Taxi from DLH to Farmer's Market?

[kerryk74]

Hello!
We are just days away from our trip! We are doing a cheesy Hollywood tour in the middle of our stay (Disneyland Hotel). We have to get to the Farmer's Market by taxi with a family of 5. Any recommendations? Should I go ahead and book?
Thanks!

 

[maltdizzy]

Oy! That's a $100-120 trip (+tip!) one way in regular traffic*! It can run more in heavy L.A. traffic, and that's 35 miles through one of the heaviest traffic corridors in L.A. ("The 5").

But there isn't a mass transit option (there is a metro bus that runs from DL to LA, but it's a 2+ hour ride and ends at Union Station, a long way from Farmers Market). I wonder if there are many Uber options for a group that large.

*I'm proud of myself. I came up with $100-120 doing the math in my head ($2.70/mile plus waiting/traffic time). Double-checked on taxifarefinder.com and it came up with $102-118 (with tip...$117-136). I was spot on!

 

[darcie2000]

Sounds like it would be cheaper to hire a car for that day.

 

[MadeToLove]

If you don't want to rent a car and drive yourself (LA traffic isn't THAT bad - haha), you may find it more economical to hire a limo service, then you'll get the FULL Hollywood treatment.

 

[SMD]

Or book a tour that that leaves from Anaheim.

 

[Sherry E]

By the way, the Farmers Market (assuming we are talking about THE Original Farmers Market at Third & Fairfax) is a great place -- nothing cheesy at all, really. It's a historical part of L.A. There are all kinds of great food options and interesting things to look at, and The Grove is directly next door -- where you can often find celebrities randomly strolling through. In fact, TMZ regularly stalks The Grove to get photos of famous people out and about, and I think they just caught Justin Bieber there in the last week or two.

I live very close to Farmers Market, and I have taken a shuttle van to and from Disneyland before -- with no stopping at the airport. For one way, even with the cheapest service I could find, it is not inexpensive at all. It's a lot of money (pretty close to what the taxi fare is, except it's a fixed price and won't change if you get delayed on the freeway). At a time of day when there is absolutely no traffic, it can take about 40-45 minutes each way. When there is traffic, it's a whole different story!

 

[Sherry E]

Or book a tour that that leaves from Anaheim.

Good idea. Some tours will stop at FM for one hour and some will stop for 2 hours. Lux Bus has a tour that goes from Anaheim up to L.A., then to the beach and also to Hollywood. When it stops in Hollywood the driver will then take passengers to Farmers Market if they want to go, but only for a couple of hours.

 

[JinglePoem]

I'd use Uber. Great rates, great service. No way would I take a taxi.

 

[JinglePoem]

Coming back to add- I just got a price estimate on my Uber app from DLH to Farmers Market (one way). It says $42-$57. While it would be convenient, that's still rather pricey.

 

[elaine amj]

Coming back to add- I just got a price estimate on my Uber app from DLH to Farmers Market (one way). It says $42-$57. While it would be convenient, that's still rather pricey.

Better than $110-$120! It is reasonable considering the length of the journey.

 

[JinglePoem]

Oh, most certainly it's much cheaper and quite reasonable for the time and distance involved!

OP doesn't sound too enthused at the prospect of the tour, which made me think perhaps $100, even though round-trip, might still be more than he/she would want to toss onto the tour, lol!

 

[kerryk74]

Thanks so much for all of the replies! No way we are driving ourselves in LA traffic! Ha! Sounds like a shuttle would be our best bet...which sucks, but we really want this particular tour. Honestly, after flying 5 people from across the country, hotel, tickets, & food, what's a couple hundred more, right? Ugh. I do appreciate the replies! Yes, Sherry, it is THE Farmer's Market, and the tour looks fantastic!

 

[SMD]

Coming back to add- I just got a price estimate on my Uber app from DLH to Farmers Market (one way). It says $42-$57. While it would be convenient, that's still rather pricey.

There's a 4 passenger limit on Uber X, so you'd have to double it anyway.

 

[JinglePoem]

True, true, true. I completely overlooked the 5 passenger part of the OP.

 

[ashley0139]

Thanks so much for all of the replies! No way we are driving ourselves in LA traffic! Ha! Sounds like a shuttle would be our best bet...which sucks, but we really want this particular tour. Honestly, after flying 5 people from across the country, hotel, tickets, & food, what's a couple hundred more, right? Ugh. I do appreciate the replies! Yes, Sherry, it is THE Farmer's Market, and the tour looks fantastic!

Driving in LA is just like driving anywhere else. People really make it out to be worse than it is.

 

[maltdizzy]

Driving in LA is just like driving anywhere else. People really make it out to be worse than it is.

+1

Not even the worst traffic in the country. I've lived in the L.A. area and D.C. area and the D.C./NoVa traffic is FAR worse than L.A. I tell people that, I show them the stats, but they all just want to believe the stereotype on L.A. traffic. I'm told Chicago is far worse as well.

And, unlike driving through Manhattan or so, unspoken "rules of the road" in L.A. really is the same as driving in 90% of the country (except the "L.A. Left Turn" for the first few seconds after a light turns red).

L.A. is a city built on car culture, driving around familiarizing oneself to it by car is an experience unto itself. But everyone skips ahead to Hollywood...which is sort of like ignoring the whole Louvre to see the Mona Lisa...except in this case the Mona Lisa is a clown painting. On a tangent, I was living in Paris maybe 12 years ago and watched the tourists walk 1/3 of the Louvre without looking at anything just to see the Mona Lisa and walk back again...the funny thing was...the Mona Lisa was a reproduction at the time, the real one was in restoration, neither the Louvre nor I had the heart to tell them.

 

[MaleficentRN]

And, unlike driving through Manhattan or so, unspoken "rules of the road" in L.A. really is the same as driving in 90% of the country (except the "L.A. Left Turn" for the first few seconds after a light turns red).

Pardon the highjack, but the left on red. Are there red light cams in L.A.? In the past I've had no problems in my city making turns on the end of a yellow. But, then the cams came. A couple of $100 tickets broke me of that habit. Am I going to be met with a bunch of angry honkers while driving in L.A.?

 

[maltdizzy]

Pardon the highjack, but the left on red. Are there red light cams in L.A.? In the past I've had no problems in my city making turns on the end of a yellow. But, then the cams came. A couple of $100 tickets broke me of that habit. Am I going to be met with a bunch of angry honkers while driving in L.A.?

Plenty of intersections have red light cameras, and those ticket indiscriminately, but in L.A. "plenty" is still probably less than 1% of the intersections.

As for the rest, there are always several cars that turn left AFTER the light turns red in L.A., whether there is a left-turn arrow or not. Everyone knows it and is used to it and no one is "floors it" when the light turns green because you just know cars are going to be coming across. I'm not encouraging it (and Back East, you can't do it at all without a wreck), but it's part of the culture.

$100? Try $450 in L.A. Because of additional state and county fees, the red light camera ticket actually costs twice as much as if the LAPD pull you over and hand-write the same ticket.

 

[SMD]

At some intersections only 2 cars can turn left per signal cycle and it's usually on yellow. So it's normal for 2 people to pull out on green (if there's no red arrow) and wait for yellow to turn. But people usually run the yellow, so they end up moving quickly once it goes red. If you enter the intersection while the light is green you can't just sit there when the light turns red. You'd be blocking traffic and then you'll really hear the honking. If you stay behind the line and don't enter the intersection on yellow when making a left turn people might honk. So what, honking isn't supposed to be to teach people lessons or express frustration, so let them.

 

[TechGuy]

You can get larger UBER cars. If you rent, you can use a car pool lane to reduce traffic and use WAZE to determine the most effective route to get there with live traffic updates and route adjustments. Did the UBER rate include anytime at the market? otherwise it may be 2 45 dollar rides.

Yes, LA traffic can be bad but if you plan it correctly, it may not be as bad as you think. Looking at Google Maps, the drive right now is about 1:15 if you head south to the 405 and then north. If you take 5 N, it's an 1:30 with more risk of bad traffic. Bus and light rail is ONLY 3:00 hours...LOL.

Waze says it's only an hour on 110 with car pool (HOT, High Occupancy) or paying the toll (EzPass Only). This is at 9:50 AM on a Tuesday. It could be longer during rush hours.