Commuting Fun

While we live in beautiful, sunny, cheap Oakland, both of us work a block away from each other in San Francisco. We keep similar hours at the office, so we typically commute together. Thank goodness we have each other for intelligent conversation...because our commuting choices pretty much suck. In two years living with this situation, here are the commuting alternatives we’ve come up with:

1. Car to BART, short walk to the office.
2. Walk to AC Transit transbay bus, long walk to the office.
3. Drive to public garage in San Francisco, short walk to the office.

Here’s a summary of these choices:

	Option 1 – Car/BART	Option 2 - Bus	Option 3 - Car
Cost (Round-trip per person)	$6.20 + a little gas	$7.00	Toll - $4 Parking - $13 ($26 divided by 2 people)
Time door-to-door	40 minutes	50 minutes	20-60 minutes depending on traffic
Environmentally Friendly?	Sort of.	Yes!	No!
Other notes	Cost will go up soon, $1 extra for parking starting next month	If we get a nice bus, we can sleep. If not, we arrive with a headache, backache, and whiplash	Driving sucks, but the office will pay for a couple days of parking per month for “emergency” purposes.

Sooo, you soak all that in? We're pretty much tree-huggers, so driving isn't really an option, nor is it anywhere near affordable. Earlier this summer we switched from Option 1 to Option 2. Option 2 is pretty awesome...we get to leave our car at home, we always get a seat, and there's a nice 2-3 mile walk built in. Option 1 works pretty well too...it's cheaper and a little faster, but lately we haven't been getting a seat and we need to drive (while still partially asleep).

Great...except that lately all of our AC Transit buses have been crap-tastic, plastic-seated, loud, and old old old. There is such a huge difference between the posh charter buses and the old local buses. Going 60 mph in one of the local buses is such a horrible way to get to work that we wish we could switch back to BART. We could do casual carpool, but that is a little creepy and tricky with two of us.

I really shouldn't complain. Having two relatively good public transportation options is better than in most areas. Both options are so close to being enjoyable! Maybe we can find some neighbors and carpool everyday...bleh!