Comments on: you can’t get here from here

By: Capricious Commuter

Capricious Commuter — Wed, 05 Dec 2007 02:50:00 +0000

Ok, I’m done and I’d like to thank everybody, especially Roseanne, for reminding us that there are transit trips that DO work. In fact, this very morning I found myself checking train status as I slogged down I-680 through Pleasant Hill, wondering if it was possible that the Capitol Corridor would , for once, beat me to Oakland. It was 35 minutes late. The ACE train has the advantage of competing with I-580, which has to be the worst commute in the area after the Bay Bridge approach. All we need are upgrades for both rail lines, eliminating bottlenecks and hairpin curves, and we’ll be all set.

By: Capricious Commuter

Capricious Commuter — Wed, 05 Dec 2007 00:22:10 +0000

Man, people! I’ve been busy and I come back and this looks like the Raiders Blog. I have to write another story right now, so I’ll have to read them all later. But I will comment on the idea of either living or working in a convenient location. That’s a fine idea, and my hat goes off to anyone who can do it. As for me, I’m a trailing spouse so I just about always end up living someplace inconvenient to work. This time, I lucked out in the sense that we settled down in a place with a train station, so I have an alternative to driving, which I’ve never had before. My previous lives have involved suburb-to-suburb commutes as well as LA to LA commutes perpendicular to long-distance rail. Had my son applied to the right major and gotten into Cal, I’d have been able to make a case for getting a place in the Bay Area, and I’d have much less to complain about. When I heard about the construction workers from Fresno living in trailers during the workweek, the wheels started turning …

By: Mike Jones

Mike Jones — Tue, 04 Dec 2007 19:05:49 +0000

These Journey Planners (like 511) while clever have a tendency to make transit trips look longer than might otherwise be perceived- if only in their honest unbiased calculations. Ask for a 08:30 departure, and the bus is 09:00 then there’s an additional 30 minutes, added to your trip time. They also ruthlessly add on walking times- generous walking times. Truth is that we sometime don’t perceive these additions, but even if your stop is nearby it can be easily another 20-30 minutes added. These aren’t miss-representations, but it is interesting that when compared to car trip planners it is assumed that your car is immediately available and, of course, there is free instant parking at your destination.

By: EB to Pen Commuter

EB to Pen Commuter — Tue, 04 Dec 2007 18:31:14 +0000

Quick shout out to Eric: I think this article is driving discussion because it started from the actual (potential) commuting experience of your colleague.

Nathan said it best:
Until where people live and where people work have some rational relationship, this kind of thing will continue to be a problem.

By: Rosanne

Rosanne — Tue, 04 Dec 2007 16:57:56 +0000

I also want to encourage you to write about the transit that actually works. The ACE train from Pleasanton to Great America. The shuttles are waiting when the train arrives and go to most of the major work centers. Also the light rail is right upstairs from the train station at Great America. At $9.45 per day (less if you get the Communter Checks that many companies provide) it is both cheaper and faster than driving on most days. This train starts in Stockton, then Lathrop. Tracy, Livermore, Pleasanton, Fremont, Great America, and downtown San Jose. Even a connection to the airport.

By: Mike on Bike

Mike on Bike — Tue, 04 Dec 2007 03:27:22 +0000

Re: Fremont to Sunnyvale. How about the ACE train from Centerville with one of the ACE shuttles from Great America?

By: e

Tue, 04 Dec 2007 03:17:52 +0000

Unfortunately this problem is not easily solvable.

Businesses choose to locate far from transit centers, pushing the costs of commuting from themselves to their employees.

Individuals have to make choices to live close to transit stops and take location into account when getting a job if they want to be able to commute by transit. The transit systems should not be responsible for supporting location and land use choices that make transit difficult.

By: Fellow victim

Fellow victim — Tue, 04 Dec 2007 01:24:33 +0000

Somehow, after having spent some time in Toronto, and heard how much better other subways were, I thought that the Bay Area would at least have had decent public transportation. Currently, I live in Fremont, work in Santa Clara/Sunnyvale. And, drop my 1 y/o daughter off at daycare in Fremont in the morning. It’s about 20 miles each way.

Public transportation:
Trying to find a bus that actually goes there, it’s two buses to San Jose, then Caltrain. At least $9.50/trip. 1:45 or 2:00+. And sometimes I do work late (10:00 or later). Don’t really want to be on public trans at midnight in this area.. Oh, and I believe BART now charges $1 parking in Fremont (makes it $20 even per day), it’s the OPPOSITE direction from day care (or I’d have to park on the street all day somewhere). Not to mention that finding parking at BART in Fremont after 7:30 is nearly impossible. Toronto at least offers one good discounts for buying monthly passes (used to be 20-30%, IIRC). Oh, would I have to pay for my daughter to be on the bus? Add another $5 to that.

Driving: On a good day (i.e. after hours), it’s a 25 minute trip home. On a bad day, 45 minutes-55 minutes. To work, at most an hour, since I skip the 880-AutoMall/Mission logjam due to dropping off my daughter. Cost? Well, my car gets around 19-20 mpg in stop/go traffic, so 2 gallons/day = $8 (premium gas, rounding up). 40 miles @ 0.50 c/mile = $20, so total (rounding up) = $28 vs $25 public trans.

Benefits of driving:
a) work is across from Costco, so I can do shopping at lunch, save time over a separate trip.
b) I often drive if 3 or 4 of us go out for lunch at work
c) I arrive/leave when I want, stop somewhere after work, etc.
d) I can carry my daughter’s stuff, she’s buckled in, etc. No worries about her picking something yummy off the floor of a bus, or holding her the whole time because I didn’t get a seat, people stepping on her, etc
e) HUGE saving in time to spend with my family. On average, 75-80 minutes per day on the road vs. 200+.

Benefits of public transportation:
a) feel good that I’m supporting some badly designed, badly underfunded pet project of some politician who probably wants more of my taxes

I’m sure I’m not the only one, but it’s insane how hard it is to get from the East bay to the South bay (driving too, but especially public trans). SF to San Jose is easy in comparison..

Until it’s half the price and convenient, I’ll keep driving.

By: Rob Urfer

Rob Urfer — Mon, 03 Dec 2007 21:29:27 +0000

A better route for commuters to San Mateo would be the AC Transit route “M” from Hayward Bart going across the San Mateo Bridge.

By: Nathan Landau

Nathan Landau — Mon, 03 Dec 2007 20:17:41 +0000

Well, she could cut the trip time somewhat and the cost slightly (to $9) by using the AC Transit Transbay O bus to Transbay Terminal, Muni Metro light rail to Caltrain (you could actually walk this part and save $1.50, though it would take a bit more time), and Caltrain directly to San Mateo, which stops at 2nd St., giving her a nice brisk walk to 9th St. Depending on exactly when she wants to do that and where she’s starting from, that could get it down to about 90 minutes.

Aaron’s point is very well taken. There’s hardly a transit system in the world can perform well on this kind of trip. It’s not an appropriate basis on which to judge It’s a suburb to suburb trip that passes through two transit hubs–Oakland and San Francisco (I realize that neither Alameda or San Mateo are Leave It To Beaver suburbs, but they are not central cities either). You might be able to do this kind of thing easily in Paris, where the citywide population density is equal to Manhattan’s, but that’s hardly in the cards for the Bay Area. Until where people live and where people work have some rational relationship, this kind of thing will continue to be a problem.