This weekend they are closing the 405 (the busiest highway in the country) to demolish a bridge. In true LA style it is being labelled as Carmageddon! Brilliant! They did the same thing last year, but they were so successful at getting people to stay at home they are terrified everyone will think "Oh it wasn't so bad last year" that they will all get in their cars this weekend and we will actually experience Carmageddon...Imagine a city of 9 million people all stuck in their cars in 90 degree heat...
So a way to avoid the freeways and cars is to go on the buses and metro system...
Buses are air conditioned and go all over the city. Some of them are express only stopping at approx one stop in 3, which is great as otherwise it takes an age to get anywhere - rather like the 158 from my house to Westfield at Stratford...
More of an eye opener is the Metro system. They have slowly been expanding the Metro for a fair few years, and still have some more expansion to do, most noteably out to the ocean!
 |
| Empty and spacious - much like the Victoria line... |
So today I bit the bullet, and got on a bus and a Metro, as it was easier than taking the hire car Downtown and looking for somewhere to park.
The Metro is very much like London's Underground: Clean, air conditioned, fast, direct, clear announcements at every station and seats for everyone...oh wait a minute...
No it was seriously good and a great way to get around Downtown - and cheap to boot! $6 for my TAPcard which I can top up again whenever I need to and that is for the Metro AND the bus all day.
I stayed on the purple line, as that is the kinda girl I am, but there are all manner of lines and destinations available...but as I said not yet to the beach :-( I was also very lucky with my timings, but at the moment trains run about every 10 minutes. As they become more popular I think they will have to up that, or have a revolution on their hands...!
 |
| No adverts - Just grey walls - WEIRD!!! |
I have never seen a city with as many signs as LA - everywhere from street signs, to shop signs to adverts - literally they are absolutely everywhere, but bizarrely when they have a captured audience on the Metro platform - no adverts! Strange...
They do however seem to have plastic bodies floating from the ceilings at Civic Centre Station...Only in La La Land
I had such a successful trip that I am going to get the Metro downtown on Saturday night when I hit Chinatown for the Mooncake festival (not as trippy as it sounds!)
No comments:
Post a Comment