Considering I took a 9-to-5 job recently, traveling is somewhat difficult these days. This means, I must travel on weekends or holidays or wait for my two-week vacation time to accrue. Regardless, I live in a world city. As much as I don’t want to acknowledge that fact, considering I am a Los Angeles native, there are many great things about this city. Lets start with the basics of Los Angeles: How to get around Los Angeles!

LA is very much a car city. This means it’s pretty unfriendly when it comes to public transportation. Yes, things are changing… slowly. Visitors and tourists don’t realize that LA is VERY spread out. Therefore taking public transportation will take you as long as driving in rush hour traffic. At least you don’t have to drive the train. That’s one stress factor to check off your list.

A few year ago, Los Angeles made the list of second most extensive public transportation hub in the United States. That’s because of its bus system. Our buses go down each street in LA. They mostly travel up and down the street which makes it easy if you’re blindly headed in one direction.

These days the LA Metro Rail system is expanding. It’s expanding slowly but there are several new light rail lines under construction. For example, they recently completed the Expo line that goes to Downtown Santa Monica. There’s a Crenshaw line traveling down the middle of LA and a few more lines proposed at the moment. It’ll be great when it’s all done.

At the moment a few lines take you to the most well-known areas of LA. You can reach Hollywood, Santa Monica BLVD, the Santa Monica pier, Downtown LA, Koreatown, Long Beach, Universal Studios and even LAX (you have to take a bus from Aviation station if you need to get to LAX but its doable), to name a few. Remember, Disneyland is located in Orange County and they don’t have a public rail system.

Getting around LA without a car is not easy, but with a little patience and research you can get anywhere for cheap.

LA Metro Rail

Considering I’m all about budget-friendly traveling, the Metro Rail system is the cheapest and easiest way to travel within LA. Currently, there’s the Blue, Green, Red, Purple, Gold and Expo line that do all the heavy lifting.

A one-way fare is $1.75 with a transfer fee of $00.50 cents. If it’s your first time riding the Metro, you’ll have to purchase a TAP card.

A TAP card is $1 USD.

Once you get a tap card, you can pay as you go and put money on your card throughout your stay or you can buy passes.

A day pass is $7. This includes any transfers and unlimited rides.

Weekly passes are (or 7 days) is $25.

Monthly passes are $100.

A TAP card can be used at any LA Metro Rail or bus.

Rail Lines and where they go

The Blue Line

Lets start with the Blue Line. The Blue Line goes from Downtown Long Beach to Downtown Los Angeles. Among the many stops you can check out The Queen Mary, The Pike Outlets, Pine avenue, the beaches of LBC and beautiful Downtown Long Beach.

The Blue Line has many stops in Long Beach but if you continue heading north, you can stop in Compton, Watts and South Central.

If you continue towards Downtown LA. You can get off at Pico station to transfer to the Expo Line or get off for the Staples Center. The Downtown LA stop drops you off at 7th Street Metro Center. Downtown has many different venues, restaurants and amazing things to check out. Downtown LA is beautiful and hosts many landmarks from the past but is also creating new ones each day.

The Green Line

The Green Line goes from Norwalk to Redondo Beach. You can transfer to the Blue line at Willowbrook/Rosa Parks station and head to Downtown Long Beach or Downtown LA. Currently, you can stop at Aviation and take a free shuttle to LAX if you’re headed to the airport.

The Red Line

The Red Line goes from Downtown LA to North Hollywood. Along the way you can stop at some great attractions like the infamous Hollywood BLVD and see the stars on the floor. The Kodak Theater and the Chinese Theater are among these stops at Hollywood and Highland stop. You can make your way to Silverlake or head all the way to Universal Studios by stopping at Universal City.

The Gold Line

The Gold Line goes from Downtown LA the San Gabriel Valley. On the way you can hit Chinatown, Old Town Pasadena. On the other hand, going the other direction you can hit Little Tokyo and other suburban neighborhoods.

The Purple line

Currently under construction. This line is expanding. However, now it goes from Downtown LA to Koreatown.

The Expo Line

The Expo Line is LA’s new line. From Downtown LA you can take it all the way to the Santa Monica Pier.

 

Los Angeles and Commute Time

There is no central area in Los Angeles. It all depends on what you want to see. Staying anywhere near a Metro station is advisable if you’re not planning on renting a car.

Since these are the only Metro Rail lines at the time, there are a lot of stops in between you and your destination. To give you an example of how long it takes to get somewhere. I would give it one hour to get from Downtown Long Beach to Downtown LA. However, driving that same distance can take longer with traffic.

My best advice is plan before arriving and use the Metro Rail. Metro Rail doesn’t go everywhere, but you can get as close to your destination as possible and consider transferring to a local bus to your destination.

Let Me Break It Down For You:

LA Metro Rail lines include the Blue, Green, Red, Purple, Gold and Expo line

A one-way fare is $1.75 with a transfer fee of $00.50 cents.

The TAP card is $1.00 one-time fee.

Day passes is $7

A week pass is (or 7 days) is $25.

Monthly passes are $100.

A TAP card can be used at any LA Metro Rail or bus.

For schedules and fare information check out LA Metro’s website at  www.metro.net.

Here are a few maps of the Metro Rail for you to download: