6 ms·

As someone who used to do the "reverse commute" from SF to Oakland for a couple years, I'd add that it's pretty attractive for SF residents who like a slightly

by rorski 11y ago

As someone who used to do the "reverse commute" from SF to Oakland for a couple years, I'd add that it's pretty attractive for SF residents who like a slightly less crazy pace as well. I mean, you can actually go places for lunch and get in, and not pay $14 for a sandwich. And going the opposite direction of traffic (or taking the opposite BART) sure beats sitting on the 101. But most people I worked with were definitely in the boat you describe - East Bay dwellers who really, really didn't want to deal with trying to fight their way into SF. And who can blame them? I think this is a great move for Oakland and Uber.

jfb 11y ago
Plus, you can take the ferry over. That's a sweet commute.
- rdl 11y ago
  The broken internal-to-SF and internal-to-Oakland transit systems make that a bit complex, I think. I guess if you biked?
  - jfb 11y ago
    I used to bike to the Ferry building from the Mission and then onto the office across the street from the Sears building. It was much better than taking the coach down to the Peninsula, that's for damn sure.
    - rdl 11y ago
      Why wouldn't you just take BART?
      - jfb 11y ago
        The scenery from the ferry is a hell of a lot nicer than the inside of a BART car?
        dllthomas 11y ago
        Also less crowded, I think. I take the bus, for both reasons.
        DanielBMarkham 11y ago
        This is on my to-do list. I have friends who take the ferry and it looks quite enjoyable compared to the other options.
      - jessedhillon 11y ago
        Much more pleasant ridership, unless you enjoy listening to whatever's playing out of that guy's cell phone.
rdl 11y ago
I live in Oakland (10m walk from the new Uber office, but 3m from a 580 onramp), and my office is basically at AT&T Park. The commute has gotten markedly worse over the past 15 months. :( And it's not even a particularly bad east bay to sf commute; I know people who drive from Moraga. Last year, my 95th percentile commute at 10am was 35 minutes door to door, and the median was about 25-30. This year, the 95th is more like 45, and the median is more like 35 at that time. To arrive at 9am, it's dramatically worse -- basically an hour 95th, and sometimes up to 90m (once or twice a year), and the median is about 45m (BART is 50m door to door, but is absurdly crowded at that time, and I'm uncomfortable walking around with a laptop bag at 5-7pm in Oakland after 2 people got their laptops stolen in front of me in one week). I usually try to go in really late and wfh in the mornings so it's 20-25m, but it's still usually 30-40m on the way back at 7-8pm. If I have to be in at 9am, I have to leave at 7:45 to be comfortably on time with high confidence. And the traffic basically starts between 0530 and 0600, so being early is almost impossible; it's full-bad around 0630-0700.
- ggreer 11y ago
  Just curious, but how does someone get away with stealing a laptop during rush hour? I've lived in Oakland for about 6 months and I haven't seen anything like the crime you describe. Your description of congestion is spot-on, though.
  - rdl 11y ago
    Away from the station. On the sketchy block of Harrison between Grand and the Whole Foods. In the first incident, someone came running at me at full speed holding a laptop bag across his chest; I thought for about 300ms as he ran toward me about putting him on the ground because I thought he was running at me to attack me, but I moved to the side behind a pole and he kept running, then a (very very slow) security guard ran after him, and then some sad looking middle aged guy as well. Second time was someone running across a street and then disappearing down 23rd. Easy to identify people with laptops from a distance, with probably 75% accuracy. I'm convinced 4-7pm Fridays is a great time to steal laptops from commuters; they're tired, it's relatively low traffic, OPD's response times are...not impressive, etc. It's really a 5-10 block area behind the stupid Auto Row and some sketchy semi-SRO housing in the area which is a problem. (Pro tip for cities: auto dealers are horrible for foot traffic.)

by rorski 11y ago

jfb 11y ago

Plus, you can take the ferry over. That's a sweet commute.

rdl 11y ago
The broken internal-to-SF and internal-to-Oakland transit systems make that a bit complex, I think. I guess if you biked?
- jfb 11y ago
  I used to bike to the Ferry building from the Mission and then onto the office across the street from the Sears building. It was much better than taking the coach down to the Peninsula, that's for damn sure.
  - rdl 11y ago
    Why wouldn't you just take BART?
    - jfb 11y ago
      The scenery from the ferry is a hell of a lot nicer than the inside of a BART car?
      - dllthomas 11y ago
        Also less crowded, I think. I take the bus, for both reasons.
      - DanielBMarkham 11y ago
        This is on my to-do list. I have friends who take the ferry and it looks quite enjoyable compared to the other options.
    - jessedhillon 11y ago
      Much more pleasant ridership, unless you enjoy listening to whatever's playing out of that guy's cell phone.

rdl 11y ago

I live in Oakland (10m walk from the new Uber office, but 3m from a 580 onramp), and my office is basically at AT&T Park. The commute has gotten markedly worse over the past 15 months. :( And it's not even a particularly bad east bay to sf commute; I know people who drive from Moraga. Last year, my 95th percentile commute at 10am was 35 minutes door to door, and the median was about 25-30. This year, the 95th is more like 45, and the median is more like 35 at that time. To arrive at 9am, it's dramatically worse -- basically an hour 95th, and sometimes up to 90m (once or twice a year), and the median is about 45m (BART is 50m door to door, but is absurdly crowded at that time, and I'm uncomfortable walking around with a laptop bag at 5-7pm in Oakland after 2 people got their laptops stolen in front of me in one week). I usually try to go in really late and wfh in the mornings so it's 20-25m, but it's still usually 30-40m on the way back at 7-8pm. If I have to be in at 9am, I have to leave at 7:45 to be comfortably on time with high confidence. And the traffic basically starts between 0530 and 0600, so being early is almost impossible; it's full-bad around 0630-0700.

ggreer 11y ago
Just curious, but how does someone get away with stealing a laptop during rush hour? I've lived in Oakland for about 6 months and I haven't seen anything like the crime you describe. Your description of congestion is spot-on, though.
- rdl 11y ago
  Away from the station. On the sketchy block of Harrison between Grand and the Whole Foods. In the first incident, someone came running at me at full speed holding a laptop bag across his chest; I thought for about 300ms as he ran toward me about putting him on the ground because I thought he was running at me to attack me, but I moved to the side behind a pole and he kept running, then a (very very slow) security guard ran after him, and then some sad looking middle aged guy as well. Second time was someone running across a street and then disappearing down 23rd. Easy to identify people with laptops from a distance, with probably 75% accuracy. I'm convinced 4-7pm Fridays is a great time to steal laptops from commuters; they're tired, it's relatively low traffic, OPD's response times are...not impressive, etc. It's really a 5-10 block area behind the stupid Auto Row and some sketchy semi-SRO housing in the area which is a problem. (Pro tip for cities: auto dealers are horrible for foot traffic.)