so I was much more aware of the stores within a 5 mile radius of me. I wanted to stop and spend my mone

I spent two years commuting by bike and bus and by doing so I was much more aware of the stores within a 5 mile radius of me. I wanted to stop and spend my money and time BUT it wasn’t worth missing my bus or risking my bike getting stolen so I never stopped. This was in Los Angeles. If buses were more reliable & enjoyable I would have stopped or gone back on weekends, and if I could trust my bike to still be there those businesses would have benefitted.

asdff 5y ago
I do a lot of commuting via bus and bike in LA. You can always bring your bike into the doorway of the business and throw your ulock around the frame and rear wheel to prevent it from being ridden. I find if there are at least other bikes in the rack I feel better about leaving my bike out, and if its something like the front entrance or a parking lot where there is foot traffic I don't mind leaving the bike out on a rack while I'm inside and its during business hours, but I would never leave it out on a rack overnight. The bus is pretty annoying for getting things done, however. You can't exactly string together multiple errands unless shops are nearby, but luckily LA is dense enough where I can find redundant shops of a given category in every neighborhood. The bus was great for my commute though. No transfers, 30 mins on a bus that comes every 10 minutes vs the 20 min drive where I didn't have a parking space at work (and thus had to hunt or pay). It was on a route with a rapid and local bus line too, so really a bus came every 5 mins due to them being staggered. Transfers really kill a bus commute but sometimes even with the transferring, it remains the fastest way around. Certain parts of LA like the less bar heavy portions of the west side, you could be waiting 30 minutes at least for your ride to even be accepted, then it might be 15-20 mins before they slog through traffic to get to you. Rideshare is pretty spotty in LA outside of Santa monica, downtown LA, lax, weho, or hollywood, because the drivers rarely want to venture out beyond these areas and would rather stick to where the ride frequency is the highest due to the traffic. I do use the bus quite a bit for going home at the end of the night since its so cheap compared to surged rideshares. It seemingly runs until 4am and there are a surprising amount of people using it still at that time (I assume mostly third shift workers but a good amount of people who clearly are coming from the bars like me).
- namibj 5y ago
  Ideally you'd not been able to hunt for a spot close enough by that it'd be worth not paying. At least that's when paid parking properly works and allows one to almost always park close by (provided one is willing to pay).

asdff 5y ago

I do a lot of commuting via bus and bike in LA. You can always bring your bike into the doorway of the business and throw your ulock around the frame and rear wheel to prevent it from being ridden. I find if there are at least other bikes in the rack I feel better about leaving my bike out, and if its something like the front entrance or a parking lot where there is foot traffic I don't mind leaving the bike out on a rack while I'm inside and its during business hours, but I would never leave it out on a rack overnight. The bus is pretty annoying for getting things done, however. You can't exactly string together multiple errands unless shops are nearby, but luckily LA is dense enough where I can find redundant shops of a given category in every neighborhood. The bus was great for my commute though. No transfers, 30 mins on a bus that comes every 10 minutes vs the 20 min drive where I didn't have a parking space at work (and thus had to hunt or pay). It was on a route with a rapid and local bus line too, so really a bus came every 5 mins due to them being staggered. Transfers really kill a bus commute but sometimes even with the transferring, it remains the fastest way around. Certain parts of LA like the less bar heavy portions of the west side, you could be waiting 30 minutes at least for your ride to even be accepted, then it might be 15-20 mins before they slog through traffic to get to you. Rideshare is pretty spotty in LA outside of Santa monica, downtown LA, lax, weho, or hollywood, because the drivers rarely want to venture out beyond these areas and would rather stick to where the ride frequency is the highest due to the traffic. I do use the bus quite a bit for going home at the end of the night since its so cheap compared to surged rideshares. It seemingly runs until 4am and there are a surprising amount of people using it still at that time (I assume mostly third shift workers but a good amount of people who clearly are coming from the bars like me).

namibj 5y ago
Ideally you'd not been able to hunt for a spot close enough by that it'd be worth not paying. At least that's when paid parking properly works and allows one to almost always park close by (provided one is willing to pay).