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Comment by BlackjackCF | Hacker News Reader

Unfortunately, it's not an easy problem to solve.

I live in LA and I have to drive to work because there's just not simply a viable alternative to where I have to commute to (West Adams area to West Hollywood.) The bike lanes across LA are spotty at best and there's a good chance you're going to get hit/brushed by a car because the closer you get to Beverly Hills/West Hollywood, the more impatient/asshole-ish drivers become.

LA is trying to solve this right now with better public transportation, but even then the line that runs into Beverly Hills/West Hollywood requires me to take I think a train and a bus before I can even get to it (also it's not complete for another 4 years, I think.)

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Surely the city could find a series of roads that could be made into one-way streets, and have segregated bike lanes on the other side?

There are a number of issues with this. One, Los Angeles is VERY sprawling; people are traveling from every direction to every other direction, there are no easy routes you can make that will cut very much traffic. You would need to turn a LOT of streets into one-ways with bike lanes.

Two, the traffic density and management is crazy here. So many traffic lights and stop and go traffic. Major streets are constantly crossing other major streets, which require long stops at lights while the other major street moves through. Riding a bike in the area is especially hard, because you are constantly having to come to a complete stop, wait for 3 minutes, and start again.

This also makes otherwise walkable neighborhoods very difficult for pedestrians to navigate. Red lights need to cycle much, much faster.

This. It's also really, really annoying that all the lights on an entire stretch of a street cycle at the same time. It really fucks up traffic. To make it even worse, people often try and race to the other side even on yellows and block up the intersection, which makes traffic even worse.

I didn't realize it was such a huge problem until I moved to Los Angeles a few weeks ago. We did a bang up job finding an apartment with grocery stores, restaurants and parks within walking distance. Unfortunately, the red light situation makes it somewhat difficult to get to these amenities.

LA needs to do a better job of balancing pedestrian and motorist interests. With more and more people abandoning or at least de-emphasizing cars, I hope and expect this balancing act to happen sooner rather than later.

I see it happening in different parts of LA. Santa Monica and West Hollywood are starting to adopt the "rent-a-bike" system that I've seen in NYC and Denver. They're also starting to set up more bike parking areas to be more bike friendly. I don't know how well it will work out in the long-run, but I do really hope to see more bike lanes in LA to encourage bike commuting.

surely there's a bus that goes straight up fairfax?

edit: looks like the 217 bus goes up fairfax and into west hollywood. why not take that?

The 217 bus would be perfect if it had a stop in between its San Vicente and Santa Monica stop. It would probably be another mile walk from there.

It ultimately does come down to convenience. :( Commuting by bus/Expo line means easily adding another 30 minutes to my commute if I happen to hit all the correct times at once.

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