subway
4 posts
In 2015 everyone has rage about the concept of manspreading. There are those who think anyone who manspreads is not only a rude jackass who revels in splaying his junk in an apparent display of superiority, but who is also attempting to suggest to you, unexpecting female train rider, that you should not only behold all that is magnificent about male genitalia, but be so threatened by the glory of every man’s significant crotch circus that you should swoon and feel a bit faint just by being in its presence, if not fearful of its magnitude. All the while, pro-spreaders say simply, “Dude, my balls get hot if confined, so I need the space to keep things loose and moving ‘down there.'”
So who’s right, and more importantly, how do we solve the problem if indeed there is one. Continue reading
Do you want to know a dirty little secret? I don’t have a car and I can count on one hand the amount of times I’ve been behind the wheel of a car that wasn’t attached to a pole or a track. My sister claims to still have traumatic flashbacks to the time I once drove her car in a parking lot. I don’t know why she let me do that.
But I live in Los Angeles, car city!, have a regular 9 – 6 job and a semi-active social life when I’m not commenting in the IRC about how much I want Chad to be my boyfriend.
How is that possible? (To those of you who live on the east coast, please, just go with this.)
Well, and I’m asking you now to please stifle your laughter and/or incredulous looks—Los Angeles has a pretty sweet public transportation system. Remember, Los Angeles’ sprawl wasn’t built by the car, no matter what people tell you. It was the Red Car that spread LA out. Watch Who Framed Roger Rabbit? for more on that.
We’ve got trains, light rail, buses and a subway. Because our weather is lovely and our streets are relatively flat in the city-portions, it’s also a great city for bicycling. And if you believe our Mayor, we’re interested in improving the public transportation system we have and have committed money towards doing so.
Location, Location, Location
I live in the central part of Los Angeles near a Red/Purple Line (the subway) stop. It gets me quick access to downtown, Koreatown and Hollywood. I never have to think about parking or valet or any of those other supposed typical Los Angeles experiences.
The best way to choose a place to live that’s convenient to your job, your transportation choices and “necessities” is to research. I like Walk Score for grading the walkability and transit-ability of your new neighborhood. It’s actually how I first ended up picking my post-college apartment. It had the best walk score of the different places I’d looked at. This is also a good thing to do so you don’t end up being the human interest anecdote in an LA Times article about traffic.
Train, Bus, or Rapid
You need to familiarize yourself with the public transportation options in your city. One way to do that is via their website, Google transit, and of course, experience.
I like to explain the way that LA’s transportation system works to n00bs as a series of levels. First, you have the train. This is easy. Everyone likes trains. It appeals to your inner 8 year old. The Gold Line is the cleanest and prettiest, going through Arroyo Seco. The Blue Line carries the most people and goes past and to some really awesome stuff. (Watts Towers, Long Beach.) The Red and Purple are the fastest (and the most underground. Yes, LA has a subway.) The first phase of the Expo Line will theoretically be opening in December and then we will get to visit Culver City, where the set of Cougartown is located.
The next level is the Rapid level. It’s hard to hate a Rapid bus—they’re so fast. These are the Red express buses that have limited numbers of stops. Depending on the route, they can be crowded. The 720 at rush hour going westbound on Wilshire can be a sardine can of attractive professionals commuting from downtown to the Westside.
Lastly, you have the orange regular buses. Depending on the route, you can run into hipsters (the 2 or the 4 going through Echo Park and Silver Lake has a really high concentration of skinny jeans), grandmas, families of five or me. Wave to me. I’m cute. I’ll probably be reading a book, because I can, because I am not driving.
There’s also the DASH. Everyone loves the DASH once they’ve ridden it. This is actually a Los Angeles Department of Transportation system that runs small circular routes throughout the city and costs $0.35. (Full disclosure in the interest of being journalistic-y, I used to work at the LADOT and I cannot say enough good things about paying $0.35 because you just don’t feel like walking the last 3 blocks and it’s right there.)
Bicycling in Los Angeles
I have to admit; I’ve actually gone on only one group ride. I was previously a much more utilitarian bicyclist versus someone active in that community who did all of the fun social stuff like the crazy rides. Since the ride I did with C.I.C.L.E. was the most fun I’ve had fully clothed in months, I definitely am changing my tune on that.
Los Angeles has an incredibly active cycling community. I previously thought they were kind of crazy, but if you ever ride your bike on a lovely sunshine-filled Los Angeles day, you can identify with the kind of crazy that they are. And they have done a lot of good work in the city and county towards recognizing cyclist’s rights, getting safer bike paths and routes (4th Street Bicycle Boulevard!), and better amenities for bicyclists and pedestrians which benefit all residents of a community.
They are also the main force behind the creation of CicLAvia, a car-free festival in Los Angeles that is coming back on April 10th. It’s closing down 7 miles of street in the heart of Los Angeles for people to walk, bike, play and basically interact with their community in a way that is impossible from behind the windshield of a car. It’s also a great way to positively experience neighborhoods people often have negative assumptions about: MacArthur Park and East LA, for example.
So I hope to see all of you LA-based Crasstalkers on the streets this Sunday. Next time, I’ll write a round-up of really great bars/restaurants that are accessible to public transportation. Because remember, if you take the Metro there, and a cab back, you don’t need a designated driver.
Have you noticed everywhere you look there’s a Subway sandwich shop? Like literally on every street corner, and in every shopping center — there are one, now two, or perhaps three Subway eateries in a single mile radius? Yes? Well, that’s not just a coincidence.
Has the burger giant been dethroned? Well, yes and no.
Subway has now globally surpassed McDonald’s in store presence, a feat heretofore not accomplished by any other fast food company. The sandwich chain opened 33,749 restaurants worldwide at the end of last year, to McDonald’s 32,737 stores. That’s a lot of five-dollar foot longs.
What does this say about the expectation of our eating habits? Certainly we all recall recent marketing campaigns that tout Subway sandwiches as an alternative to typical greasy fast food choices. Their liberal use of words like “eat fresh,” is used often to combat the growing concerns regarding the copious trans fats and high caloric counts of their fast food counterparts.
Even our friend “Jared the Subway Guy” still appears every now and again to show us that he’s kept the weight off, even though we are well aware that if you eat excessively at any fast food restaurant any and all attempts will be outweighed by sheer input of calories. A bit of slight of hand on the part of Subway? Perhaps. But the nutritional data is solid. It’s true that the sandwich giant does offer options that in moderation are healthier than the typical fast food fare.
For instance, Subway’s “Fresh Fit” meal option includes sliced turkey, lean roast beef, or Black Forest ham, with fresh veggies, (without cheese, mayo, or any of the other sauce choices), on baked whole grain bread, and a choice of apples, yogurt, or baked chips, and a water. Average total calories: 355 to 450. Conversely, McDonald’s flagship Big Mac Meal, which includes a Big Mac, medium french fries, and a large soda, is a staggering 1230 calories. In addition, the newer Angus Third Pounder burger tips the scales at 720 to 860 calories (depending on options) alone.
This is not to say that McDonald’s, in a demonstrated mea culpa, hasn’t stepped up their game to offer healthier options like salads, wraps, fresh fruit, yogurt, smoothies, and other lesser fatty foods, but realistically these fewer options are not what’s driving consumers to eat their offerings. And it shows in their revenue.
While Subway is dominating store numbers, McDonald’s is still the overall revenue champ. The company reported $24 billion in revenue for its last fiscal year. Subway generated roughly $15.2 billion, according to a report by the Wall Street Journal.
McDonald’s on Tuesday said global sales at established restaurants in February rose 3.9 percent, as strong sales in Europe helped offset a U.S. market that was hit by high unemployment and rising gasoline prices. In addition, February sales were up 2.7 percent here in the United States, helped by strong demand for its McCafe beverages, reports the Associated Press.
So apparently to offset sales lost nationally because people were out of work and couldn’t afford gasoline to get to a McDonald’s drive thru, the company is relieved that some people were able to beat the odds and drag themselves in the stores for McDonald’s new line of coffee sundaes.
Obviously this is the next obstacle Subway has to face in its efforts for complete fast food domination. Sadly, I think there are probably fewer actual “winners” here than both companies would like to acknowledge.