Is it possible to get from San Francisco to Los Angeles without driving yourself? California is known around the United States as a home for lefties and libs, and as a result it should be a bastion of easy-to-use public transit, right? That’s what Adam Does Not Exist set out to examine in a recent YouTube series, traversing the left coast in the fashion of a car-free American. The two biggest hubs in the state are just shy of 400 miles apart, and according to Google Maps, it should take around 6 hours if you drive. There’s positively no way you can get from one to the other by transit in that kind of time, so Adam set out to make the same journey in two days, you know, if it’s even possible at all. No taxis, no airplanes, no Amtrak, just municipal stuff. It’s an ambitious goal, if a bit ill advised.
On day one Adam seems upbeat and ready to take on the world. I’m sure he kept telling himself what a good idea it was to make this journey without much pre-planning or mapping it out, but by the end of the first day he seems to understand just what level of hell he’s built for himself. The day begins well before sunrise and ends well after sunset, with hours of bus, train, and bikeshares in between. When you’re trying to make a journey like this, you don’t get to pick where you eat lunch or go to the bathroom, because you’re on a pre-set schedule that won’t slow down for you. Adam packed some snacks and a backpack full of supplies, but judging by the above video, his biggest hardship was finding an unlocked toilet.
How do you get there?
If you want to make this journey yourself, take a Citibike from downtown San Francisco to your nearest BART red line. Take the BART to Millbrae the hop on Caltrans train to Gilroy. From Gilroy south, you’re hopping muni busses an hour or so at a time. Gilroy to Salinas. Salinas to King City. King City to Paso Robles. Paso Robles to San Luis Obispo. San Luis Obispo to Santa Barbara. Santa Barbara to Ventura. And on and on and on.
In the end Adam does manage to make it to Los Angeles, but it took him an entire day and most of a second. There were a few close calls with late busses, close connections, and dodgy public restrooms. Fortunately for most people taking this trip, there are easier (and cheaper) ways to get from Norcal to Socal, like Flixbus, Amtrak, or Greyhound. If you can’t afford a plane ticket and don’t have a car, Adam’s travel plan probably wouldn’t be your preferred method of descending the west coast, nor should it be. With so many different busses and connections to make, it’s complicated and annoying if you aren’t used to it.
There’s just so much that can go wrong here, and a single missed step could have you delayed by half a day or more. Adam managed to make the trip for just $61 all-in over two days, or about three Hailey Bieber smoothies from Erewhon. You’d be hard pressed to make that trip in a car for less, what with the current price of gasoline in Cali. Maybe this is the best way to prove that the state, and indeed the nation, should invest in high speed rail.
