One Stop Transportation Options

transportation-appGetting around Los Angeles has always been, well, pretty frustrating. In recent times, apps have been created to try to better “navigate” the situation as it were. Some have been more successful than others.

The most recent one was created in conjunction with the city of LA and Xerox. Go LA – while designed for tourists – has become a useful app for locals to have as well. Similar in style to Google Maps and HopStop, it comes with additional options including: Walk, bike, drive, ride a motorcycle, take public transit, summon an on-demand ride through Lyft, book a car share through Zipcar, and soon, a bike through LA’s new bike share. It also comes with directions to parking (near where the user is) along with travel time.

What really makes Go LA stand out is that it “not only combines these different modes into various combinations for complete door-to-door directions (walk-bus-walk, etc.) it also allows you to choose itineraries based on three categories: Sooner, Cheaper, Greener.” That is in line with what people are thinking each time they leave home: how immediate is their trip? Do they have time to exercise en route or visit grandma before they go? It’s a good feature.

There is so much traffic in LA, possibly the worst in the world. Indeed according to a report undertaken by Texas A&M Transportation Institute, one driver sat through 80 hours of traffic delays. If an app can help one avoid that, then it’s worth its weight in gold.