Doubling the commute: all good things come to an end
June 21, 2010
Somehow I’d almost forgotten that starting today, my office will no longer be a convenient, single train ride location. It’s not that I’d forgotten about the move, just the consequences of it such as having a new address, new business cards, and horror of horrors: having to navigate a new public transit route.
There are two options: taking the old route plus a bus (adding another 20-30 minutes)
or
taking a new route via BART and subway (almost the same total travel time).
I’m trying the first option first today since I still have Caltrain passes to use up and should only pay an extra $2 for the bus (and $3 today since I’m driving myself to the station). Sometime during the week I’ll start testing the BART routes. BART plus subway is projected to cost $4.50 each way and I might be able to take a free shuttle to and from the station depending on their and my hours of operation.
Much as I’m tempted to gripe about the doubled commute time, it’s still shorter than my former commute of an hour and twenty minutes. I do wish that San Francisco had better public transit, though, the systems are all really pricey, don’t really seem to work together all that well and the fare and schedule information aren’t clear at all. 511.org was not all it’s been touted to be.
Here’s hoping there’ll be at least one bank and one library branch within a really short walking distance.
The great thing is I happen to be moving practically next door to the temporary workplace of one of my high school friends. We might even get to see each other!
I don’t which is better to use as I don’t usually use 511.org, but I use google maps and choose the public transport option. I also have an app on my iPhone called- iC SF Lite – that has muni and bart schedules, routes and nearby stops. Either way, hope you’ll find the most convenient route for you.
My commute time is about an hour 15 one way by bus & subway every day. I consider it okay considering I used to commute 2.5 hours by bus every day. You get used to it. Use the time to relax or get organized or sleep (like I do.) It’s not that bad. 🙂
Holy moley is that a long commute! I couldn’t do it, for sure.
Time to relocate and find a dog friendly place 😉
Interesting you posted this under ‘exercise’ – positive attitude, that!
@Ciawy: I’ve been resorting to google maps too, actually, I should have mentioned that as well. I’ll hunt down that app, maybe it’s better than either of the others.
@Asian Pear: I always miss stops when I sleep. It’s far too embarrassing when you sleep through. I didn’t mind when I had a 1 hour train commute in SoCal because it was a straight shot and I could do stuff, but these are broken up in 7-25 minute fragments. I’ll find something to do.
@Dog: It’s not fun, that’s for sure. But it could be worse.
[See Asian Pear’s old commute!]
@Karen: Ha-ha! 🙂
@Shelley: If nothing else, running to catch one thing after another ..! 🙂