5 ms·

I think for me, the opportunity cost of the bus is too high. My travel time in the car is generally half of the bus time. I consider that time lost. Since I am

I think for me, the opportunity cost of the bus is too high. My travel time in the car is generally half of the bus time. I consider that time lost. Since I am able to use that time to make money, I would have to be compensated for that money in order for me to want to take the bus. At my hourly rate, a bus ride of 1 hour that wasted 30 minutes of my time would cost me $25. (for those thinking that I would waste the time anyway, I would counter that time not spent working is time spent with my wife and son, or learning, or sleeping, and I'd much, much rather do those things than be in a bus.) I live in Los Angeles.

emc 13y ago
What about working on the bus? I've only taken the greyhound but being able to catch up on email or quickly code out so stuff vs having to drive is always nice.
- danielweber 13y ago
  Working on the bus is great, but you really really need to make sure that it's a comfortable place to work.
- chris_mahan 13y ago
  It's hard to concentrate, really concentrate on the bus.
coldpie 13y ago
> My travel time in the car is generally half of the bus time. I consider that time lost. I consider it time gained :) I bus to work every day, takes just over an hour each direction. By car, it takes 20-30 minutes each direction. That's about 2 hours I spend catching up on news and reading books every day, as opposed to an hour staring at someone else's bumper. It's definitely a different judgment for every person. I'm in Minneapolis/St Paul. Can't wait for our new East-West light rail line to open next year. It was a major factor in choosing where I purchased my house.
- johnbellone 13y ago
  For the longest time I considered it time-gained as well. When I was working in NYC I had a forty-five minute commute in the morning, and an hour plus in the evening. For the first few weeks that was cool, and then I just wanted to get the fuck home. In the morning I enjoyed the commute much more than I did in the evening. Now that I live in the D.C. metro area I drive into work. It takes about half as long but definitely costs me a hell of a lot more. I don't mind public transportation, but in D.C. it is horribly unreliable. If it was free I'd probably actually forgive the problems that D.C. has, but its not, and I have a feeling there would many more problems if the transit system was free. Maybe there are other areas of the country/world that could afford this without sacrificing a reliable schedule, but definitely not the U.S. capital.

emc 13y ago

What about working on the bus? I've only taken the greyhound but being able to catch up on email or quickly code out so stuff vs having to drive is always nice.

danielweber 13y ago
Working on the bus is great, but you really really need to make sure that it's a comfortable place to work.
chris_mahan 13y ago
It's hard to concentrate, really concentrate on the bus.

coldpie 13y ago

> My travel time in the car is generally half of the bus time. I consider that time lost. I consider it time gained :) I bus to work every day, takes just over an hour each direction. By car, it takes 20-30 minutes each direction. That's about 2 hours I spend catching up on news and reading books every day, as opposed to an hour staring at someone else's bumper. It's definitely a different judgment for every person. I'm in Minneapolis/St Paul. Can't wait for our new East-West light rail line to open next year. It was a major factor in choosing where I purchased my house.

johnbellone 13y ago
For the longest time I considered it time-gained as well. When I was working in NYC I had a forty-five minute commute in the morning, and an hour plus in the evening. For the first few weeks that was cool, and then I just wanted to get the fuck home. In the morning I enjoyed the commute much more than I did in the evening. Now that I live in the D.C. metro area I drive into work. It takes about half as long but definitely costs me a hell of a lot more. I don't mind public transportation, but in D.C. it is horribly unreliable. If it was free I'd probably actually forgive the problems that D.C. has, but its not, and I have a feeling there would many more problems if the transit system was free. Maybe there are other areas of the country/world that could afford this without sacrificing a reliable schedule, but definitely not the U.S. capital.