Train Ride, Anyone?

[koolasiankids]

For photos, see original post at: http://coolasiankids.blogspot.com/20...s-angeles.html

Let's see. We've traveled to a lot of different cities in the United States: Portland, Seattle, San Francisco, New York, Boston, and Washington D.C. Overseas, we've been to Mexico City, London, Tokyo, Paris, and Rome. One thing in common about these cities is that there is always a rail system where we can hop on a surface rail line, or a subway system and go from place to place without much delay.

In Los Angeles, however, we always seem to be going to places in the car. It takes forever to get anywhere because the surface streets and freeways are almost always crowded. Any pleasant family outing becomes unpleasant because our dad would get mad and start cursing the traffic and other drivers. During rush hour, you want to avoid driving at all costs because a normally 10 minutes drive can take you one hour or more. This is especially true in West Los Angeles, where we live. Buses are not much better, because they too get stuck in traffic.

But wait! Something is happening in Los Angeles. A couple of days ago, on June 20, 2012, Los Angeles Metro opened up the Exposition Rail Line station in Culver City. We were in the car when we heard on the radio that Metro was giving free rides on the Expo Line all day. Mom got really excited: we parked our car at the Culver City station, hopped on a train and rode all it the way to downtown and back. It was so exciting. I felt as if I was in a foreign country! The Expo train goes from Culver City (which is almost close to our house) all the way to downtown Los Angeles, passing through South Los Angeles, the Natural History Museum, USC, and the Los Angeles Convention Center (where the Anime Expo is taking place end of this month) along the way.

In a couple more years, the Expo Line will go all the way to the Santa Monica beach area. Hooray! Having a rail line gives teens like us more freedom to go places. Kids in other cities already have this freedom. We won't need to ask for rides from our parents all the time anymore. We now have a great city with an expanding rail road system that everyone can use. See you on the train!

[raacluse]

nice to know that you appreciate rail transit... first time for you on LA's Metro light rail?

recently, I spent a short summer vacation in 3 European cities (Prague, St. Petersburg, and Vienna) and checked out their mass transit systems.
Rode streetcars and subway in Prague, buses (maybe trolleys, as well) in St. Pete., and none in Vienna (altho I did visit the info. office at the Stephansdom u-bahn station).

Added to my smart card collection by buying a Podorozhnik in SP. (Vienna u-bahn doesn't seem to have a smart card, and Prague requires proof of residency (?!)).

Also experienced the NY subway, due to spending a day in NY during the outbound trip to Europe. I was s'posed to fly to JFK and connect to a flight to Prague. Unfortunately, my JFK-bound flight was delayed due to an Obama visit to NY that day. That caused me to miss my connection. Instead of returning home, and starting over the next day, I decided to continue on to NY. I would stay overnight, there, and then head to JFK via the subway and JFK Airtrain.

My experience with the NY system was okay, but could've been better.
- wanted to buy a smart card, but they still don't have one.
- "touch screen" system to buy my mag-stripe fare card was inconsistent - I had trouble with completing the transaction, because (as best I could tell) I needed to change my "touch"
- the JFK airtrain turnstile requires a vertical down-n-up insertion of the farecard (like the old Chicago system) into the card reader. And you use the un-notched end. (Not intuitive for the novice.)

[koolasiankids]

Was the buses and light rail system in Prague, Vienna and St. Petersburg easy to use? I've never been to these cities. They sound so cool. I have some stamp collection from those places though and I always thought it would be so interesting to visit them. They are so far away though.

I've been on the NY subway system. It's convenient, but kind of dirty. My family and I went to Mexico City one year and we though the subway was going to be dirty and yucky, but it turned out to be really nice.

[raacluse]

SP - didn't ride subway, although I bought a smartcard and token

Praha - to get into town from airport, I rode bus - subway - tram.

Wien - didn't ride transit, but did buy a half-price ticket (as a souvenir). It's used for short trips, children, dogs and bicycles.

[raacluse]

quick additions:

SP - some buses have conductors who'll make change for you. That's true for buses and trolleys along a main drag like Nevsky Prospect, where riders will board using the rear doors (as well as front).

Wien - at the airport, they don't seem to publicize the cheapest way to get into town - the suburban light rail (S-bahn).

Praha - streetcar signs at Malostranska stop listed stops in descending order, so you knew which side of the street to board. They were at eye level, in comparison to SP bus signs, which are mounted high up the pole and impossible to read except for the line no.

[claymation]

It's all new to me. I kind of like it but I'm sort of confused at the ticket counters in Germany. The trains stations here are packed with commuters and can be difficult for travelers sometimes especially if you have baggage. The Bahnhof reminds me of old WW11 movies like the "The Great Escape" or something. LOL. I use a bicycle with panniers for traveling or shorter commutes, the MUP's here are nice !

[raacluse]

"MUP's"?

(BTW, where have you traveled in Germany?)

[claymation]

MUP is the multi use paths. Bicycles and pedestrians. No cars or motor bikes. I see people walking their leashed dogs a lot. That's the designation we called them in the states. Most I've seen in the states follow river or creek corridors linking together other corridors by paths in between. In Germany (Europe) the paths are set up a little different, someone told me that they are carry-overs from the Roman times.

In Germany, I've ridden the train system into and from Denmark and several times to and from Frankfurt. I am far from an expert at train travel as I still get mixed up sometimes. I have noticed the commuters are very heavy though, I find the dining car is a nice escape. Here they also provide first class and economy like on the airlines. All I've ridden in the US is Amtrac which was like a bus yet smoother. Still, it's all different and new for me because I was a automobile driver.

Soon, I'll be moving to another area close to Berlin and I understand there is a bike path that follows the river up from Czech Republic through Berlin and into Hamburg. I intend to use this MUP a lot when I get there. Right now, I just travel around close to home, usually from town to town on these paths. We'll see, I may still get a car yet.

[raacluse]

The great thing about riding the trains (and various local transit) is people- watching. I remember seeing Japanese and Chinese passengers when riding about the Ruhrgebiet.

On one trip, I saw a fellow dressed in black cowboy clothing, including a Stetson-like hat. (Reminded me that the Germans have a thing about westerns, no doubt due to the pulp novels of Karl May.)

Another time, I was riding from Berlin to Weimar. I met a Vietnamese guy from Hanoi. We had trouble communicating because we didn't share a common language. (I didn't, and still don't, speak German very well. Neither did he, although he'd just spent a period training in a hotel in Berlin.)

Since you're living there, in Germany, you must have one of those discount cards (BahnCard). Does that work well for you?

[claymation]

No, I don't have a discount card. I should check into it though, something like that would be handy.

Yeah, I agree. I get off on different cultures (like in a Jack Kerouac way) anyway, I wish I could communicate better. I never seem to see anything out of the ordinary, mostly commuters in a hurry to get someplace pushing and running. I tend to ignore them as they seem so much alike.

I find the older people fastinating in that it's intresting to see them going about in their everyday life. Going to town to buy bread or cheese, just like they've done for years. I love the smaller towns and villages for that. I don't really see them so much on the public transportation systems though.

There is a lot of people watching in the town squares. I see folks just kicking back on the benches and tables drinking coffee while droves of walkers stroll past all day. Everybody gravitates toward these central plazas.