Commute Mode DeathMatch: San Francisco -> Half Moon Bay

Another deadly commute mode deathmatch. Oh boy!

For the time analysis part of this exercise, here are the assumptions I’m going with:

  • Transfers between any two segments have a 2 min window on each side of %0 efficiency time, cause it takes a while to get situated
  • Bus: %30
  • Bart: %50
  • Driving: %0

Also, I’m considering walking to be ‘light exercise’ and biking to be ‘moderate exercise’. All times are AM, all money in USD.

The Route, Driving

  • Walk, house -> Car: 5 min
  • Drive to Work: 45 min (24 miles) according to google maps in traffic

Direct Monetary Cost

Assuming 30mpg and $3.00 per gallon of gas:
24/30 * 3 = $2.40

Time Analysis

0 min effective 100% efficiency time
45 min wasted time
5 min light exercise

The Route, via Transit

  • Walk, house -> Bart station: 20 min
  • Bart, Civic Center ->; Colma: 6:44 -> 7:01, $3.25
  • SamTrans 118: Colma -> Linda Mar Park and Ride: 7:05 -> 7:24, $2
  • SamTrans 294: Linda Mar Park and Ride -> stop near HMB airport: 7:25 -> 7:46 $2
  • Walk, HMB airport stop -> Work: 10min

Direct Monetary Cost

3.25 + 2.00 + 2.00 = $7.25

Time Analysis

Effective 100% Efficiency Time

(bart) + (samtrans 118) + (samtrans 294) =
(12 – 2*2) * 0.3 + (17 – 2*2) * 0.5 + (19 – 2*2) * 0.3 + (21 – 2*2) * 0.3 =
18 min effective 100% efficiency time

Exercise Time

(walk 1) + (walk 2) = 20 + 10 = 30 min light exercise

Wasted Time

Total Travel Time – 100% effective efficiency time – Exercise Time =
(1 hr 34 min) – (18 min) – (30 min) = 46 min wasted time

The Route, via Cycling and Transit

  • Prep for ride, 10 min
  • Ride, home to Linda Mar Park and ride: 70 min
  • SamTrans 294: Linda Mar Park and Ride -> stop just over devil’s slide: 7:25 -> 7:35, $2
  • Ride to work: 12min

Direct Monetary Cost

SamTrans 294: $2.00

Time Analysis

Effective 100% Efficiency Time

(samtrans 1) = (10 – 2*2) * 0.3 = 6 * 0.3 ~= 2 min effective 100% efficiency time

Exercise Time

(bike 1) + (bike 2) = 70 + 12 = 82 min moderate exercise

Wasted Time

Total Travel Time – 100% effective efficiency time – Exercise Time =
(1 hr 42 min) – (2 min) – (82 min) = 18 min wasted time

So who wins? Well, it’s clear that plain transit does not win – it costs the most, wastes almost as much time as driving and is the least reliable. Clearly, transit here attracts no ‘choice riders’.

Between driving and biking + transit, the key factor is how much value is placed on moderate exercise time. The direct cost of both routes is similar, and while biking + transit wastes less time (18 min vs. 45 min) the total amount of moderate exercise time is perhaps excessive at 82 min. So this one’s gonna get called as a draw.

Final Results

  • Transit + Cycling: 0.5
  • Driving: 0.5
  • Transit: 0
January 23, 2011 | Mike Fogel | Tags: , , , | No Comments »

Commute Mode DeathMatch: Sacramento -> Stanford

I don’t have to do this every morning (thank god) but I have been doing it about once a week lately. The transit route described here is kinda the ’standard’ route – you can get creative with all the different transit agencies in between Sacramento and Palo Alto, but as far as I am able to find, no ‘creative’ route is able to beat out the ’standard’ route. Note that I’m purposefully excluding a ‘bike + transit’ option for the purposes of this DeathMatch.

All times AM, all money in USD (duh).

The Route, via Transit

  • Walk, house -> bus stop: 3 min
  • SacRT, bus: 6:35 -> 6:50, $2.50
  • Amtrak, capitol corridor, Sacramento -> Richmond: 7:00 -> 8:25, $13.60 (10-ride pass)
  • Bart, Richmond -> Mlibrae: 8:42 -> 9:51, $5.31
  • Caltrain, Milbrae -> Palo Alto: 9:55 -> 10:25, $4.25
  • Stanford Shuttle: 10:30 -> 10:40, free
  • Walk, shuttle stop -> class: 3min

Direct Monetary Cost

2.50 + 13.60 + 5.31 + 4.25 = $25.66

Time Analysis

Percent Efficiency Assumptions
  • Transfers/walking: %0, including 2 min window on each side cause it takes a while to get situated on bus/train
  • Bus/shuttle: %30
  • Bart: %50
  • Caltrain: %70
  • Amtrak: %90
Effective 100% Efficiency Time

(sacrt) + (amtrak) + (bart) + (caltrain) + (stanford shuttle) =
(15 – 2*2) * 0.3 + (85 – 2*2) * 0.9 + (69 – 2*2) * 0.5 + (30 – 2*2) * 0.7 + (10 – 2*2) * 0.3 =
11 * 0.3 + 81 * 0.9 + 65 * 0.5 + 26 * 0.7 + 6 * 0.3 =
128.7 min ~= 2 hrs 9 min

Wasted Time

Total Travel Time – 100% effective efficiency time =
(4 hrs 13 min) – (2 hrs 9 min) = 2 hrs 4 min

The Route, Driving

  • Walk to car, 3 min
  • Drive @ rush hour, Sacramento -> Stanford: 2 hrs 50 mins, 124 miles (src: google maps)
  • Park car and walk to class: 15 min, $11

Direct Monetary Cost

Assumptions
  • 30 mpg
  • $3.00 per gallon for gas
  • bridge toll: $4.00
  • ignoring all other car costs – they’re not ‘direct’ (ie. you don’t pay them right then)
Calculation

124 / 30 * 3.00 + 11.00 + 4.00 = $27.40

Wasted Time

3 min + (2 hrs 50 min) + 15 min = 3 hrs 8 min

Conclusions

Taking the trip via transit rather than driving saves $1.74 (oh boy!) and 1 hour, 4 minutes of time. If we were to add in the full costs of owning an automobile (AAA estimate: ~52.2 cents/mile) then the monetary cost for driving rises to $79.73, thus implying a monetary savings of $54.07 for taking the trip via transit, rather than driving. Bam! Headshot.

Commute Mode DeathMatch Leaderboard

  • Transit: 1 (headshot)
  • Driving: 0

Coming soon: ‘biking + transit’ jumps into the rumble!

January 14, 2010 | Mike Fogel | Tags: , , , | 1 Comment »