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I'll pick on Seattle, as that's where I'm currently living. To bus to my office, I have a 30 minute bus ride on one of the rapidride busses, then transfer to a

I'll pick on Seattle, as that's where I'm currently living. To bus to my office, I have a 30 minute bus ride on one of the rapidride busses, then transfer to a king county metro bus. The second bus takes between 0 and 30 minutes to arrive, normally gets stuck in traffic on the route it takes, and arrives near my office in 10 to 30 minutes. This is assuming neither bus is full and picks people up at either stop. On the best day, I'm on a bus for 40 minutes. On the worst, 90. That's 1.5-3 hours a day dealing with a commute. Alternatively, if I drive, I leave when I want to and normally arrive in 15-20 minutes. On a good day I save an hour a day driving, and on a bad one almost 2 hours. I'm all for public transit, when it works efficiently. We currently do not have a rail system that reaches the majority of our population (its being planned though). I can't justify the additional time for my commute, because I'd always have to plan for the worst. The bright side is sound transit is working on a proposal to expand their existing light rail. I'm all for efficient, timely, and reliable public transportation. I live 4 miles from work. It shouldn't take up to 90 minutes for me to get there.

yodsanklai 11y ago
> I live 4 miles from work. It shouldn't take up to 90 minutes for me to get there. That should be 20-30 min by bicycle :) is that an option?
- tempestn 11y ago
  In Seattle you're going to get pretty wet biking to work a significant percentage of the time. Depending on your job that might be an issue. (Or it might not at all. Before I worked from home I used to bike to work and shower there; it was great.) Also though, not everyone is able or wants to power their own transportation, and although I think biking is great, I this choosing not to is also perfectly reasonable and should also be respected.
  - Symbiote 11y ago
    The weather isn't that much different to Amsterdam or Copenhagen. But in both cities, buses have the exclusive use of some road space. This ensures a reliable journey time.
    - tempestn 11y ago
      They (or Amsterdam at least) also have amazing bike lanes everywhere. I actually lived and commuted by bike in Ghent, Belgium for a few months, which is very similar. I did indeed get soaked on the way to work fairly frequently, but was able to shower there. I also felt very safe doing so, as bike lanes are everywhere.
- zifnab06 11y ago
  You are correct. I'm slightly out of shape and working on it, hoping to start doing that by summer.
adrianN 11y ago
People drive because there is no public transport and there is no public transport because everybody drives. Making parking really expensive and funneling the money into improved public transport would probably change the situation.
- lisivka 11y ago
  Maybe you should look at bike parking in Netherlands: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zWESiQlmOC0 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zWESiQlmOC0 .
vlehto 11y ago
Helsinki: with bus and train 45min to work. It's a lot, but it's never more than hour. By car? 30 minute drive because of the congestion. Then I either hunt 15 - 30 minutes for parking lot or pay 170 eur/month in a close by cellar of a mall. For comparison monthly ticker for the public transport is only 30 eur.
- exprA 11y ago
  That's not the commute in Helsinki, it's just yours. I, too, have one – with a car I drive about 15 minutes along the innermost “ring” road whereas any combination of public transport would require at least an hour for the worst case scenario. Yes, the trip takes longer in peak traffic; luckily I can avoid those times most of the time – and it's in any case way faster than with public transport. It was comparatively worse when I had a much shorter commute to school years ago. The 3.5 km trip would consist of more than a kilometre of walking and would at worst take way more than half an hour with buses (including the switch, without one you'd have to walk more than half the distance). Needless to say, I did not prepare for the bad days, and was late quite often. With a car, it was literally a five minute ride.
  - vlehto 11y ago
    The point was that if you simply cut parking lots, the situation changes. Because then you need time for the "hunt a parking lot" while busses start to be on time as congestion decreases. In Helsinki, especially before 550, certain trips are lot faster with car. Currenly my school comute is 25min by car and 1h by bus. The fucked up thing is that bus routes are so winding that they compete with bicycle in speed and reach.
- ollifi 11y ago
  Is that a discount price? I think one month is over 50e.

yodsanklai 11y ago

> I live 4 miles from work. It shouldn't take up to 90 minutes for me to get there. That should be 20-30 min by bicycle :) is that an option?

tempestn 11y ago
In Seattle you're going to get pretty wet biking to work a significant percentage of the time. Depending on your job that might be an issue. (Or it might not at all. Before I worked from home I used to bike to work and shower there; it was great.) Also though, not everyone is able or wants to power their own transportation, and although I think biking is great, I this choosing not to is also perfectly reasonable and should also be respected.
- Symbiote 11y ago
  The weather isn't that much different to Amsterdam or Copenhagen. But in both cities, buses have the exclusive use of some road space. This ensures a reliable journey time.
  - tempestn 11y ago
    They (or Amsterdam at least) also have amazing bike lanes everywhere. I actually lived and commuted by bike in Ghent, Belgium for a few months, which is very similar. I did indeed get soaked on the way to work fairly frequently, but was able to shower there. I also felt very safe doing so, as bike lanes are everywhere.
zifnab06 11y ago
You are correct. I'm slightly out of shape and working on it, hoping to start doing that by summer.

adrianN 11y ago

People drive because there is no public transport and there is no public transport because everybody drives. Making parking really expensive and funneling the money into improved public transport would probably change the situation.

lisivka 11y ago
Maybe you should look at bike parking in Netherlands: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zWESiQlmOC0 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zWESiQlmOC0 .

vlehto 11y ago

Helsinki: with bus and train 45min to work. It's a lot, but it's never more than hour. By car? 30 minute drive because of the congestion. Then I either hunt 15 - 30 minutes for parking lot or pay 170 eur/month in a close by cellar of a mall. For comparison monthly ticker for the public transport is only 30 eur.

exprA 11y ago
That's not the commute in Helsinki, it's just yours. I, too, have one – with a car I drive about 15 minutes along the innermost “ring” road whereas any combination of public transport would require at least an hour for the worst case scenario. Yes, the trip takes longer in peak traffic; luckily I can avoid those times most of the time – and it's in any case way faster than with public transport. It was comparatively worse when I had a much shorter commute to school years ago. The 3.5 km trip would consist of more than a kilometre of walking and would at worst take way more than half an hour with buses (including the switch, without one you'd have to walk more than half the distance). Needless to say, I did not prepare for the bad days, and was late quite often. With a car, it was literally a five minute ride.
- vlehto 11y ago
  The point was that if you simply cut parking lots, the situation changes. Because then you need time for the "hunt a parking lot" while busses start to be on time as congestion decreases. In Helsinki, especially before 550, certain trips are lot faster with car. Currenly my school comute is 25min by car and 1h by bus. The fucked up thing is that bus routes are so winding that they compete with bicycle in speed and reach.
ollifi 11y ago
Is that a discount price? I think one month is over 50e.