Day One - Ride the Bus to Work for the Summer

[MarcoFromHouston]

Well..... Today is the day.

No more paying $60/week to gas up the truck. I'm riding the bus to & from work!

At least for the summer while my brother is out of school.

Work is about 25 miles away...... so its 2 bus transfers & a rail ride away.

I'm headed out the door right now!

[carrbowl]

This is when you know gas prices are affecting us...After I put $123 in my nice school bus, aka suburban, I saw a car with a license plate "cover" that had like an led banner that had a message that scrolled .....Now may I get on a soap box...do we not have anything better to do with our American money (on a Toyota 4 runner) than to waste our money on a message we are trying to read as it scrolls instead of paying attention to the driving...and what really bothered me, and because I am a Christ follower I feel I can say this...it was a "have a blessed day"!!!!!!!!!! Well shouldn't Christians especially have something better to do with their money!!!! this happened yesterday and I'm still ticked about it...sorry...

Marco...I'm glad to see you're stopping the oil train...good job...when I get to stop using the school bus I hope I get to trade down...

[jeffkohn]

Work is about 25 miles away...... so its 2 bus transfers & a rail ride away.

So how much longer is it going to take you to get to work compared to driving? That's my problem with mass transit in Houston.

[raevyncent]

Originally Posted by jeffkohn

So how much longer is it going to take you to get to work compared to driving? That's my problem with mass transit in Houston.

When I realized that driving from Burleson to Hurst every day was costing $5-7 a day, I started using mass transit. I required me to arrive at work an hour ans 45 min early ( at a mall), so I simply used that time to begin working on a project I never had time for before... writing a novel.

That was at last year's $2.60 /gal

[MarcoFromHouston]

Originally Posted by jeffkohn

So how much longer is it going to take you to get to work compared to driving? That's my problem with mass transit in Houston.

On a regular day, I leave the house @ 7:00am. Drop my brother & his friend off @ school, then head to work. Get to work @ 7:50am. (If I didn't have to drop off the "kids" @ school, depending on traffic, I could get to work in about 30 minutes.)

Now, I'll have to leave the house @ 6:00am, catch the bus, catch the Metro Rail, catch another bus, then get to work around the same time - 7:50am or 8:00am.

My alarm rings @ 5:00 am every weekday, regardless.

Now, the drive HOME is the horrible/stressful ordeal of the day. With bad traffic most days, it takes at least an hour (usually longer) to get home.

[Mike G]

So you lose an hour, but its cheaper and less stress.

[loana0320]

oh wow I know is getting ridiculous high I was told by my husband I need to start driving around less so today I decided to stay home.. I spent already about $150 ina week on gas and I have about a quarter of a tank left so I better slow down!

[Steelsun]

And now you can use the commute time wisely - take your laptop and process photos, take pics from the bus, etc.

I figure gas costs me about $4.50 a day total to & from work & lunch.
The bus would cost about $3 total.
The extra buck fifty is worth it to me though, because I seem to always have plan changes.

[jeffkohn]

Originally Posted by nitromike

So you lose an hour, but its cheaper and less stress.

But to me, my time is worth far more than a few dollars in gas money. The fact that you're not actually driving does mean you can pass the time reading or something, but for me that still wouldn't make up for the lost time. And I don't really think that being a passenger in heavy traffic would be any less stressful than being a driver, for me anyway. Plus sometimes I need to be able to run an errrands during lunch, etc so not having my car would be inconvenient.

I'm fortunate in that I have flexible hours, so I usually either work 7-4 or 10-7 and avoid the worst of rush-hour traffic (although lately even at 4:00 it's already getting bad in spots). But even if I had to go in during standard work hours I don't think I could stand spending an extra 1-2 hours a day riding the bus. If anything I'd probably try to find some people to carpool with.

[MarcoFromHouston]

Originally Posted by Steelsun

The bus would cost about $3 total.

I buy a $2 DayPass that's good for 24 hours.

$10/week is not bad!

Originally Posted by jeffkohn

And I don't really think that being a passenger in heavy traffic would be any less stressful than being a driver, for me anyway.

Well, the ride to work was great. I got a little workout with the walking to the bus/metro rail. I saw things on Richmond that I've never really noticed. Listened to songs & watched videos on the iPod.

Very pleasent.

I'll let you know how the ride home turn out.

[Mike G]

I didn't see a $2 day pass option, but I think thats because I'd be picking it up at a park & ride .. I'm gonna try it for June and see how it goes, the park & ride is like 1 mile from my house, no transfers, stop is 1 block from my office both directions.

[iCe]

I was in Kentucky yesterday morning (I was coming back from PA). I always gas up just before I hit the road if I overnight at a motel. I was driving a company vehicle...and I haven't been keeping up with gas prices... I stuck my company supplied gas card in the slot, punched in the secret codes, stuck the nozzle in the tank and started filling the tank. I walked into the store to get breakfast and when came back the price on the pump was almost $80 I checked to see if the tank had overrun Nope... almost $3.80 a gallon for regular. Holy poop on a stick batman

[JamesB]

i wish more companies would allow telecommuting, it would benefit everyone and the environment.

James

[Cerbera LM]

Takes me a half hour in the morning and 25 minutes in the eveing. Each day costs $4 in gas & $2.40 on the Toll tag. DART is a huge time waster when one is going from Carrollton to Richardson. Wouldn't mind taking DART since I help pay their bills.

[LoungeLizard]

My commute is a grand 2.9 miles - depending on what garage level I park in. I'll kep driving for now.