4 ms·

Lets not have perfect be the enemy of good here. > Option 3..n) walk 19 minutes to catch the 21 bus, ride to mountain view, switch to the 51, ride to practical

Lets not have perfect be the enemy of good here. > Option 3..n) walk 19 minutes to catch the 21 bus, ride to mountain view, switch to the 51, ride to practically the doorstep at work. Total travel time: 100+ minutes. And I arrive an hour early. How far away is the drive to the Mountain View / 51 bus? Is it an option to drive to that bus, then bus to the doorstep of your work? If gasoline reaches $6, $7, $8, $9 or $10/gallon, would it be economical for you to use this route? Is there a convenient parking lot where you can park all-day at reasonable costs (or for free)?

Fatnino 5y ago
It's 11 minutes to Mountain View by car. There is of course no free parking because it's downtown. Then it's an additional 25 minutes on the 51 bus. This isn't a situation where good is being passed up waiting for perfect. It's utterly terrible being passed up for bad but workable. This plan saves me a fraction of a gallon. The cost of parking alone already eats many times the savings. And this still doesn't cover what 20 minutes of my time is worth. Admittedly, time spent as a passenger is better spent than as a driver.
- blitzar 5y ago
  Workplace (plus immediate neighbour offices) ride share / carpool can be the only real winner there. Someone should build an app for it.
  - lobocinza 5y ago
    Waze
- dragontamer 5y ago
  Surely there's something to do downtown in your daily life that can spread out the costs though? I don't know your neighborhood, but even just a Trader's Joe (or other grocery store) near the parking spot would integrate your work-day into a grocery-run, or other such regular activity. If this isn't a regular enough occurance, its still a benefit to do it once or twice a week, as you need. If not all the time, then you start thinking about how you can use mass transit at least some of the time. Home -> Mall -> Work -> Mall -> Buy Groceries -> Home. Or maybe gym activities, or whatnot. I don't know what exists in that commercial area, but in my experience, there tend to be lots of things to do around bus stops.
  - Fatnino 5y ago
    You're really grasping at straws here. OK, let's look at what there is to do in downtown Mountain View https://maps.app.goo.gl/JizDZA8K8tdxo6mU7 https://maps.app.goo.gl/JizDZA8K8tdxo6mU7 This pin is to the transit center. To the south southwest is the business district. Nearly ALL of it is restaurants and bars. It's honestly impressive how 4 city blocks are basically one giant food court. But I thought the point of this was to save money, not spend way too much eating out every night. There is a CVS a few blocks away, but let's be honest, I'm going to do my shopping at my local store in Palo Alto a mere 10 minute walk from my house. I'm not planning an excursion to DTMV to shop at the one store. As for the rest of the time, the main thing I like to do for fun/excersize is go hiking in the hills around here. The number of trailheads that have transit to them is so vanishingly small it might as well not exist.
    - dragontamer 5y ago
      I'm seeing a free-parking lot (with EV-chargers to boot), "Ava's Downtown Market & Deli", a barber shop. Those three things alone are sufficient to make one bus-trip from this location per week worthwile (free parking near a bus-stop that takes you to the doorsteps of work). At least, whenever you get your hair cut, and whenever you need to buy more higher-quality salami/cheese from the Deli for your home sandwich preparations (and whatever else that market keeps in stock). I don't live there. I don't know everything that Mountain View has to offer. Maybe there's something else there that's worthwhile for lifestyle: a gym, workout center, arcade, bookstore/library, etc. etc. I think I see a dance center (maybe you're not a dancer), but that suggests that some kind of workout culture is in the area, so maybe there is a gym there that matches your activity style (or maybe you can learn dance as your activity to take advantage of that location) -------- So already, the home -> free mountain view parking lot -> bus -> work -> bus -> parking lot -> home trip seems to have been proven reasonable. There's also a CVS on that bus-route, and seems to be walking-distance from the free parking lot as well for other lifestyle shopping needs. This doesn't seem unreasonable to me at all. There's also the occasional needs items: the post office and a few banks.
      - Fatnino 5y ago

Fatnino 5y ago

It's 11 minutes to Mountain View by car. There is of course no free parking because it's downtown. Then it's an additional 25 minutes on the 51 bus. This isn't a situation where good is being passed up waiting for perfect. It's utterly terrible being passed up for bad but workable. This plan saves me a fraction of a gallon. The cost of parking alone already eats many times the savings. And this still doesn't cover what 20 minutes of my time is worth. Admittedly, time spent as a passenger is better spent than as a driver.

blitzar 5y ago
Workplace (plus immediate neighbour offices) ride share / carpool can be the only real winner there. Someone should build an app for it.
- lobocinza 5y ago
  Waze
dragontamer 5y ago
Surely there's something to do downtown in your daily life that can spread out the costs though? I don't know your neighborhood, but even just a Trader's Joe (or other grocery store) near the parking spot would integrate your work-day into a grocery-run, or other such regular activity. If this isn't a regular enough occurance, its still a benefit to do it once or twice a week, as you need. If not all the time, then you start thinking about how you can use mass transit at least some of the time. Home -> Mall -> Work -> Mall -> Buy Groceries -> Home. Or maybe gym activities, or whatnot. I don't know what exists in that commercial area, but in my experience, there tend to be lots of things to do around bus stops.
- Fatnino 5y ago
  You're really grasping at straws here. OK, let's look at what there is to do in downtown Mountain View https://maps.app.goo.gl/JizDZA8K8tdxo6mU7 https://maps.app.goo.gl/JizDZA8K8tdxo6mU7 This pin is to the transit center. To the south southwest is the business district. Nearly ALL of it is restaurants and bars. It's honestly impressive how 4 city blocks are basically one giant food court. But I thought the point of this was to save money, not spend way too much eating out every night. There is a CVS a few blocks away, but let's be honest, I'm going to do my shopping at my local store in Palo Alto a mere 10 minute walk from my house. I'm not planning an excursion to DTMV to shop at the one store. As for the rest of the time, the main thing I like to do for fun/excersize is go hiking in the hills around here. The number of trailheads that have transit to them is so vanishingly small it might as well not exist.
  - dragontamer 5y ago
    I'm seeing a free-parking lot (with EV-chargers to boot), "Ava's Downtown Market & Deli", a barber shop. Those three things alone are sufficient to make one bus-trip from this location per week worthwile (free parking near a bus-stop that takes you to the doorsteps of work). At least, whenever you get your hair cut, and whenever you need to buy more higher-quality salami/cheese from the Deli for your home sandwich preparations (and whatever else that market keeps in stock). I don't live there. I don't know everything that Mountain View has to offer. Maybe there's something else there that's worthwhile for lifestyle: a gym, workout center, arcade, bookstore/library, etc. etc. I think I see a dance center (maybe you're not a dancer), but that suggests that some kind of workout culture is in the area, so maybe there is a gym there that matches your activity style (or maybe you can learn dance as your activity to take advantage of that location) -------- So already, the home -> free mountain view parking lot -> bus -> work -> bus -> parking lot -> home trip seems to have been proven reasonable. There's also a CVS on that bus-route, and seems to be walking-distance from the free parking lot as well for other lifestyle shopping needs. This doesn't seem unreasonable to me at all. There's also the occasional needs items: the post office and a few banks.
    - Fatnino 5y ago