how often do you use public transportation?
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Pretty much every weekday once or twice a day, and sometimes on the weekend as well.
Light Rail
Light Rail
never, can beat most any bus through traffic on my bike
and im far too poor to afford that expensive shiiit
and im far too poor to afford that expensive shiiit
It isn't worth it here in Bend because I can ride or walk almost anywhere. When I go to Portland I use it but it's frickin pricey!
We used it to get to the Parade of Lights last week... first time in a lonnnnnnnng time.
Only when I go into Boston, which is only a couple times a year.
I voted rarely, but in truth that is whenever possible.
I took the train last night to avoid traffic, parking costs and hassle, and I use the train a few times a month in the Summer.
I took the train last night to avoid traffic, parking costs and hassle, and I use the train a few times a month in the Summer.
rarely to never for myself.
i ask for 2 reasons:
- when in boston a few days back, pkg was impossible, & so was navigating the streets which are both arbitrarily directional & named, not to mention they change name w/o any notice (i was staying in copley sq & working by the conv ctr). i used the T for a day, but it was slow & loud, but cheap! i much prefer d.c. & chicago's systems
- CA recently passed a measure to built a high speed train from LA to SF, but with almost no one in either city who both use their local public transit & visit the other city, this seems like a huge failure (and one that's going to be heavily subsidized)
if a public transit system is going to solve a lot of problems (congestion, pollution, most notably), local gov't should go whole hog. denver's light rail is a joke in its service area, but at least it's clean & quiet
- when in boston a few days back, pkg was impossible, & so was navigating the streets which are both arbitrarily directional & named, not to mention they change name w/o any notice (i was staying in copley sq & working by the conv ctr). i used the T for a day, but it was slow & loud, but cheap! i much prefer d.c. & chicago's systems
- CA recently passed a measure to built a high speed train from LA to SF, but with almost no one in either city who both use their local public transit & visit the other city, this seems like a huge failure (and one that's going to be heavily subsidized)
if a public transit system is going to solve a lot of problems (congestion, pollution, most notably), local gov't should go whole hog. denver's light rail is a joke in its service area, but at least it's clean & quiet
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Yes Denver's is small, but it costs money to build more, and we see how that works out now days.
Maybe there will be a "new deal" type thing and the gov will hire people to build all kinds of this stuff.
daily, red line and my station is also my name...but not for long.
I hate it, it's always broken, smelly, crowded, and slow, but I pay 56 for a monthly ticket and am unaffected by gas prices or snow storms (YEAH BOSTON TRAFFIC F*cktards) so it's hell of nicer than driving. My GF spent 7 hours in her car last year trying to get home from 25 miles away. I spent 25 minutes going 4 miles or so.
I would bike, but I hate my job.
I hate it, it's always broken, smelly, crowded, and slow, but I pay 56 for a monthly ticket and am unaffected by gas prices or snow storms (YEAH BOSTON TRAFFIC F*cktards) so it's hell of nicer than driving. My GF spent 7 hours in her car last year trying to get home from 25 miles away. I spent 25 minutes going 4 miles or so.
I would bike, but I hate my job.
I'll touch on this one.
The currect rail between NorCal and SoCal is leased from shipping/cargo interests (IE they get priority) which screws up any attempt at a reasonable schedule that would get people out of their cars and using trains. The high speed rail will have it own dedicated tracks so this won't be an issue. I think you are pretty much wrong on SF not using public transpo, they use BART, and busses quite a bit. LA is another story, its just too spread out with a "Car" infrastructure. I think what my state did was smart, invest in the infrastructure for the future, because cheap gas is going away....again
what i asserted is that typical bart users are not also typical SF-LA commuters; i just don't see the market/demand to justify $40B. i used bart when i was there for some work-funded geek con. i found it easy to use, clean, and mostly bum free.
and didn't you just get out of some sort of jam under gray davis? i admire CA's ambition, but the timing seems inconvenient. but i reckon it's the same for a newly married couple when they consider when to have kids. you're never "ready", you just have to dive in
Daily. I take a commuter bus from Oxnard to Santa Barbara, CA (about 40 miles) transfer to a city bus in Santa Barbara to get to my office. With transfers, a round trip costs me $2.80
how does this compare in time if you were to drive/carpool? does your system also provide mobile interwebz, or can you make use of the time other than avoiding conversations w/ psych ward outpatients?
It adds about an extra hour a day (30 minutes each direction) as the commuter bus makes limited stops. There is free internet access on the bus. As all the people on the commuter bus are worker bees there are no weirdos to speak of.
I generally use the time to nap, read, watch movies or play video games on my PSP. Plus its a scenic route right along the beach that I can actually enjoy as I'm not fighting traffic
Books. Newspapers. Magazines. Paper to write on. Take the internet needle out of your arm occasionally.
It would cost me an extra hour a day to commute by bus and bicycle.
a significant number of people cannot effectively read for various reasons, to include car sickness or environmental distractions. i s'pose books/spoken word could be synched to the ipod (or zune, if you must).
i'd probably like looking @ all the frustrated drivers for surface street routes
i'd probably like looking @ all the frustrated drivers for surface street routes
A book a week and then some. And that's around keeping my 2 year old entertained during his portion of our commute.
2-3 times a week at least, often more. Buses, Muni trains and street cars, and BART (subway). I live in SF and work in Oakland. I either drive, take a bus to BART, or ride my bike to BART. And that's just the commute; if I'm not on my bike I take buses and trains to get around town all the time. (And cabs. Lots of late night taxi rides.)
Portland has one of the better (if not best) mass transit systems in the US. Bus, MAX light rail, street car and plenty of routes. The MAX to the airport is a godsend. It drops you off almost at the ticket counter.
I ride the bus near daily. I will drive if I have an appointment. But I would say at least 4 days out of the 5 day work week,
I ride the bus near daily. I will drive if I have an appointment. But I would say at least 4 days out of the 5 day work week,
When I worked downtown, it sucked. 30 minute bus ride to an hour train ride each way. But parking downtown is about $300 a month and traffic is teh suck.
I had my laptop and charged the 3 hour commute towards my office time, so I left home at 6:30 and was back by 4:00. Crazy bus people are awesome, too.
Every day Monday-Friday. Commuter rail into Boston, then 2 stops on the Orange Line. (Subway). Generally weirdo-free on the commuter rail. Orange line, not so much. Noise-canceling headphones are a wonderful thing.
Driving into Boston on the Pike on a daily basis during commuting hours = teh suck. More expensive, takes longer, parking costs $$$, and the drive in is annoying. My employer pays 50% of my rail pass, which I can also use at night and on weekends. It was an easy decision, even though I never used public transportation to commute previously.
Driving into Boston on the Pike on a daily basis during commuting hours = teh suck. More expensive, takes longer, parking costs $$$, and the drive in is annoying. My employer pays 50% of my rail pass, which I can also use at night and on weekends. It was an easy decision, even though I never used public transportation to commute previously.
Daily. The college/town fund the busses so I ride for free, as does everyone else in the town.
Its nice
Its nice
I use Caltrain every day to work. With the biking to and from the train takes about 40 minutes one way, the actual train ride is 40 minutes. If I drive, it might take about 45 minutes on a light traffic day, but twice that on a Friday. Not worth it to me.
The usefulness of the high speed rail is an interesting question. One comparison would be the Acela, which had an increase of 9% usage in 2006.
While I would kill myself if I had to commute to LA every day, I am sure there are people who do. While a flight might be only 1 hour, with security checks, parking, and the drive to and from the airport, a train which deposits its passengers in the downtown starts to have more and more advantages.
Another thing to consider is the future of transit. As the population grows, traffic will increase. Having a high speed rail in place could resolve future traffic issues, even if there is not a massive need right now.
P.S. I consider the train ride the most peaceful part of my day.
Umm well this would pretty much make the presence or lack of WiFi null. If you can't read printed word while commuting how are you going to read a computer screen?
I'm subway door to door every day. My employer subsidizes ~50% of my monthly pass, the rest is deducted pre-tax from my paycheck. A month of commuting costs me ~30 bucks a month pre-tax so it's almost free. I walk 1.5mi to and from the station daily except if running stupid late or raining heavily. Yes, my lazy co-workers can't believe I walk this far every day but parking would be $140/mo plus fuel which equals ~1.5 replacement dérailleurs and/or mucho beer.
Prov has a terrible system, and the city is small so I can walk/ride. I like using the commuter rail to head up to boston though.
i am borrowing a metropass right now. in winter months the subway is the only way around here quickly. otherwise i'll dress up and walk. summer i ride the bike. it is weather permitting i guess.
you're named Alewife?!
i work at two hospitals. i take the bus to one whenever hours allow ($22/mo pre-tax transit pass, booyah), and i ride my bike to the other as it's both closer and there isn't a convenient route. i don't have a car so i'm never tempted to drive and spend $5.50/day on parking.
just checking out the local bus schedule (http://www.springsgov.com/units/transit/systemMap.pdf), and they have decent coverage, but (anecdotally) they're nearly empty and all hours of operation, especially on the north end where there are more home owners & higher incomes. seems that unless a busstop is visible from people's front door they won't use it (if they even know about it).
i'm trying to land a gig @ lockheed on the north side, and the bus stops right at their door. at $1.50 ea way & only 15 minutes longer than driving (& 10 less than riding), seems like a no-brainer for off-weather days.
they also have bike racks on the front. now if i can just find a route that shuttles up pike's peak or cheyenne mountain...
i'm trying to land a gig @ lockheed on the north side, and the bus stops right at their door. at $1.50 ea way & only 15 minutes longer than driving (& 10 less than riding), seems like a no-brainer for off-weather days.
they also have bike racks on the front. now if i can just find a route that shuttles up pike's peak or cheyenne mountain...
it doesn't exist up here in the mountains and in the valley it would take me 3 hours by transit to do my 1 hour commute by car so nope I don't use it
One ride on it when it's going flat out might change your mind. Over that distance with dedicated tracks it would have to be 250km/hr+ at times? What are the specs?
according to the about page
we need to reclaim train disasters from those damned punjabis
i think that's around 350 kph, but with so much geo shifting in that area, i wouldn't ride it just for the necessary tolerances at those speeds
we need to reclaim train disasters from those damned punjabis