I want to go to the Getty Museum (complication: no car)

October 20, 2021 7:32 AM

Can you help me get from San Diego North County to the J.Paul Getty Museum in LA? Due to driving license mixups, I won't have a car and cannot rent one. Please help me LA-savvy mefites!

Options considered:
1) Train to Union station and Uber to the Getty?
It is still far and the Uber would be horribly expensive.

2) Train to Union Station, FlyAway bus to LAX, Uber to Getty?

3) I have seen something about Amtrak buses(?) called Thruway from Union Station?

4) Other ideas? Help?

posted by vacapinta to Travel & Transportation around Los Angeles, CA (15 answers total)

Best answer: Amtrak's bus does stop at Westwood/UCLA, which is pretty close, and then you could take the 761 bus, I think.
posted by pinochiette at 7:45 AM on October 20, 2021 [1 favorite]

Google maps brings up a number of options, albeit not very appealing ones. But then again this is quite a long (time consuming) trip even with a car so.
posted by koahiatamadl at 7:55 AM on October 20, 2021 [1 favorite]

Best answer: I’d probably take the Amtrak Pacific Surfliner up the coast, pick up the Expo Line out to the Expo/Sepulveda stop, and grab a Lyft from there.
posted by mykescipark at 7:56 AM on October 20, 2021 [4 favorites]

Perhaps playing with https://www.rome2rio.com/ can find a good balance for you.
posted by foxtongue at 8:20 AM on October 20, 2021

you could take the 761 bus, I think.

Yes, according to the museum: "Metro bus line 761 stops at the Getty Center entrance"
posted by Mr.Know-it-some at 8:39 AM on October 20, 2021 [1 favorite]

I've taken that bus, from a parking lot on San Vicente, IIRC. Doesn't go all the way to the museum, of course; just to the Getty's funicular station (where parking must be a real hassle).
posted by Rash at 9:39 AM on October 20, 2021

According to Amtrak, you can take the Pacific Surfliner to the Burbank Airport, and then from there an uber or taxi would cost you maybe $45-50?

Or you could take two buses, the 165 to the 761, but it would take over an hour. Cheaper, though!
posted by pazazygeek at 10:32 AM on October 20, 2021

Angeleno here saying I agree: train to Union Station, Metro to Expo/Sepulveda then Lyft or bus 761 straight to the Getty. Good luck!

Or maybe you've got some airporter bus that goes from the San Diego airport to LAX. If that's more convenient, do that and then use a Metro map to take multiple trains to that Expo/Sepulveda stop.
posted by BlahLaLa at 11:09 AM on October 20, 2021 [1 favorite]

I've taken the 761 and it was fine.

Except when I got off one stop too early. In most places, getting off a stop early is no big deal since you can wait for the next bus or walk. But the next bus wasn't due for a very long time, and walking means walking on the literal highway. Which I did (off the road). It wasn't pleasant. So don't make that mistake.
posted by redlines at 12:28 PM on October 20, 2021 [7 favorites]

I have also taken the 761 bus and it's totally fine. As a visitor, I have found that Los Angeles's public transit system is pretty good, though the region is enormous, so trips can be really long. Have fun at the Getty! Be sure to save time to wander around the garden.
posted by chrchr at 2:50 PM on October 20, 2021

Do NOT walk from anywhere that appears to be nearby. It is possible but awful. I've done it so no one else has to!
posted by Sheydem-tants at 3:47 PM on October 20, 2021 [3 favorites]

I don’t know the prices of these busses, but if you were prepared to rent a car, the $140 for a Lyft all the way from Escondido might not shock.
posted by at at 5:17 PM on October 20, 2021

In case you don't know this, there are two Getty locations that are sometimes conflated in their website under the term "the collection". So there's the J Paul Getty Museum next to the 405, and the Getty Villa Museum up the PCH. There's a huge parking lot under the Getty Museum that did not use to to require reservations, but the Villa is very picky with parking spots. The Villa holds most of the Antiquity art.
posted by haemanu at 10:39 PM on October 20, 2021

Best answer: So, I have taken the 761 bus to the Getty many times, transferring from either the Expo Line or the 720 bus from Downtown LA. It works great… as long as you are not leaving during evening rush hour. If you must do so, I would recommend actually taking the bus going north rather than south—you can take the 761 to the 240 bus to the Universal City Red Line station. (It once took me two entire hours to get from the Getty to the Expo Line when I left at 5pm.)

However, if you’re coming into Union Station, I would recommend instead hopping right on the Red Line to the Universal/Studio City station and then taking a Lyft from there to the museum. The Expo Line would technically get you closer, but a) you would have to transfer to it from the red line, adding time, and b) it has longer headways and more delays than the red line. A few extra bucks on the Lyft would be well worth the time saved, I think.
posted by CtrlAltDelete at 10:47 PM on October 20, 2021 [3 favorites]

Response by poster: Thank you all for your responses! I think I've got good advice to go on.

The comments about walking in LA made me laugh out loud. So, so true. I have been there myself.
posted by vacapinta at 3:58 AM on October 22, 2021