My New Commute - Public Transportation in LA

By this time of the year, most people have given up on their New Year's resolutions. And like most people, I too, made an unrealistic list promising to eat right, exercise daily, and save money, in the hopes to transform myself into the most perfect, efficient human being ever.  Even though I'm no where close to accomplishing everything I had promised, I'm proud to announce that I have found a way to combine two of my goals,exercise and saving money, into one activity!

 I now commute by train to get to work!

For the rest of the commuting world, riding public transportion is no big deal. For the rest of the commuting world, this is an obvious choice. But for me, a California native, driving a car is the ONLY way I knew how to (and wanted to) get around.

 (Southern California has the best weather ever all the frikken time and we decided that driving is the best mode of transportation. Why does that sound so wrong? And another thing, people from Oregon ride bikes all the time and it rains there all the time! I'm trippin' out.)
 
While most LA commuters can expect spending an hour or more a day during their work week lives fighting through high-blood pressure inducing traffic, I considered myself blessed when I started working in LA in the summer of 2011 when I found myself with a 15-30 minute commute with barely any stop and go gridlock. So I laughed at those suckers, thinking I had totally lucked out.

However, when a couple of my friends introduced me to the early retirement blog, Mr. Money Mustache, whose author advocates financial independence through hard core saving and minimal spending, I began to to see the error of my ways.  Part of the mustachian philosophy involves walking or riding a bike if the destination is within 10 miles in order to save on gas and to stay in shape. Two of my goals right there!

But I had grown spoiled with my perfect commute. Walking five seconds from the front door to my car, driving 15 minutes in minimal traffic, parking in a garage, taking an elevator to an air conditioned office where I sat on my ass all day made me tragically lazy, and an even bigger California weather wimp. I thought I had it made, never having to feel weather or walk impressive distances, but in reality I was wasting my money and jeopardizing my health.  I also have a decent amount of student debt and if I wanted to even come close to financial independence, I knew I had to grow some balls and give up this luxurious commute.

But the thought of riding a bike in LA scared the shit out of me. Remember now, I'm from southern California and the last time I consistently rode a bike, it had training wheels.

So I did some research, and found two completely different articles depicting the bike riding experiences in LA. The first article (which I unfortunately can not find the link to...) confirmed my fears, citing the growing number of biking accidents and the lack of bike friendly streets. The second article however, showed a brighter side, pointing out the less congested side streets and the ideal mild sunny weather for bike riding. After researching on possible routes on google maps, reading up on commuting tips, and following some cute bike blogs I was convinced. I must own a bike and ride it.

So I asked my boyfriend to take his parent's old mountain bike so I could begin my new bike riding escapades in LA. The bike unfortunately needs to be fixed, so my boyfriend has kindly agreed to restore it for my birthday. In the mean time, I needed to find another way to get to work and and that's when I began to explore the alternative option to biking....Public transportation!

As if the commuting gods were on my side, I soon discovered that the building where I work will REFUND all my train expenses if I meet some minimum requirements, e.g., use the train at least three times a week for three months. Becoming a non-driving commuter in LA was now sounding like a viable option.

I planned my route, did a test walk to the station last Sunday and I fell in love. Even though I had to bundle up for the frigid February morning, I was not only re-connecting with nature again, I was actually enjoying it! Here are some pictures from the walks this past week:

I heard the weirdest squawking noise and looked up to discover frikken parrots chillin' in the trees and electrical lines! Apparently they used to be domesticated, but then escaped or were released, reproduced and are now integrated into the neighborhood's ecosystem.

Water towers always remind me of That 70's Show and that makes me happy.

View from half way up the gnarly hill to the house.

Public transportation and bike riding in LA is still not ideal when compared to other big cities but it is possible and it sounds like it is getting better!

All I had to do was to take the time to research, get over my fears, get off my lazy ass and go!