Super Commuter
Yesterday I had to follow in the steps of the Ponbigi and complain about my employer. I will never mention my company name, for fear of being persecuted at work by fellow employees. I figure I can pass along my work experiences, which are probably similar at many other companies some of you work for.
Part of the reason for being fed up also starts with my commute. I consider myself to be a super commuter, traveling 62 miles one way to work. Depending on the shift I work and the mode of transportation I use, my trip can vary from 80-150 minutes. Currently, I will consider myself lucky that I work the third, or midnight shift and traffic is quite light when I depart.
One unfortunate portions of my journey is the San Francisco Bay Bridge that links Oakland to San Francisco. With bridge tolls on the rise, now $3.00 (will be $5.00 by Jan 1, 2007), this is just another added cost when going to work. Even with the use of the dedicated FasTrak lanes (and transponder), this stretch of highway leading to the bridge can be a real bitch! Horrible traffic, slow going, jackasses cutting in and out of lanes. But this is only the start. When there is inclimate weather, the bridge gets quite dangerous, not to mention the aforementioned jackasses who don’t know how to drive in wet and windy weather.
Depending on the price of gas (avg. $2.40 in my area now) I would rather spend the time in the comfort of my truck, than riding the train (see below). I get about 30 mpg at 55 mph (88 kph) on a highway system that has an average posted speed limit of 65 mph (105 kph). Needless to say, I cruise in the slow lane watch everybody, big rigs included pass me up. But it is the most economical for my drive. At 62 miles I use about 2.06 gallons and spend $4.94 for a one way trip or $9.88 round trip with that added $3.00 charge to use the bridge for a total of $12.88.
At 55 mph, I can usually drive the 62 miles in about an hour and twenty miles depending on traffic conditions (NoCal residents do not know how to drive, maybe it’s most Californians, I dunno), the bridge and weather. During our heavy winter storms earlier this month, it took me two hours, thirty minutes to get home one morning at an average of 35 mph because the rain was so hard and the wind so gusty, this seemed to be the “safe” speed. It was everyone driving that slow too, thankfully it was a weekend and not a work day. Da horror!
BART or Bay Area Rapid Transit is the BEST rail system in the United States (at least that is what the stickers on the side of the cars say), but this form of mass transit has a few drawbacks. First, it’s expense costing my $7.65. That’s a one way ticket folks, double that for a round trip, $15.30! That is per day. And you thought gasoline was asinine expensive. Since I work at the airport, I do have a card that allows me 50% off when I come to work ($3.80), together with the return trip I pay $11.45 to ride the train.
The next problem with BART is the time factor. I already spend on average, two hours a day when I drive to work, but the train takes an hour and thirty-five minutes each way. Add to the fact I need to drive 20 miles (25-45 minutes) to and from the station to catch the train. Simple math and you can see the time starts to add up quickly. Example, I would have to catch the 7:17p train in order to arrive at SFO by 8:55p, which means I would leave my house at 6:30p planning for the worst case scenario on the highway to the station. Nearly 2.5 hours and I have not even started work yet!
I am sure most subway or rail systems are similar and always seem to attract a…diverse crowd. While I have not been mugged or attacked, that is just one of many situations that have occurred while living in the bay area. The homeless love BART, you can always find some whacko strolling up and down the cars talking to themselves. There are also some rather trashy people on there, obnoxious and rude that seem to be looking for trouble. People watching is a new pastime of mine when on BART. Of course I keep my nose in my books when on the train and hang onto my knapsack.
A quick BART story, I was coming home from work one morning, rather tired, I was minding my own business in the back of a car, corner seat. This freak sits down (my eyes are closed mind you) and he tries to strike up a conversation. I pull my earplugs out (yeah the train is loud!) and look at this guy. He says, “Nice belt, is it real leather?” Huh? WTF did he ask me? I say yes it’s real and he comes back with, “Can I touch it?” GTFO, no you can’t touch it! Could not wait for that freak to get out of the seat next to me.
Everyone asks me why I do this, I respond, “this was the only affordable place we could find to live.” Have you checked real estate prices in California? I felt this was a small sacrifice in order for my wife and I to own a home. By the way, she is only about 25 minutes from her job and schedules her own hours, so she can work around traffic conditions.
For a comparison, my last few months working in Los Angeles I was commuting from Poway, about 20 miles north of San Diego to LAX (the airport) 3 times a week. That commute is nearly double, one way (128 miles). I was waking at 3:00a to get to LAX by 5:30a to start work at 6:00a. Even when I was living in Torrance, about 8 miles south of LAX, it was taking 30-45 minutes because of the traffic congestion on the city streets as you made your way to the freeway.
This is just another “factor” that continues to prod me to continue looking for new employment. While I really don’t mind the drive, it does eat up a lot of quality time that I could be spending elsewhere doing something constructive. So, I consider myself a super commuter because of the distance and time it takes me to and from work.
