Public transit and commute

[yorkville]

It seems commuting by public transit is not so bad. I recently had to commute for a month for a project. The commute consists of 5 min drive or bike from home to public transit with free parking. Then its a 50 min to one hour ride on an express bus, which puts me one block from the office. If there is road congestion, I also have the option of taking a commuter train for one hour, but that puts me a bit further away from the office.

During the bus commute, I basically did some emails and listened to ebooks. Time flew by. And since all public transit have real time arrival info now, I never have to wait. After work, I would have a beer with colleague at the bar, right next to the bus stop, then I hop on the bus when I see it coming to a stop.

I think express bus beats train, metro and ferry etc, as there are usually stops right in the middle of the city, and frequency is higher than train and ferry. With the advent of wifi data, gps based transit info, I think such a commute is now feasible.

[big_slacker]

Depends on how good the public transit is. I live a little over 8 miles from work and it take 2 walks (probably in the rain a good portion of the year) and a little over and hour for me to get to work. I can ride my bike faster than that, maybe with taking the bike on the bus it's almost even.

You do make a point that if your employer allows your bus commute to 'count' as working hours (mine does on some teams) then it's not so bad. Otherwise 2 hours a day on the bus?

[yorkville]

WRT your comments on if commuting hours count as work hours, well, for my job, its more abt getting things done, there is no explict work hours, other than the usual hours which people expect you to be around for meetings and face to face communications. I imagine thats the case for most white collar jobs.

[asosharp]

I agree. I think it depends on where you're located and how safe or reliable the transportation system is where you're living.

[marty998]

Been using trains for much of the past 13 years. Only ever had a couple of disasters strike but all things considered it's pretty good.

It depends on your city and where you live. Sydney trains are designed to take you from the outer corners of the metro area into the city. If you want to go from one corner to another it's terrible, because you have to pass through the city (call it a hub and spoke model, with no rims).

I'm lucky* enough to live on one of the spokes and I work in the city so the journey is door to door. For many others, it's not going to be convenient at all.

*Ok not lucky, I chose to live there in part for this particular benefit.

[Sibley]

Chicago is also a hub and spoke system. Public transit is pretty heavily used, but there are definite downsides. I much prefer transit over the drive I would have otherwise. I like being able to nap on the train.

[yorkville]

Hub and spoke is the old model for public transit. Now days, people commute from suburb to suburb. That is the reason I think express bus with managed lane is much more effective than traditional public transit solutions such as light rail, subway, etc.  Express bus system is easier, more flexible and cheaper to implement

[alsoknownasDean]

I live close to a tram (streetcar in US English?) route and will use that if I've got the time. It's a bit slower than driving/riding the bike though, because neither the train station nor tram stop are all that close to where I work. Still, the fares are cheaper than car parking at work :)

Unfortunately, many bus routes here don't run as often as trains or trams.

The train and tram use a hub and spoke layout here too.

[Dave1442397]

I live 30 miles from work (but work from home most of the time).

It takes around 40 mins by car (leaving home at 5:15am, not much traffic), but if I were to try taking trains and/or buses, it would be over 2 hours each way.

[Aelias]

I was a public transit commuter for about 9 years until I took a different job that required a car.  I miss it terribly.  The ability to just zone out for 45 minutes while someone else did the driving?  So awesome. And having a few walks built in guaranteed me at least some exercise everyday.

I could have totally biked to either of my old jobs, but I'm not a capable biker and the traffic freaks me out (I know--I'm working on it).  If the weather was super nice and I didn't have a busy day, I would occasionally walk the hour and a half to get in. But having the option to take a bus to a train plus some walking was just about perfect.

[Imma]

You do make a point that if your employer allows your bus commute to 'count' as working hours (mine does on some teams) then it's not so bad. Otherwise 2 hours a day on the bus?

Well, if the other option is 2 hours a day in a car, then I'd definitely prefer the bus.

These days I bike to work (only 5km from home) but I used to commute by bus, a distance of about 30km. It took me 45 minutes by bus and it would have cost me at least that much time + a lot more money to drive that distance. I was still in college part time back then, so I used that time to study / prepare for classes in the evening. I still take that bus about once a week, and I use the time to read or nap. I always feel very refreshed when I get out of the bus.

[eliza]

I heart public transit.  Especially since it allows me to NOT own a car.*  But, in many locations - public transit is weak at best and you have to pick your house based on where you work or your work based on where you live, which isn't necessarily ideal.

*I've been lucky to live in a couple of big cities where this was possible: Chicago and DC.  I've also lived places where this wasn't easy/I wasn't willing to make the sacrifices necessary to make carlessness work: Pittsburgh and Cleveland.   This is one of the reasons that my expenses in Chicago/DC have been equivalent to my expenses in Cleveland/Pittsburgh.  There ARE ways to hack HCOL locales.

[ozmickey]

I am thankful that I live in a city with great public transport. If I drove it would take me 1 hour and cost $27.00 (cheapest parking by work) or I can take the train/tram for 1 1/4 hours and cost $8.60.

Yes, I live too far from work but I bought my house before a retrenchment and this is what it is. If I found a job closer to home, I would expect to be paid 25% less. Also, we are able to stay a one car family.

I utilise my time studying for a course or audiobooks.

[BrandonP]

Live a block and a half from the skytrain station. The office is also a block and half from the skytrain. Takes me less than 20 minutes to get to work.