cars at caltech

Colleges and Universities A-Z California Institute of Technology
21

<p>Thanks for all the driving tips. Yes, MOV = multi-occupant vehicle (or carpool) lanes. When you said those lanes were the centermost lanes, did you mean in the center of the freeway between the inbound and outbound lanes, or in the center of the inbound lanes, i.e. non-MOV inbound lanes on either side of the MOV lanes? If the MOV are in the center of the freeway, are they reversible lanes or one-way only?</p>

<p>Is anyone here from Boston, NYC, Chicago, or Houston? If so, how would you compare driving in LA to driving in each of those cities? I get along just fine with Chicago and Houston drivers (even though Houston drivers have a peculiar habit of stopping at the exact point where the entrance ramp merges with the freeway). But NYC and Boston drivers are very scarey! Each time I exit those cities unscathed, I breathe a sigh of relief. No doubt, that feeling is reciprocated by all the NYC and Boston drivers whom I've held up by my slow driving.</p>

22

<p>hmm.. I've always lived in Cali, so I'm not quite sure what MOV lanes are like elsewhere, but what the "centermost lane" means is the farthest lane to the left in your direction. You'll see it... it's clearly marked "CARPOOL LANE Hours: blah blah" :) are you driving yourself to Caltech, or is a parent?</p>

23

<p>I'm from Houston, and I remember driving for the first time in LA. At night. Lost. While it was raining. It was pretty scary--we were in the rightmost lane, trying to find the hotel, going 5-10-who knows what under the speed limit. </p>

<p>However, I've had a little more experience with travel, now--flying roundtrip across the country twice a year will do that. So what can I say about driving? It's really not that bad. I've gone into LA a dozen times, usually with a native as my co-pilot for the tricky streets around Hollywood. The freeways (not "highways") are actually pretty slick. they're not as straight and elevated as Texas, but as long as you're not constantly worrying about where to exit (hint: watch the mileage estimates on mapquest), then it's not so bad. Another thing that often caught me off guard was the exit only lanes, which are prefaced by a thick white line, almost without fail. </p>

<p>Parking fees aren't that bad (off-campus now, so free even), but space on campus is really at a premium, so it's understandable that they want to solve the problem with an economic hammer.</p>

24

<p>Wyldman, I fear my first venture will resemble yours - alas! I'm hoping for clear skies, though, because rain always makes driving more difficult. </p>

<p>No, dancinchik, my parents will not be coming with me. My father has been dead for 25 years and my mother is the world's worst driver. She'd be guaranteed to knock off at least one pre-frosh if she were to drive in LA. </p>

<p>You probably all think I'm batty for asking such detailed questions about traffic. But the elderly sometimes need to steel their nerves. Here in the Midwest, LA has a reputation for bad traffic and road rage. Friends who drive there frequently rent cars with On-Star because of the difficulty of getting around. I'm too cheap for that, so am hoping that my navigator can safely guide me through the maze.</p>

25

<p>Hopefully we won't have rain. If we do, I recommend being extra careful because LA drivers aren't used to rain (happens only a few times a year) and so they can't keep the correct following distance, etc. It's always amazed me that in Rochester people can drive fine in a foot of snow, whereas in Virginia a half-inch dusting closes schools for a day.</p>

26

<p>Not to spread horror stories, but I believe there was a frosh last year who drove his car to Caltech from West Virginia and discovered that he had nowhere to park.</p>

27

<p><em>growl</em> <em>bite</em> no scaring the children. :-D</p>

28

<p>So rain in L.A. = snow in LA? (I've driven during snow in LA; it was a hoot!)</p>

29

<p>Wow, you've seen snow in LA? I've lived in LA my entire life and I've never seen snow here. (Though I have seen hail... maybe twice.)</p>

<p>It doesn't rain very often, but it does rain hard a couple of times a year. Probably more closer to the mountains, where Pasadena is. It's not a lot of worry about, especially since Caltech's campus is so small that you're five minutes away from anything no matter where you are. Or you can take the tunnels, of course, and not get wet at all.</p>

<p>Watch out for slick roads right after a rain, though. Everyone in LA drives (shh, Ben) so there's probably more oil on the roads than if it were just asphalt. Other than that, nothing to be concerned about. The rain's nice. It washes the smog right out of the air (ordinarily you won't even notice it's there), so from where I live, I can actually see the mountains. :)</p>

<p>What you might need to worry about is the heat in the summer. If you're not from the west coast, it might take some getting used to -- it tends to get very hot and dry in the summer. Use lots of sunscreen and lotion. Watch out for rattlesnakes in shady spots, though I don't think they come down from the hills often. If you do visit JPL for SURF or something, watch out for deer, too.</p>

30

<p>The <em>other</em> LA - roughly 1600 miles east and a tad south of where you are. Snow is rare there, but occasionally falls. The drivers all go nuts when it does. But Louisiana drivers are very comfortable with rain. I think it rains more days than not.</p>

<p>We have lots of oversized rodents, a.k.a. deer, here in the Midwest. They frequently nibble on the shrubs just outside my window. Most people around here have scored at least one deer on the highway, although I've been lucky enough to avoid them. Slow driving does have its rewards!</p>

<p>The only poisonous snake around here is the extremely shy Massasauga Rattler. I've known only one person who has ever seen one. For many years he managed a fen where they are found, but even he saw them only a few times. Have you ever seen a rattlesnake on campus? </p>

<p>It may be surprising, but the average temperature in the summer here (Ohio) is higher than in Los Angeles. Your summer relative humidity is higher, although we have significantly more rain. In winter, things are reversed. Our temperatures are lower and our relative humidity higher.</p>

<p>UG admin says there is no smog in Pasadena. Are they overly optimistic?</p>

31

<p>Unless you have severe allergies or breathing trouble, smog is never a problem... and you rarely see it anymore, I think it's been getting better since I got here.</p>

<p>I have an econ prof who loves L.A.. While I don't quite share his infatuation, his [url="<a href="http://www.hss.caltech.edu/%7Ekcb/Border.shtml#LA%22%5Drhapsodizing%5B/url"&gt;http://www.hss.caltech.edu/~kcb/Border.shtml#LA"]rhapsodizing[/url&lt;/a&gt;] on this topic is fun to read. Highlights:</p>

<p>[ul]
[li]Los Angeles has an overall crime rate 50% lower than Seattle, 47% lower than Minneapolis, 66% lower than Atlanta (no surprise there), and significantly lower than say Houston, Dallas, Denver, Phoenix, Toledo, Kansas City, Portland, Columbus, or Boston, to name a few.</p>[/li]
<p>Some of you have complained that the previous paragraph lumps all crime together, but that L.A. has more violent crime. Well, the murder rate is lower than say Minneapolis, Phoenix, Pittsburgh, Kansas City, Cleveland, Charlotte, or Denver. (And those are not the leaders by any means.) The overall violent crime rate is lower than say Minneapolis, Seattle, Kansas City, Boston, Dallas, or Charlotte. Of course it's lower than the really violent cities such as Detroit, Philadelphia, Atlanta, Miami, or Memphis.</p>

<p>[li]Then of course there is the weather. The average July high temperature in Los Angeles is 75.3 (Fahrenheit). This is cooler than Houston (92.7), Denver (88.2), New York (85.2), Minneapolis--St. Paul (84.0), Boston (81.8), but a tick warmer than Seattle--Tacoma (75.2).</p>[/li]
<p>On the other end, the average January low in Los Angeles is 47.8, which is warmer than Minneapolis--St. Paul (2.8), Denver (16.1), Boston (21.6), New York (25.3), and Seattle--Tacoma (35.2). (At least the last one is above freezing.)[/ul]</p>

<p>And that's all L.A. proper -- not the leafy suburbs like Pasadena, which are REALLY safe (and, according to this prof, not real L.A. at all).</p>

<p>P.S. There was snow in this L.A. -- in 1949.</p>

32

<p>I'm not surprised that there's more temperature variation in the Midwest. We're near the ocean, and the high specific heat capacity of water... okay, you probably know all of this, so I won't geek out at you.</p>

<p>I've never seen a rattlesnake on campus, but then again, I didn't spend a lot of time on campus. I've heard of people seeing dead rattlesnakes, though. Anyway, there are cute turtles in the ponds, if you're interested in seeing reptiles.</p>

<p>There really isn't much smog anywhere in LA, actually. Sometimes you can see it floating over downtown, but even then it never descends and forces people to go indoors like it did a few decades ago. Pasadena is probably smogless.</p>

33

<p>
[QUOTE]
UG admin says there is no smog in Pasadena. Are they overly optimistic?

[/QUOTE]
</p>

<p>I myself was very concerned with LA's rumored smog last year. And while I haven't been in enough US cities to give an overall assessment, I can honestly say that Pasadena has cleaner, better air than the Bay Area, where I've lived most of my life. </p>

<p>There's virtually no smog until possibly summer. However, classes are ending around then anyways, and with the stifling heat, one wouldn't want to go outside much anyways. </p>

<p>Basically, if one finds the air quality around Stanford suitable, they won't have any complaints about Caltech.</p>

34

<p>I'm following up for people who might read this thread in the future. LA drivers are not rude. In fact, despite all the reports of road rage out there, I was very pleasantly surprised to find LA drivers polite. Any time I wanted to change lanes, I merely signaled. Someone quickly let me in. Furthermore, the drivers didn't just make a small hole, but gave me ample space to change lanes. </p>

<p>LA freeways do have annoying stop signs or traffic lights where entrance ramps join freeways, so drivers can't properly accellerate. Also, far too many traffic signs are so sprayed with graffiti as to be illegible. However, overall, driving in LA was easy. Even rush hour traffic was a breeze compared to Chi, Houston, Boston, or NY. Was I just lucky, or is driving in the LA area usually so uncomplicated?</p>

35

<p>i think its because pasadena really isn't la....</p>

<p>downtown la during rush hour.....probably worst traffic in the nation....</p>

<p>i have a caltech parking related question</p>

<p>where, for how long, and for how much is visitor parking?</p>

<p>like, say if a friend drove over from ucla to visit me for like a weekend, would there be somewhere to park overnight and would it cost a fortune?</p>

36

<p>Your friend will not have to display a permit on the weekend. Just make sure your friend does not park in a reserved spot.
from <a href="http://www.parking.caltech.edu/permits.html%5B/url%5D"&gt;http://www.parking.caltech.edu/permits.html&lt;/a> :</p>

<pre><code>Visitors are required to display a permit if their vehicle is parked on campus between the hours of 7am-5pm, Mon-Fri.
</code></pre>

<p>Visitor permits are available at automated pay stations at the following locations:</p>

<pre><code>* Structure #1 (North Wilson Structure)
* Parking Lot #6 (Tournament Lot
* Structure #3 (California Structure)
* Structure #4 (Holliston Structure)
* Parking Lot #12 (Lura Lot)
</code></pre>

<p>Visitor permits may be purchased at the rate of $1 per hour, $5 per day, or $15 per week. A $5 daily permit is valid through the end of the business day (5:00 pm) in which the permit is purchased.</p>

<p>Examples:</p>

<pre><code>* Susan arrives on Tuesday at 10:00 am and purchases a $5 daily permit. This
permit is valid until 5:00 pm on Tuesday.
* David arrives on Tuesday at 3:00 pm and purchases a 2 hour permit. This
permit is valid through the remainder of the business day on Tuesday.
* William arrives on Tuesday at 3:00 pm. William is not familiar with the parking
regulations and purchases a $5 daily permit. This permit is valid only until 5:00
pm on Tuesday, and is not valid at any time on Wednesday.

Visitor permits may also be pre-purchased in bulk through the Parking Office. Contact
</code></pre>

<p>the Parking Office at ext. 8877 or via e-mail at <a href="mailto:parking@caltech.edu">parking@caltech.edu</a>.</p>

37

<p>My remarks pertained to rush hour in LA, through which we had to drive to reach Pasadena. Driving was truly much easier than in the other cities which I mentioned. Perhaps traffic was better than normal the day I was there, but I was astonished at how easy it was. A few miles of stop and go surrounded by polite drivers is nothing.</p>

38

<p>if i am a freshmen next year and i want to bring a car, how and when do i apply to get my parking pass?</p>

39

<p>It'll be sometime over the summer. They'll let you know in the huge information packet you get in the mail.</p>

40

<p>"They'll let you know in the huge information packet you get in the mail."</p>

<p>It's like Christmas in July!</p>