Monday, 30 June was the first day for one of MTA‘s newest Rapid lines, the 762. (Sorry to be persistent with the randy date format, but we on this continent are ever so far behind.)
I don’t think Rapid is an acronym. How refreshing.
I read about the new 762 line last week while at a bus stop. Like any good me-o-centric Pasadenan, I was dismayed to learn that this new line doesn’t go as far north as Woodbury Road.
Being the sporting type, I took the 762 yesterday anyway. While on the bus, I picked up a copy of the schedule. According to the graphic on the cover, the 762 runs from Artesia to Altadena.
I know you can’t quite see the word at the top of the squiggly line. Trust me, at the northern tip of what looks like erectile dysfunction it says Altadena. No offense to Altadena, of course. It’s just that the MTA doesn’t know where you are.
Actually, the new 762 bus line ends at Fair Oaks and Washington. Last I checked, that intersection is in Pasadena.
The driver told me that she’s been with “the company” for 19 years. Yesterday was the first time she drove a “Rapid” bus. She could see that people were afraid to get on it.
Here’s what it looks like inside an MTA bus on the first day of new service at rush hour:
Shot taken around 18:30. (I’m not being militaristic here. That’s how the rest of the world tells time.)
Don’t scroll back up. You read it correctly. The MTA’s printed bus schedule for the new 762 Rapid line indicates that it goes to Altadena.
It doesn’t.
For what it’s worth, the 762 does not stop at Memorial Park Station either. The closest the bus gets to that Gold Line station (which is located on E. Holly Street at Arroyo Parkway) is Fair Oaks and Colorado. Yahoo maps tells me that the station is .22 miles from Fair Oaks and Colorado.
West Coast Grrlie Blather 
Just like the 710 goes to Pasadena? 🙂
Where the fuck is Artesia?
Artesia — isn’t that where all the good Indian restaurants are?
Are there wells in Artesia? (ba-dum-ching)
this is not “the rest of world”. It’s OK to say 6:30. Viva USA!
You most likely wouldn’t consider this, but the pattern on those bus seats was part of a public art commission through the M.T.A. Also, Blue Man…could that be the work of Viola Frey?
Perhaps the next blogger get together should be a bus ride to Artesia for Indian food and water.
I think we should do..seriously sometime next year…Bloggers Picnic: Las Vegas.
If we all chipped in, we could do somethin’ pretty sweet.
Perhaps most non-SGVers believe Altadena is anything on the north side of the 210…
Putting Artesia on the schedule front is a lot worse than putting Altadena, which is not that far from the northern terminal.
The City of Artesia is not only miles away from 762, but in the other direction from the southern terminal, the Artesia (Boulevard) Blue Line Station.
The City of Artesia is near Los Cerritos Center mall, east of the 605 freeway. It is close to the Orange County line.
Artesia Boulevard is a major east-west thoroughfare running from Artesia to Redondo Beach.
And to AP: Artesia was in fact named for the Artesian wells that were once common in the area.
The Artesia at the start of the 762 does not refer to the city of Artesia but to the Artesia Blue Line stop in Compton, so named because it is a few blocks from the Artesia Freeway and Artesia Boulevard.