<p>My son will be an incoming freshman at UCLA in the fall. We live in San Diego. After researching for hours today, and since you can't have a car, I cannot figure out a decent way for him to get back and forth. There has to be a relatively easy way. I hope! Thanks!!!</p>
<p>We searched as well and didn’t come up with one. It’s possible to get from UCLA to LA Union Station and from there take a train to SD but it’s a pain to get from UCLA to Union station in the center of LA.</p>
<p>Its not really a pain to get there. There are buses that go from UCLA to Union all the time. I think the Metro Rapid 2 does, but I’m not sure.</p>
<p>The UCLA transportation office told me the bus to Union Station takes about 1.5 hours. That does seem brutal. No? How about a taxi to Union Station? I wonder the time savings?</p>
<p>Really, you can’t drive 2 hours to pick him up? Most parents on CC would be glad their kids were so close. To cut drive time, drive on off hours to avoid traffic, use the carpool lane.</p>
<p>By a pain I didn’t mean logistically difficult - just that it takes a while to get from UCLA to Union station on the bus or bus/metro but I’d be happy if I was incorrect on this.</p>
<p>Another option is to talk a friend with a car into driving him to Union station. At least it’d be more direct without a lot of stops.</p>
<p>Batllo~~~ This made me laugh. Like he’s not spoiled enough!</p>
<p>its not a pain to get to union station normally its about an hour bus ride but quite manageable (i don’t live in SD but i can also take the train home to Inland Empire area)… taxi is not worth it really while its pretty hard to get a ride to union station as most people don’t have cars… but Qtazza, most parents i know are very glad to pick up their kids since they will miss them after a couple of weeks but i guess sometimes thats not the case :p</p>
<p>My daughter is a freshman this year. We live in the SF area. It’s about a 7 hour drive, which we only do at the beginning and end of the school year, and about a 1 1/4 hour flight. We actually live in the Napa Valley so we are 1 1/2 hours from all area airports. So when she comes home for holidays or a rare weekned we have a 3 hour round trip drive plus the cost of airfare. So I guess what I’m saying is driving to pick him up and drop him off, if timed away from rush hour, is probably your best bet.</p>
<p>Qtazza,</p>
<p>The Metro Red Rapid 720 is the best (and fastest) way to get to Union Station by public transportation. Your son can pick it up on Wilshire Blvd, get off on Western, jump on the purple line metrorail and get to Union Station in about an hour (even on Friday afternoons/evenings!) Plus it only costs $2.50! I’ve personally made this trip dozens of times… It’s a piece of cake.</p>
<p>For getting to Union Station, here is another way (I haven’t personally tried it, but heard it works): take Big Blue Bus #1 from Ackerman Terminal (weekends) / Hilgard Terminal (weekdays) at UCLA to Santa Monica & Bundy, and then transfer to Big Blue Bus #10 “Freeway Express” which goes to Union Station. Also takes about an hour, but might be cheaper because the Big Blue Bus is only 25 cents with BruinCard (not sure about the express tho).</p>