Monday, August 21, 2006
Biking and riding the train to work
Now that I live 20 miles from work, I feel guilty about driving 40 miles everyday to and from work. Why? 1) With gas at $3.19/gallon, I am looking at about $5.80/day (40mi/22mi-per-gal x $3.19/gal) not including wear and tear on the car; 2) It's air polluting; 3) I don't like driving and I hate driving in traffic. My work place is close to one of the LA Metro train station on the Blue Line, so my plan is to somehow take advantage of it.
Composit graphics made with Google Maps and Pedometer
The bike ride
The station closest to my home is at Norwalk where the Green Line ends. The Norwalk station is about 10 miles away from home via shortest path. However, the shortest path would put me on a shoulder-less, heavy & high-speed traffic, and rolling hills highway, which I am not willing to take. There must be a better way! Fortunately,.I found a web site called Bike Metro where you can find directions like any other on-line map software, except it finds directions that are bike friendly. You can set your [traffic handling] skill level and your tolerance to hills. My result came up to be 12 miles on a wide shoulder street. I have taken it a few times and it's a fairly pleasant 50 minute ride (14.4 avg mph). I tweaked the route a bit to get even less hills and more bike friendly, so now I really have it down. The best part about this route is that if I am running late, I can always just drive part way and park in a residential area to cut down the distance. If I am really late, I can always drive to the Norwalk station.
The site estimates that I:
Photo from www.mta.net/riding_metro/metro_rail/green_line.htm
The train ride
The train ride is $3 per day. The LA Metro system is based on honor/punishment system. LA Sheriff patrols the stations and checks for passes periodically. You don't want to be caught without a ticket because the fine would set you back $250.
Bike are generally allowed on the train, except certain hours (the commuting hours). Folding bikes are the exception because it is always allowed. In reality, I have seen many regular bikes on the train during the commuting hours. I am glad that the bike rule isn't too strictly enforced because most of the time, there are enough room for the bike. I am actually surprised how many people chose to take their bike on the train with them. Most of the time, they are really cheap bikes, but still, I am very happy to see them.
Anyway, I ride the Green Line from Norwalk to the Imperial transfer station to the Blue Line. The train ride generally takes 20 minutes, but it depends on whether I make the transfer promptly or not. The other problem is that the Blue Line is an aging system so it is prone to break-down. I think I have had it break down on me 3/4 times in 1.5 months... not a very good record. Fortunately, the longest additional distance is 5 miles, which is completely do-able. Assuming no break-downs, I only have to ride 1 mile to work from the end station. The other thing about the Blue Line is that it goes through Compton - a relatively poor and dangerous area. Not that I have seen anything happen, but the tension in the place can be a bit scary... Maybe I should consider buying and carrying mace :(
Composit graphics made with Google Maps and Pedometer
The bike ride
The station closest to my home is at Norwalk where the Green Line ends. The Norwalk station is about 10 miles away from home via shortest path. However, the shortest path would put me on a shoulder-less, heavy & high-speed traffic, and rolling hills highway, which I am not willing to take. There must be a better way! Fortunately,.I found a web site called Bike Metro where you can find directions like any other on-line map software, except it finds directions that are bike friendly. You can set your [traffic handling] skill level and your tolerance to hills. My result came up to be 12 miles on a wide shoulder street. I have taken it a few times and it's a fairly pleasant 50 minute ride (14.4 avg mph). I tweaked the route a bit to get even less hills and more bike friendly, so now I really have it down. The best part about this route is that if I am running late, I can always just drive part way and park in a residential area to cut down the distance. If I am really late, I can always drive to the Norwalk station.
The site estimates that I:
- Burn 461 calories
- Save 10.5 lbs of pollution
- Save $11.71 compare to driving this distance
Photo from www.mta.net/riding_metro/metro_rail/green_line.htm
The train ride
The train ride is $3 per day. The LA Metro system is based on honor/punishment system. LA Sheriff patrols the stations and checks for passes periodically. You don't want to be caught without a ticket because the fine would set you back $250.
Bike are generally allowed on the train, except certain hours (the commuting hours). Folding bikes are the exception because it is always allowed. In reality, I have seen many regular bikes on the train during the commuting hours. I am glad that the bike rule isn't too strictly enforced because most of the time, there are enough room for the bike. I am actually surprised how many people chose to take their bike on the train with them. Most of the time, they are really cheap bikes, but still, I am very happy to see them.
Anyway, I ride the Green Line from Norwalk to the Imperial transfer station to the Blue Line. The train ride generally takes 20 minutes, but it depends on whether I make the transfer promptly or not. The other problem is that the Blue Line is an aging system so it is prone to break-down. I think I have had it break down on me 3/4 times in 1.5 months... not a very good record. Fortunately, the longest additional distance is 5 miles, which is completely do-able. Assuming no break-downs, I only have to ride 1 mile to work from the end station. The other thing about the Blue Line is that it goes through Compton - a relatively poor and dangerous area. Not that I have seen anything happen, but the tension in the place can be a bit scary... Maybe I should consider buying and carrying mace :(
Pics from Nashville
Inside of the Gaylord Opryland Resort & Convention Center
A road in downtown Nashville. What road is it anyway? Let me know if you understand it. Needless to say, I was not impressed with the signage of the region. I am from LA and this seems more complex than anything I have seen back home. Also the freeway here is fairly difficult to navigate because you have to constantly merge left and right; yeah, yeah, I know LA has its fair share of crazy mergings, but in this tiny stretch just south of Nashville, you'll run into 2-3 mergings that will have you veer left and then right.
The Hermitage - residence of Andrew Jackson, you know the president on the $20 bill! I won't comment on the political/historical stuff Jackson did, but this house sure is amazing. It contains 90-95% of original items from his time. It's neat to see how relatively wealthy people lived in the 1850's.
