TheSamba.com :: View topic - How Many Of You Have Started To Ride The Bus More?

Mon Jun 02, 2008 4:42 pm

keifernet wrote: I keep trying to ride the bus.. but some mutha fuka keeps throwing me under it before I get on! :lol:

Hold on, his term is almost over. :o

Mon Jun 02, 2008 5:52 pm

coad wrote: dantrefethen wrote: How is the public transportation in the LA, Orange County area?

Safe? Reliable?

Not bad in Orange County. A couple bucks gets you a pass good for 24 hours of unlimited rides, and the buses are clean and pretty nice. They don't run them very often though, so be prepared to sit and wait for 20-30 minutes before one shows up.
Safe? I don't know, but I've seen and smelled shit I've never seen or smelled before on a bus.
Reliable? Most of the time, but nothing will fry your ass more then one of your busses not showing up and you're waiting for over an hour. Oh, get used to waiting for one. Time slows down when its cold or raining. No more free tranfers. You must pay every time you transfer unless you have "a pass". In San Diego it's 5 bucks for an all day pass.
Now here's the problem when I rode the bus from August 05 to June 07.
8 miles and 25- 35 minutes to work driving. By bus, 11 miles, 2 hours and 3 buses each way. Leave tha house by 5:30 am to get to work before 8 am. Leave work at 5pm walk in the door at home between 7 and 7:30pm.
$60 a month total transportion cost. (No driving at all) I think monthly passes are up to $65 now.
If you are going to buy a monthly bus pass purchase it through your work. It will either be paid for with pre taxed money on your pay check or your employor will offer you a discount. In San Diego it's the law.

Mon Jun 02, 2008 6:08 pm

Fish wrote: coad wrote: dantrefethen wrote: How is the public transportation in the LA, Orange County area?

Safe? Reliable?

Not bad in Orange County. A couple bucks gets you a pass good for 24 hours of unlimited rides, and the buses are clean and pretty nice. They don't run them very often though, so be prepared to sit and wait for 20-30 minutes before one shows up.
Safe? I don't know, but I've seen and smelled shit I've never seen or smelled before on a bus.
Reliable? Most of the time, but nothing will fry your ass more then one of your busses not showing up and you're waiting for over an hour. Oh, get used to waiting for one. Time slows down when its cold or raining. No more free tranfers. You must pay every time you transfer unless you have "a pass". In San Diego it's 5 bucks for an all day pass.
Now here's the problem when I rode the bus from August 05 to June 07.
8 miles and 25- 35 minutes to work driving. By bus, 11 miles, 2 hours and 3 buses each way. Leave tha house by 5:30 am to get to work before 8 am. Leave work at 5pm walk in the door at home between 7 and 7:30pm.
$60 a month total transportion cost. (No driving at all) I think monthly passes are up to $65 now.
If you are going to buy a monthly bus pass purchase it through your work. It will either be paid for with pre taxed money on your pay check or your employor will offer you a discount. In San Diego it's the law.

Well, I'm comparing Orange County with the last buses I rode, and that was the Southside of Chicago in the 70's, so maybe "safe" is relative term. I've never felt like there was any danger on or waiting for a bus in OC.

You're right about waiting. If they run on any kind of schedule it's a mystery to me. Nothing for 30 minutes and then three in a row. You have to make a change or two, and it's a 2 hour trip pretty quick.

My big problem is that they have monster runs that go through about 5 different towns, and the street names and numbers all keep changing along the way. I mean, you can get on a bus in Newport Beach and ride it all the way out to the far edge of Riverside. If you don't know Orange County real well it's pretty confusing.

Mon Jun 02, 2008 8:04 pm

69 Jim wrote: keifernet wrote: I keep trying to ride the bus.. but some mutha fuka keeps throwing me under it before I get on! :lol:

Hold on, his term is almost over. :o

Not that one...the ones trying to get to the polls for the other two misfits you dummy! :P

Mon Jun 02, 2008 11:53 pm

Russ Wolfe wrote: crofty wrote: Ethanol takes twice as much energy to produce a gallon than gas does. Don't belive the hype.

Bull Sh-t. That was with 1980's technologies. They are using 2010 technologies now.
And the by-products are a saleble item. Cattle feeders love to get the DDG. (Dried Distiller Grain).

It's true. And with Ethanol, you're only getting about half the mileage of gasoline. Fact.

Thu Jun 05, 2008 3:42 am

in missouri, i dont really have the option, its 15 miles to the city (i live in a "bedroom community) and once there the buses arent really reliable.. so i have to drive. thought once im in town, i tend to park the car at a garage and let my skateboard take me where i need to go.

about the ethanol, ive noticed that my mileage goes down if i use the 10% ethanol blend in the rabbit. on normal 87 octane, i get 300 miles to 10 gallons, on the 89 octane blend (10% ethanol) i get about 240 or so... i just stick with the regular now, i go further on a tank. and these are highway runs, with little actual in town (stop and go) driving. about a total of 20 miles each way and i drive about 65 mph.

Thu Jun 05, 2008 12:55 pm

Ethanols' optimun A/F is 7:1. Gasoline is around 12:1. So add in 10% ethanol and you're also running a tad lean. Better for emissions, but not so good for your engine.

Fri Jun 06, 2008 12:12 pm

Fish wrote: Now here's the problem when I rode the bus from August 05 to June 07. 8 miles and 25- 35 minutes to work driving. By bus, 11 miles, 2 hours and 3 buses each way. Leave tha house by 5:30 am to get to work before 8 am. Leave work at 5pm walk in the door at home between 7 and 7:30pm. $60 a month total transportion cost. (No driving at all) I think monthly passes are up to $65 now.

That is basicly exactly my deal here. In addition to walking a half mile to get to the bus, and 2 more to getting to work. It just takes an amazingly long time to get to the same place i can drive to in 40 mins. (12 miles). And it went up to $2.00 each way with a transfer i'd need. (4 a day, 20 a week, thats now a third a tank of gas that last me a little over a week, but id still be driving some reguardless so forget it, give me my 2 hours a day back). The monthly pass here is $75. It works for some people, for me it doesnt. If you dont value your time at anything I suppose it works for anyone.

Fri Jun 06, 2008 9:27 pm

I recently moved into an apartment just seven blocks from my work... And I've been driving my old 73 Bug a lot more than any other car I own... That is until my Bus is finished. But, no riding the Bus yet. Dusted off the mountain bike and the walking shoes.

As much as this really changes the economy and the way of life of a lot of folks, I foresee many benefits. People are now finally considering alternatives that make a difference. Two friends and I are beginning to convert Beetles to electric and have already got a waiting list of potential buyers. The options are endless, there's a lot of money out there and we all have to get to work somehow. Google the "air car".

My Dad did buy the 73 I drive daily because of the oil embargo. What goes around comes around.

Sun Jun 08, 2008 4:43 am

I can ride the bus tro work only 2 times a week. Which will be 1/2 my driving. All I have to do is get to work 30 mins late (which my boss is cool with) and on Sunday morning ride my bike 12 miles because the busses dont run that early on a Sunday.

Mon Jun 09, 2008 6:59 am

My work is in the proccess of approving "Work From Home" Schedules or compressed schedules. Since the majority of our workforce can work remotely the company may allow people to work from home 1-2 times a week. I'll do the compressed schedule and work 4 10's and not drive 1 day a week, it would save some money. My rount trip milelage to work is a little over 50 miles, which isn't that much but saving the gas 1 day a week will save a little bit of money.

Mon Jun 09, 2008 8:38 am

Gas: 60 miles/week 15MPG $4.30/g for 89 octane = $17.20/week
Tokens and transfers: $22.00/week
plus the bus takes 1 hour and car only 25 minutes (35 minutes on bicycle)
and I still have to pay insurance on the car to sit in the driveway
it doesn't make sense

Mon Jun 09, 2008 11:48 am

Since I finished my single-cab, I try to ride the 'bus' as often as possible!

Mon Jun 09, 2008 1:52 pm

Splitdog wrote: Ethanols' optimun A/F is 7:1. Gasoline is around 12:1. So add in 10% ethanol and you're also running a tad lean. Better for emissions, but not so good for your engine.

Close...........

http://www.ecrostech.com/prius/original/SideBars/Stoichiometric.htm

Mon Jun 09, 2008 1:56 pm

True, but you're always going to be running a tad on the rich side of those charts. Especially turbocharged. I didn't realize, however, that Ethanol was that much different than Methanol. 9:1 vs. 6:1. Right on.

Mon Jun 09, 2008 2:13 pm

Splitdog wrote: True, but you're always going to be running a tad on the rich side of those charts. Especially turbocharged. I didn't realize, however, that Ethanol was that much different than Methanol. 9:1 vs. 6:1. Right on.

Yeah we raced methanol burning open wheel midgets a while back.
I knew methanol was pretty fat compared to ethanol and gasoline.

Tue Jun 10, 2008 3:19 pm

My work just started subsidizing monthly bus passes by 80%. So I can get a bus pass for $11 a month. Hard to argue with that when taking the bus only adds 10 minutes each way on my 24 mile commute.
I do miss driving though.

Thu Jun 12, 2008 7:20 pm

You could always bikepool in together on one of these cool conference bikes:
http://dutchbikes.us/cobi/

Looks kinda fun actually, inventive if nothing else.

Short video:

Wed Jun 18, 2008 2:19 pm

i can't smoke on the bus, it doesn't go where i'm going, it takes forever, every derelict in L.A. rides the bus. so cal public transpo sucks...