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Update of my commute from El Cerrito to Mountain View
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Kenneth M. Lin
Oct 22, 2011, 4:32:27 PM10/22/11
to
I picked BART/Caltrain/VTA route during my first week and here are the
results.
Cost:
$5.15 BART x2
$4.75 Caltrain x2 ($4.03 w/ 8-ride pass)
$2.00 VTA light rail x2
$1.00 parking at BART
I was really concerned about the walking distance from the VTA station to
the office but it turned out there's a trail running parallel to the tracks
that leads to the parking lot so altough 511.org said ten minutes, it's more
like three minutes of walk so it's essentially negligible.
I gave myself twenty minutes to drive to the BART station for the 7:01AM
train from Del Norte that arrives at Millbrae at 8:06AM. Caltrain departs
at 8:17AM and arrives at Mountain View at 8:44AM. Then it's five-minute
light rail to Middlefield station. I can be at my desk at exactly nine. I
think I could only allocate fifteen minutes to drive to BART but it's better
to be on the safe side for now. It also doesn't often enough so I'd be
stranded if I missed a train.
I cannot afford to take time out for lunch so I work eight hours straight
and take VTA at 5:27PM. I got home around 7:35PM. I have like three hours
to myself before I have to go to bed. I also had a flu the whole week so I
was absolutely miserable but I somehow survived.
I was going to train out Capitol Corridor but it doesn't appear to be very
"on time" and I am guessing that it will take ten extra minutes per trip
even if everything is on schedule, which seems unlikely. I might pick this
route if the client will let me work during the commute because they have
desks and the ride sounds more comfortable.
I did have major gripes with Caltrain. I had no ideas what they meant by
"tag on and off" and got dinged $10.25 the first time I rode it. The
tagging stations are not readily visible and someone's always blocking it
with their bikes. The seats are hard to find and you have to ask the person
to move their bags because they wouldn't assume that you want to sit down
too.
One good thing is the the client offers free VTA sticker so I can rider
light rail for absolutely free from now on. I'd love to explore the area
one of these days. VTA will also be free with monthly Caltrain pass but now
I won't even have to worry about it. The light rails also have ceiling high
enough that I could do some pull-ups with the bars. I feel really out of
shape after a week of commute because I didn't exercise at all the whole
week.
It'd be extremely difficult to bring a bike because I have to go up and down
the stairs at the BART stations and bike racks on Caltrain are usually full
by the time it reaches Millbrae.
So I spent well over $100 on commute this week. I guess it's the price of
living in the Bay Area.
The client manager recommended that I rent a room nearby. However, if I do
that, I'd have to drive to Mountain View because I can't leave my car
overnight at BART station. Doing so would mean my having to come down there
on Sunday night and I probably can't leave until Saturday morning because of
the traffic congestion. I'd much rather sleep in my own bed if I have a
choice. I have gone through tremendous amount of reading materials in the
five days but should learn to doze off on the train if I were to survive
this ordeal in the long run.
All the regular employees complain about never being able to purchase a home
in the area and they apparently had a salary freeze last year. My initial
contract is for three months so if I might just quit if I cannot negotiate
to work from home here and there. This client is meeting happy to the point
that I don't have time to do actual work so far.
results.
Cost:
$5.15 BART x2
$4.75 Caltrain x2 ($4.03 w/ 8-ride pass)
$2.00 VTA light rail x2
$1.00 parking at BART
I was really concerned about the walking distance from the VTA station to
the office but it turned out there's a trail running parallel to the tracks
that leads to the parking lot so altough 511.org said ten minutes, it's more
like three minutes of walk so it's essentially negligible.
I gave myself twenty minutes to drive to the BART station for the 7:01AM
train from Del Norte that arrives at Millbrae at 8:06AM. Caltrain departs
at 8:17AM and arrives at Mountain View at 8:44AM. Then it's five-minute
light rail to Middlefield station. I can be at my desk at exactly nine. I
think I could only allocate fifteen minutes to drive to BART but it's better
to be on the safe side for now. It also doesn't often enough so I'd be
stranded if I missed a train.
I cannot afford to take time out for lunch so I work eight hours straight
and take VTA at 5:27PM. I got home around 7:35PM. I have like three hours
to myself before I have to go to bed. I also had a flu the whole week so I
was absolutely miserable but I somehow survived.
I was going to train out Capitol Corridor but it doesn't appear to be very
"on time" and I am guessing that it will take ten extra minutes per trip
even if everything is on schedule, which seems unlikely. I might pick this
route if the client will let me work during the commute because they have
desks and the ride sounds more comfortable.
I did have major gripes with Caltrain. I had no ideas what they meant by
"tag on and off" and got dinged $10.25 the first time I rode it. The
tagging stations are not readily visible and someone's always blocking it
with their bikes. The seats are hard to find and you have to ask the person
to move their bags because they wouldn't assume that you want to sit down
too.
One good thing is the the client offers free VTA sticker so I can rider
light rail for absolutely free from now on. I'd love to explore the area
one of these days. VTA will also be free with monthly Caltrain pass but now
I won't even have to worry about it. The light rails also have ceiling high
enough that I could do some pull-ups with the bars. I feel really out of
shape after a week of commute because I didn't exercise at all the whole
week.
It'd be extremely difficult to bring a bike because I have to go up and down
the stairs at the BART stations and bike racks on Caltrain are usually full
by the time it reaches Millbrae.
So I spent well over $100 on commute this week. I guess it's the price of
living in the Bay Area.
The client manager recommended that I rent a room nearby. However, if I do
that, I'd have to drive to Mountain View because I can't leave my car
overnight at BART station. Doing so would mean my having to come down there
on Sunday night and I probably can't leave until Saturday morning because of
the traffic congestion. I'd much rather sleep in my own bed if I have a
choice. I have gone through tremendous amount of reading materials in the
five days but should learn to doze off on the train if I were to survive
this ordeal in the long run.
All the regular employees complain about never being able to purchase a home
in the area and they apparently had a salary freeze last year. My initial
contract is for three months so if I might just quit if I cannot negotiate
to work from home here and there. This client is meeting happy to the point
that I don't have time to do actual work so far.
Peter Lawrence
Oct 23, 2011, 2:56:13 AM10/23/11
to
On 10/22/11 1:32 PM, Kenneth M. Lin wrote:
>
> I did have major gripes with Caltrain. I had no ideas what they meant by
> "tag on and off" and got dinged $10.25 the first time I rode it.
If you have registered your Clipper Card to your name, you can call the
>
> I did have major gripes with Caltrain. I had no ideas what they meant by
> "tag on and off" and got dinged $10.25 the first time I rode it.
Clipper Card customer service center [(877)878-8883] and most likely they'll
refund the difference of your actual fare ($4.75 or $4.03) and the amount
you got dinged for ($10.25) when you forgot to tag off.
> The tagging
> stations are not readily visible and someone's always blocking it with their
> bikes. The seats are hard to find and you have to ask the person to move
> their bags because they wouldn't assume that you want to sit down too.
great annoyance. I wish the train conductors would preemptively on crowded
trains asked passengers to remove their bags from unoccupied seats.
I find it annoying and amusing when some passengers give me a dirty look
when I ask them to remove their bags from an unoccupied seat so I can seat
down. And often times their bags occupies the window seat while they
themselves take the aisle seat to try to discourage other riders from
seating next to them.
- Peter
Kenneth M. Lin
Oct 23, 2011, 11:50:26 PM10/23/11
to
"Peter Lawrence" wrote in message news:j80dqh$q4$1...@dont-email.me...
Caltrain only allows 2 refunds per every six-month period so I can't afford
to make the same mistake again. Why can't they show images of these tagging
stations somewhere so first-timers can understand what is meant by "tag on
and off"?
I am definitely not looking forward to another week of commute but I am sure
that I will eventually become desensitized to it. I can never sleep on
moving vehicles and when I was working in Hawaii I stayed awake through the
entire red-eye flight home.
I have an idea. I could move to Las Vegas where I could buy a very nice
home for $200K and I could fly in every week. The flight is an hour at the
most and is actually faster than commuting from East Bay. I could take
public transportation from San Jose International to Mountain View quite
easily and conveniently. I will just rent a room nearby during the week.
We are overdue for another major earthquake any day now so it might make
sense to bail now.
P.S. Is anyone else using Windows Live Mail? Is there any way I could make
it automatically generate ">" marks when I want to reply to a post or an
email?
spamtrap1888
Oct 24, 2011, 12:08:29 AM10/24/11
to
On Oct 23, 8:50 pm, "Kenneth M. Lin" <kenneth_m_...@sbcglobal.net>
wrote:
>
> P.S. Is anyone else using Windows Live Mail? Is there any way I could make
> it automatically generate ">" marks when I want to reply to a post or an
> email?
Anything microsoft is a gut-wrenching nightmare any more. I decided to
ride out Vista but perhaps I have to go to Windows 7. So if you try
this, please tell me if it works:
http://www.dusko-lolic.from.hr/wlmquote/
wrote:
>
> P.S. Is anyone else using Windows Live Mail? Is there any way I could make
> it automatically generate ">" marks when I want to reply to a post or an
> email?
ride out Vista but perhaps I have to go to Windows 7. So if you try
this, please tell me if it works:
http://www.dusko-lolic.from.hr/wlmquote/
SMS
Oct 24, 2011, 12:13:21 AM10/24/11
to
On 10/23/2011 8:50 PM, Kenneth M. Lin wrote:
> I have an idea. I could move to Las Vegas where I could buy a very nice
> home for $200K and I could fly in every week. The flight is an hour at
> the most and is actually faster than commuting from East Bay. I could
> take public transportation from San Jose International to Mountain View
> quite easily and conveniently. I will just rent a room nearby during the
> week. We are overdue for another major earthquake any day now so it
> might make sense to bail now.
You could move to Mountain House, buy a very nice home for $250K, and
> I have an idea. I could move to Las Vegas where I could buy a very nice
> home for $200K and I could fly in every week. The flight is an hour at
> the most and is actually faster than commuting from East Bay. I could
> take public transportation from San Jose International to Mountain View
> quite easily and conveniently. I will just rent a room nearby during the
> week. We are overdue for another major earthquake any day now so it
> might make sense to bail now.
take the ACE train to Great America station.
David Kaye
Oct 24, 2011, 2:27:48 AM10/24/11
to
"SMS" <scharf...@geemail.com> wrote
> You could move to Mountain House, buy a very nice home for $250K, and take
> the ACE train to Great America station.
...and be living along the historic Lincoln Highway, too!
> You could move to Mountain House, buy a very nice home for $250K, and take
> the ACE train to Great America station.
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