The Bus Bench

Scenes from A Daily Dash to Downtown. The Bus Bench is victorious against Blogging.LA. The 10 wins!!!

Amidst a throng of unsuspecting commuters merely returning home after a day working in Santa Monica was a silent albeit overly melodramatic blogging bastard, whose desire to turn a regular bus ride into a remarkable event, well, was probably annoying.

In any event, it took approximately 40 minutes for the Big Blue Bus #10 to get from Yale and Santa Monica Blvd to Olive and 7th. (Starting time was 5:10 p.m. at Santa Monica and 3rd Street). The MTA 439 line took 59 minutes, most likely owing to its street travel at the outset and then the heavy Freeway congestion as it trailed the BBB #10.

Having started earlier as well as arriving first, I elected to take a victory lap on the DASH, but failed to see that I got on the wrong one. By the time I looked up from my camera several minutes later, I realised I was on First Street. It was the final DASH of the evening, and as such I had to walk all the way back to Clifton's where Will was graciously awaiting my return from the not-so-clever bit of boasting I had hoped to have recorded photographically.

Here are some hardly dramatic still photos from the somnambulistic race of the rush hour buses:
       

-BusTard 

editor edit--the gloating title was added by browne, because i'm a little bit of an asshole, a cute asshole, but still an asshole.

Next challenge if you were at Paramount Studio and you wanted to get to Pershing Square for drinks at the Biltmore Gallery Bar. Bus all of the way or a combination bike to the Red Line station. Challengers line up for your ass kicking.

Save The Date for the Big Bus Race!

This Thursday, 17 April 2008, will be the Big Bus Race that was started some months ago—inadvertently—when Julia Frey on Blogging L.A. (now MetBlogs) queried readers for advice on the best bus to get from west to downtown. Out of the advice rose a challenge, and the stage has since been set: turtle vs. turtle. (When it comes to Los Angeles public transit, there are no rabbits!)

I am one of the "racers" and Will Campbell is the contender. Mr. Campbell has explained rather nicely what is soon to go down here.

-BusTard

LA Eastside and sunscreen. New blog, new post, same bad attitude.

I found a group blog that will let me play. Lots of LA blogs I can’t even comment on anymore.

Can you believe that? I’m actually banned from two major group blogs.

Blogging LA is not one of them. I’m still allowed to talk there.

I’m now writing for LAEastside a group blog that appreciates me for the obnoxious ass that I am.

I’m so clever and smart, yet I am not ad friendly (LAeastside doesn’t have ads, so that’s not a problem). I’m not kid friendly or even career ladder climbing friendly.

I hate lots of stuff, lots of stuff that other people like to pretend is ok.

I am also self-sabotaging. At one point I was suppose to write some thing for the LA Times, the art section. I was supposed to cover the art walk and I turned in a story that painted me as a voyeur who was stalking artists. It was so freakin’ funny, but the editor dude I don’t think appreciated my sexy slant.

I think things like, “Are you mad?” Were stated…oh well, everyone over there got fired anyway…

What’s the fun of writing if you have to be very dot your i’s and cross your t’s about the whole matter? I have lots of expensive degrees I can get a real job if I really want one, with benefits.

Why be boring about writing when there’s virtually no way to make money from doing it and even fewer ways to get health insurance.

Of course if you are boring, then you go ahead and write boring things. I’m not boring. Why should I fix what’s thoroughly entertaining.

So check out my blog entry on the new LAeastside about how people are really fucking stupid to pay thirty dollars to look at some bridges, so that really rich dudes can sell lofts, because come on, that’s what tours are all about. And how can any group that claims to be about the environment or conservation not at the very least have VERY OBVIOUS alternative transportation directions to an event that the are putting on.

Want to tell me I’m an ass. Go here :)

Browne Molyneux

PS want to spend 30 dollars in a smart way? Go to Caravan Books in downtown LA on 550 South Grand Avenue. This store specializes in books on LA history and California. You can buy a book about the bridges or even talk to the owner and then do your own walking tour that doesn’t have to do with gentrification.

PS this blog is still on in full force. And we're getting ready to do another art project with our art section, so be ready for that.

grosses bises

Imagine. . .

Imagine Metro's employees using the very buses their bosses tell the rest of us to ride, despite the problems regarding distance, transfers and time required for what might otherwise be a 15-minute drive.

-BusTard

Pink Slip Pity Party for Roger Snoble

Join BusTard, Browne and the BusBenchers for the Pink Slip Pity Party for Roger Snoble next Friday (18 April) at 6 p.m., at Union Bagel. (We might go over to Traxx, unless we have young 'uns among us.) Too, be sure to bring a small written piece—say, 50 words or so—about where you think Roger should be employed next. Best bit gets a Toy Bus Metro Liner and runner-up gets a Roger Snoble Mustache Mask!

Go Metro with your American Express Platinum Card

On my way to start trouble I charged a transfer. That’s right I charged it. METRO is now accepting credit cards at all of it’s train station. You can’t buy a monthly pass, but you can by a day pass, transfer, or one way fare.

Obviously there is no minimum limit, since I was able to charge 30 cents. And by the date on the following picture you can see I often can’t find cash, so me charging 30 cents is a common occurrence.

But the question I have is: Are credit cards more eco-friendly than cash?

I’m going to say no. A credit card is paperwork, an electronic impulse goes from the machine to the credit company to me, even if it’s a completely cashless transaction. The amount of energy expended to make a credit card transaction happen has to be more than a regular cash transaction.

I think convenience breeds pollution. I don’t think anything that can be done in two minutes is a good idea. I’m actually sick of the having to do the 'everything very fast type' thing that goes on in LA

I think transactions that leave the least amount of evidence that they occurred is the most ecological way to spend your money.

I’m not bashing METRO in regards to this, because this is not rooted in METRO. They actually seem to embrace the philosophy of we’re going too fast, with their super slow stellar bus service.

And it is way more convenient for me to use a credit card or a debit card (they take those too) than it would be for me to walk up the freakin’ hill to Grand go to my bank, then end up with weird dollar pieces that I even sometimes think are quarters and others more often than not sometimes think are quarters, so I end up having these awkward conversations, “That was a dollar, so you owe me some change,” or “I gave you enough, that’s a dollar.”

Sometimes I just let people think it’s a quarter. I like my life too much to care about 75 cents.

I used the word eco-friendly, what the fuck is wrong with me…

Browne

Imagine. . .

Imagine a metro system NOT more concerned with playing games. . .

-BusTard