Only A Nobody Walks In L.A. - Ride Metro

The good thing about taking a vacation is that you gain perspective. You notice things.

San Francisco: drivers actually come to a stop when a pedestrian is trying to cross the street.

Los Angeles: if you are lucky you get a "rolling stop", or you can eyeball the driver to get his attention to slow down. Or take your chances if you have insurance. Basically, if you reach the corner before the driver keep one eye on the light, one on the lane and the third eye on the rest of the street. Pause for 1 second for the chuckle head who has to make the light. Move at a high rate of speed across the street.

San Francisco: I never waited more than 10 minutes to go from one place to another. They have busses, trackless trolley lines, real trolley cars, BART and Cal-Train. Folks in SF are spoiled. Yeah, yeah some folks have to commute long distances because they can't afford to live in the city. But once in the city they can motate just dandy. And you have a fair shot of getting home. The last commuter train is midnight. I recognize that they have a smaller area to deal with than Los Angeles but to hope perchance to dream this system will migrate down south.

Los Angeles: We have a framework in progress. If you have to be someplace show up a half-hour ahead of time to factor in jam up and slow downs. Make eye contact with the driver so there is a chance that he/she will open the doors. I'm not saying the system sucks. It is a lot better than it use to be - the Rapid busses help a great deal. But it ain't SF Muni. This is car country.

So this is my tip of the hat to SF and SF Muni - This ride by car would have taken maybe a half hour. It took about 1.75 hours and that isn't including the time it took for me to get into San Gabriel Valley in the first place.

I know. Get a car.