Wednesday, June 18, 2008

Spare the Air?

Tomorrow is Spare the Air day in the Bay Area. That means that everyone gets free transit rides! I used to take the train religiously, but since I've switched jobs (over a year ago) I haven't been able to convince myself to get out of bed early.
So, today I checked out 511.org. They have a transit planner that will tell you which buses, trains, etc to use to get to your destination. You can tell the planner what time you want to arrive, or what time you want to leave, perfect for planning a commute right? Well check out what it told me to do.

Trip Itinerary for tomorrow (Thursday), arriving by 8:30 am.
Additional VTA Fare Information
Depart:W El Camino Real & S Shoreline Blvd in Mountain View

Then:
Go to:W. Corner Of El Camino Real & Shoreline (511 location map) (Google map)

Board:Santa Clara VTA Bus #22/Palo Alto Trans Ctr at 6:52 am (next 7:04 am) (schedule detail)
Fare:Pay $1.75

Get Off:Palo Alto Caltrain Station & Bus at 7:16 am


Then:
Go to:Caltrain Station - Palo Alto, 95 University Ave (511 location map) (Google map)

Board:Caltrain Northbound Line/San Francisco at 8:23 am (last train of the day) (schedule detail)
Fare:Pay $4.00, Get Caltrain Rail Ticket

Get Off:Caltrain Station - San Mateo at 8:39 am


Then:
Go to:E. Corner Of 1st Ave & B St (511 location map) (Google map)

Board:Samtrans Bus #292/Downtown S.F. at 9:01 am (next bus at 9:38 am) (schedule detail)
Fare:Pay $1.50

Get Off:1408 Bayshore Hwy at 9:21 am

So, if I have to arrive by 8:30 like it says above, how does getting off the bus at 9:21 work for me? Might want to get that fixed 511.org. I don't think that's going to work.

3 comments:

Sharon C. said...

Sounds like a very long commute to me -- do they have carpool vans? Might be easier. The only time we have a commute is when we want to go on an airplane!!

Molly said...

What the heck? Why would it tell you to take the bus to Palo Alto? Why not catch a bus to the Mountain View station (since you're like 2 miles away) and jump on the baby bullet train to SF? Oh, and since when did you work in SF? Where have I been?

I'm a much better trip planner than them. Hahaha.

Jenni said...

I rode the train this morning and here's the catch with "free transit". For Caltrain, it's only free until noon. So, I get a free ride to work, but I gotta pay to come home. Hmmmm. I think someone is a little greedy and doesn't care enough about the environment. However, I think this is the first time I've taken public transit on spare the air day and I'm so proud of myself!