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> The equivalent technology worker in New York has access to an effective subway system and takes it as a matter of routine. A lot of technology workers in New

> The equivalent technology worker in New York has access to an effective subway system and takes it as a matter of routine. A lot of technology workers in New York traveling 50 miles to work by subway? I'm just asking because that's about the distance from Trenton NJ to Manhattan. Many people would rightly consider that to be a little outrageous and would maybe consider moving closer to their work instead of treating their city like a suburb they like to hang out at on the weekends. Edit: It is actually about 35 miles from 18th/Dolores to Google HQ, not 50. That's more like commuting from Brooklyn to New Brunswick.

ameister14 13y ago
Lots of workers travel from Croton on Hudson or Long Island by train into Manhattan and take the subway from there; all of that is public transportation or at least publicly subsidized.
- Aloisius 13y ago
  Caltrain from SF to MV is significantly faster than taking public transit from Long Island or Croton on Hudson to Manhattan.
biscarch 13y ago
The LIRR goes out to Riverhead, Long Island from Penn Station, which is 75mi. Even Ronkonkoma to Penn is 50mi.
deleted 13y ago
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muzz 13y ago
Your second point is a keen observation-- the jobs are in suburban-looking places like Mountain View, but workers want to spend their nights and weekends in the city. It would be like buses picking up workers from their residences in Manhattan and transporting them to their office in Trenton, NJ.
lmg643 13y ago
no one travels 75 miles by subway - the longest single stretch is 31 miles inside the city. plenty of people do that by train and subway combined though. the key difference between "classic" big city commuting and the google commute, is that the SF tech folks are doing a REVERSE commute out of a city center. the "classic" commute scenario is take a train from a low density area to a high density area, where you switch to bus/subway/cab/walk. subways work great for short haul, trains for long haul. there is a "last mile" problem in the reverse commute that needs the google equivalent of the "johnny cab" to work. its a density and space problem that won't be easily solved, although google may be the first. http://www.dailymotion.com/video/x10bfo9_total-recall-homicidal-johnny-cab_fun http://www.dailymotion.com/video/x10bfo9_total-recall-homici... i also would hardly say the MTA is incompetent - it's incredible how reliable the system is - 24x7 subways, reasonably clean cars, electronic clocks to let you know the next train time. even the trains out to the burbs work well.
fennecfoxen 13y ago
> A lot of technology workers in New York traveling 50 miles to work by subway? I'm just asking because that's about the distance from Trenton NJ to Manhattan. 1. If we're talking Noe Valley to the Googleplex, Google Maps puts it at 35 miles. 50 miles would get you beyond San Jose. 2. Google tells me Caltrain from 4th-and-King to Mountain View is 44 minutes. That's roughly equivalent with White Plains to Grand Central ride, which is admittedly only 23 miles. (I do have friends who do this commute.) One difference is that when you get to Grand Central, if you're not walking to work, you can get somewhere else in town within about ten minutes (to Muni's thirty). Certainly you're not taking Muni from Noe Valley to Caltrain, anyway. 3. In light of that, I guess it does raise the point that public transit is to move people from where they want to live to where they want to work. "The equivalent technology worker in New York" does live closer to work. You could attack politicians and blame them for influencing this situation... But don't, at least not for the sake of this post, because the point isn't a superiority war with CA/NY, the point is that tech workers are in fact willing to take transit. It's just that SF public transportation is not good enough, not while employers are located in Mountain View. Perhaps the protestor could attack that directly if that's really what irks him? Perhaps he'd be satisfied with a proposal to move Google HQ downtown, so people could take the J train there. (cough i doubt it)

ameister14 13y ago

Lots of workers travel from Croton on Hudson or Long Island by train into Manhattan and take the subway from there; all of that is public transportation or at least publicly subsidized.

Aloisius 13y ago
Caltrain from SF to MV is significantly faster than taking public transit from Long Island or Croton on Hudson to Manhattan.

biscarch 13y ago

The LIRR goes out to Riverhead, Long Island from Penn Station, which is 75mi. Even Ronkonkoma to Penn is 50mi.

deleted 13y ago

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muzz 13y ago

Your second point is a keen observation-- the jobs are in suburban-looking places like Mountain View, but workers want to spend their nights and weekends in the city. It would be like buses picking up workers from their residences in Manhattan and transporting them to their office in Trenton, NJ.

lmg643 13y ago

no one travels 75 miles by subway - the longest single stretch is 31 miles inside the city. plenty of people do that by train and subway combined though. the key difference between "classic" big city commuting and the google commute, is that the SF tech folks are doing a REVERSE commute out of a city center. the "classic" commute scenario is take a train from a low density area to a high density area, where you switch to bus/subway/cab/walk. subways work great for short haul, trains for long haul. there is a "last mile" problem in the reverse commute that needs the google equivalent of the "johnny cab" to work. its a density and space problem that won't be easily solved, although google may be the first. http://www.dailymotion.com/video/x10bfo9_total-recall-homicidal-johnny-cab_fun http://www.dailymotion.com/video/x10bfo9_total-recall-homici... i also would hardly say the MTA is incompetent - it's incredible how reliable the system is - 24x7 subways, reasonably clean cars, electronic clocks to let you know the next train time. even the trains out to the burbs work well.

fennecfoxen 13y ago

> A lot of technology workers in New York traveling 50 miles to work by subway? I'm just asking because that's about the distance from Trenton NJ to Manhattan. 1. If we're talking Noe Valley to the Googleplex, Google Maps puts it at 35 miles. 50 miles would get you beyond San Jose. 2. Google tells me Caltrain from 4th-and-King to Mountain View is 44 minutes. That's roughly equivalent with White Plains to Grand Central ride, which is admittedly only 23 miles. (I do have friends who do this commute.) One difference is that when you get to Grand Central, if you're not walking to work, you can get somewhere else in town within about ten minutes (to Muni's thirty). Certainly you're not taking Muni from Noe Valley to Caltrain, anyway. 3. In light of that, I guess it does raise the point that public transit is to move people from where they want to live to where they want to work. "The equivalent technology worker in New York" does live closer to work. You could attack politicians and blame them for influencing this situation... But don't, at least not for the sake of this post, because the point isn't a superiority war with CA/NY, the point is that tech workers are in fact willing to take transit. It's just that SF public transportation is not good enough, not while employers are located in Mountain View. Perhaps the protestor could attack that directly if that's really what irks him? Perhaps he'd be satisfied with a proposal to move Google HQ downtown, so people could take the J train there. (cough i doubt it)