One of the handiest things about living in an intercity area may be the accessibility to public transportation, an at-times underappreciated method of travel. Luckily at Cal State Long Beach, a plethora of Long Beach Transit busses run up and down Beach Drive solely for the purpose of shuttling students not only to and from upper to lower campus — but to places beyond.
Unfortunately, learning bus systems (especially for incoming students) may seem complicated and incredibly threatening. For many, we learn by trial and error — which essentially means hopping on a bus with a specified route in mind, only to find that you’ve chosen the wrong bus and are now stuck somewhere in North Long Beach.
That’s never fun. So here are some rundowns of the busses that run through our campus.
Route #121: Ocean/Belmont Shore/CSULB/Pacific Coast Highway at Ximeno
Going Westbound (towards the Veterans Affairs hospital), the 121 cruises down to the Long Beach Marina, where you can find a number of grocery markets, health food stores and one of the two In-N-Out’s in Long Beach. This bus passes through Belmont Shore, a belt of boutiques and eateries (including a cluster of 21+ venues for the transfer students).
Going Eastbound, the 121 has a relatively short route — however, it’s perhaps one of the most convenient. Eastbound, the 121 makes stops at Pacific Coast Highway and Clark avenue, as well as the Beachside dorms. With that being said, it’s a packed bus at high-traffic hours.
Route #171: PCH/CSULB/Seal Beach
If you take this bus going Westbound (away from the VA hospital), the 171 rolls down the Pacific Coast Highway, towards the Metro Blue Line station on Long Beach Boulevard. The Blue Line is your transfer to downtown Los Angeles, if you ever have the time to make a day trip — however, besides that, the 171 going Westbound will drop you off near the Beachside dorms as well as Long Beach Community College.
Make sure you don’t get caught on the 171 going Eastbound by mistake, as that route will take you all the way to Seal Beach.
Routes #91, 92, 93, 94: 7th St. – Bellflower/Woodruff/Clark/Los Altos
For inexperienced riders, the 90s may seem like a behemoth of busses that have no apparent direction. After all, these busses do not make any stops near student dorms or high-populated student housing — however, this is the bus for commuters. Whether you’re commuting from Downtown Long Beach to CSULB or locations in Bellflower, Woodruff or any other neighboring city, these busses have sprawling routes and are always running through campus (no duh, there are four of them).
Going Westbound (towards the VA hospital), this bus will take you down 7th Street until you hit downtown, which makes it a perfect bus route for students who live away from Atherton Street, PCH or Clark. Be careful when taking one of these buses going Eastbound, though — because as handy as these busses and their extensive routes are, you wouldn’t want to get stuck on one by mistake.