Park and Ride

Park and ride has become one of our favorite phrases! Though it's not much compared to other people, we try to do our part to be more socially responsible for the environment. This includes recycling, using reusable bags when shopping (Fresh N Easy makes the best bags- durable, lightweight, and roomy), bussing (me)/bicycling (him) to work, and trying to be less wasteful overall. One of the things we actively do is seek ways to get to events that don't involve driving as much. Not only is it a personal perk to us (not having to deal with traffic and parking and using less gas), we like to support the efforts of people who've worked hard to make such events accessible to us via public transportation. Throughout this past year I think we've done pretty well:

Rose Bowl: after a relatively painless drive along the 110 we ended up in Old Town and made our way to Parsons. We found a parking spot relatively quick but the line to get on the shuttles was LONG and snaked around the parking lot. But it moved pretty quickly b/c we realized that they were loading 6 bus-fulls at a time. We made it to the game with maybe 15 min to spare, just in time! The ride was short and quick b/c the shuttles got to use the back roads that were closed to the public. We jammed immediately after the game (we went to UCLA/Tenn) so we were able to get on the shuttle quickly- prolly on the first round. But I imagine the lines to be pretty long after the game. For $2 round trip per person I think it's an excellent alternative! I hate parking at the Rose Bowl so now I'll avoid it at all costs.

Dodger Stadium: we took the Green/Blue/Red lines to Union Station ($5 round trip for each of us), and then we took the free Dodger shuttle to the stadium. I've been to Dodger Stadium numerous times and I always hate leaving after a game! Getting there is not so bad b/c fans show up anywhere btwn an hour or two before game time through 3rd inning, but everyone pretty much leaves after the 7th inning or after a game, if we're winning by the time the 7th inning stretch rolls around. Plus thanks to the McCourts parking is now like $15 or $20 a car. What is nice about the shuttle is that it drops you off really close to will call.

Hollywood Bowl: This was so painless! We drove to the Federal Building, parked and walked a very short distance to one of the charter buses. It was about $3 per person roundtrip. We got to the HB in less than 30 min, and walking was minimal too! The first time I was at the HB we didn't know and parked in the lots which were stacked parking...so terrible b/c we were boxed in and couldn't leave for the longest time! Some people also park at Hollywood and Highland ($4 with validation) and they take the shuttle which I believe is slightly cheaper. Since we were already on the Westside it made sense to forgo driving to Hollywood in the first place. I don't like 101/405 interchange under any circumstances! I'd rather go 10, exit La Brea and hop onto Highland and go north all the way to Hollywood Blvd. But driving local is time consuing also.

OC Fair: I think I already talked about this but I'll copy and paste here again:
Jer did some research for the fair and found that if we took the OC Flyer for $2.50 roundtrip, we'd get $2 off each tix. Plus, we didn't have to pay for parking which saved us $5. So if we drove: $18 for two tix plus $5 parking = $23 plus we'd have to find parking in a crowded lot (when we left, there were cars in a queue trying to park), and walk further to the entrance. Since we took the shuttle at Goldenwest Transit Center (plenty of parking at the park & ride lot), we spent $5 for bus and $14 for tix = $19 and we got dropped off at the front entrance. The bus wasn't slow either since there was no stop along the way. Also, since the buses leave on the hour and every half, we just timed it so we wouldn't have to wait for the next bus to come along. All in all, we didn't waste any extra time bus-ing it than we would have if we drove the entire distance (which is why in general ppl don't like buses- it's faster to drive, and in most cases I totally agree). Oh and we saved on a bit of gas: the bus was 18 miles round trip, so with gas prices these days, we saved like $10 on gas too! So if you go, I would recommend this option!

Abbot Kinney Festival: Last year when Jenta and I went, we actually drove there and had a hard time finding parking but eventually we did, many blocks away. (Which worked out fine b/c we got to see the famous Venice Canals!) This year, Jer did some research on metro.net and found that if we took the bus that was 1/2 block from my apt, it would drop us off directly in front of the festival in 16 minutes or less. Score! Fare was $2.50 round trip for each of us. Since buses came every 15-18 min on a Sunday, we didn't wait long for the ride home either.

Manhattan Beach Hometown Fair: We didn't even have to drive to park and ride, instead we walked and rode. His workplace offered free shuttle service to the festival so we just walked to the main campus and took the FREE shuttle. Yay for free. We also got there in 8 min or so and again got dropped off in front of the festival.