Review: Brazos' Phosphorescent Blues
Interview with Bobby Hackney of Death
I Am So Popular: Love Me Doo-Doo
Fun Fun Fun Fest Previews: Street Dogs and Betaplayer
Wine: Austin Cellar Classic Is Tomorrow
Traffic this morning is as bad as it gets. Due to a fire at the Army testing lab, a bunch of escaped infected monkeys are roaming the expressway. Despite the sweltering heat, don't unroll your windows, 'cause those monkeys seem confused and irritable.
In other news, Nick Paumgarten has an essay on commuting in this week's New Yorker. Some interesting stats: approximately one out of six American workers commutes more than forty-five minutes, each way; 3.5 million commuters travel ninety minutes or more each way - almost double the number from 1990; ninety percent drive (88 percent of those drive alone). Essay synopsis: Most people commute because they can afford a nicer house if it is farther from their job. Commuting, especially by car, makes people unhappy, largely due to social isolation. People tend to overvalue the benefits of commuting (money, house, prestige) and undervalue the costs (sleep, exercise, fun). Shortening the distance between residential, office and retail space alleviates the problem, as does group commuting, whether via public transportation or van-pool.
Image from Matt Wright on Flickr.
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I still can't judge whether that first portion is a joke or not - were they infected with Rage? I'll have to get my anti-zombie gear on...
Simpsons reference, Brad. Simpsons reference.
I'm all for cutting down commuting time in favor of living closer to your job, but for increasing numbers of people I'm not sure it's even financially possible, let alone desirable. Tricky problem.
shilli, you so crazy!
but on a more serious note, i think that in a lot of urban areas (at least up in the densely packed north) it is disadvantaged folks who live farther away from their workplaces. and not by "choice". it's just because the rent is cheaper.
that's why this study leaves me feeling like...people were left out, or something wasn't considered, or or...i dunno.
***NEWS FLASH*** Most Americans will continue to be unhappy because no one can AFFORD to live downtown, closer to work, with all the overpriced, mixed use developments that are oh-so-popular right now.
Yes, but a lot of people could take the bus and use the time relaxing rather than being irrated at all the bad drivers around them. I especially don't understand the people who live in cedar park and don't take the flyers. I mean you'd rather sit in traffic honking your horn than surfing YouTube? Are you crazy?
Most people who won't take the bus, have never taken the bus, but already know they don't want to take it.
As the author says "Some take on long commutes by choice, and some out of necessity, although the difference between one and the other can be hard to discern." There is certainly a substantial population that needs to commute a long distance, and this article doesn't really speak to them (I view it as a separate and significant issue). That said, most people have some degree of choice, and that is the group I am trying to reach - the people who work downtown and buy a 4,000 square foot house in Round Rock instead of a 2,000 square foot house in French Place. These people are making systematically irrational choices (the author cites various studies by economists and psychologists) to commute longer than they should in order to live in a larger (or nicer, or whatever) house.
Something i can't relate to but was brought to my attention was the fact that people choose their homes based on neighborhood schools vs. commute length.
It's all for the kids, really!
A 2000 square foot house in French Place is over $400,000. That same house in Round Rock is going to be about 50 years newer and under $200k. Now imagine you have two school aged kids and want the best education you can provide for those kids.
I don't want to live in Cedar Park, ever. But there are "systematically rational" reasons why people make those choices, even if it means sacrificing other things that they want.
(but I agree, if you lived in cedar park etc, taking the flyer = a nice hour of free time, while driving solo = a brutal, soul-withering hour)
Speaking of the bus, I would love to take the bus. I haven't been lately because I have to get from job A in to job B in in half an hour, and there's no route that could do that for me. I just got a job at UT though, and I changed my hours up a bit with Job B, so I should be able to take the bus now. I live around William Cannon and S. 1st St. I need to get to campus by 7am. The only option I could find would take 45 minutes, and require walking at least half a mile (fine) through my neighborhood in the dark (not fine). Any suggestions, bus savvy fellow Austinites? I have looked at the Dillos, but none are this far south. My boyfriend said he saw a UT bus on WM Cannon, but the Cap Metro guy says there isn't one. I suspect there is a better solution than I could find on the CapMetro site lurking in the minds of experienced commuters. Help me out?
Traffic was bad this morning?
Huh, i live 2 miles from work and i didn't notice anything on my bike route.
Heyzeus, I would argue that a 50 year old home is better than a new one and that the schools in French Place are better than those in Round Rock (regardless of test scores), but I can understand disagreement on both points. Also, I compared a 4,000 square foot house in Round Rock against a 2,000 square foot house in French Place, which would be approximately the same price (as you say, probably somewhere north of $400k). My point is simply that most people have some degree of choice regarding where they live, and they will be happier if they choose to live closer to where they work, even if that means sacrificing in other areas (e.g. by buying a smaller house on a smaller lot). I am not saying that everyone living in Round Rock is being irrational; just the people with big, expensive houses.
The bus ain't no subway, that's for sure. If you have even one molecule of carsickness susceptibility, you can't make any better use of your trip on the bus than you could sitting behind the wheel - unless you count looking around at buildings and stuff (and I do, although most people wouldn't).
That being said, the flyers ARE pretty nice. They're significantly less jerky than the normal buses, and I could sort-of read about half the time on those. Try them out if you live on the NW 183 corridor and work at UT, Capitol, or downtown; they're actually a decent option.
Kat, what's wrong with the #10? Goes right to UT and goes right down S 1st all the way to Slaughter. Note that it turns into the #20 before going up the Red River side of UT.
M1EK--It takes an hour. It's still an option if I wind up getting an 8-5 shift rather than 7-4, but I really need something faster if I have to get there at 7. I wish there was a flyer. I have a car, so I could drive to a park and ride, which I might. It at least saves a little gas. I just really don't want to walk in the dark, even if it's morning dark. In order to get to UT in time for me to get to work at 7, I would have to go walking down South WM Cannon at 5:38am. It's not the hours I mind, it's a safety thing.
Kat, you have an excellent point. I've had the same problem. I used to work downtown & live north, at Lamar @ Braker. My only option was the #1, which went down Lamar...stopping every 1/4 mile. From door to door, it took me over an an hour. Driving, which was *hell*, took 30-40 minutes.
As much as I loved the bus (and really, I did -- it is so relaxing), I found the extra time to be frustrating.
I've since moved & changed jobs, and in my most recent home / work arrangement, my job was contraflow to traffic (*up* 183), and there was absolutely no bus option. Then again, it was only 5 miles & I could bike it b/c we had showers at work. (Now *that* is the way to travel, folks. There's nothing as nice as biking to work.)
Anyway, my point is, obviously there's not a non-car-commute answer for everyone, but it does seem like there aren't a lot of good bus options other than for folks who can take the flyers. It's very frustrating.
C'mon people. You know its really easy to find a house close to work that you can afford or conversly find a job close to your house. It's all really simple. I don't know why people have such a hard time. If you want to work at a place close to your house, just walk in and say "Hey, I live down the street, give me a job" or "Hey, I work down the street, give me that condo for less than $300K" - You just have to ask, you see its all very, very simple and easy to do.
I am realizing, as I scrutinze capmetro's offerings, that even if there was a flyer that went straight from my house to UT, I would still have to walk in the dark most of the year if my shift started at 7am. Duh. I would also be walking in the dark on campus. I did find a flyer (#110) that goes straight from my neighborhood to UT after 7am. So my choices are decent, after all. I am just a chicken.
CapMetro's site is not the best for planning. I know that it sounds crazy, but.... I worked at the County Clerk's office as a temp. I would take the 338 from South Austin to Hancock Center and then ride the 15 to the stop on Airport. IIRC, CapMetro's site even recommended it. I left the clerk's office and was rehired months later. I went on CapMetro's site and it recommend a bunch of other ways (which took more time) but not the 338 to 15 route. I thought that was wrong. Looked at each route on their site. Figured out that each was pretty much the same and continued on with the orginial 338 to 15 route.
So, my advice is to look at the routes that go by your house (or use a commuting lot) and to look at the routes that go near your job, and then figure out if there is a way to get back and forth.
Hope this helps,
steve
Kat,
Not much Capital Metro can do for you, then. You already have very good bus service - as far as bus service goes - i.e. compared to most people in Austin; so you may just not be a very good candidate for taking the bus. It happens - buses don't need to be perfect for everybody in order to help out, thankfully.
Dear Schmucks Like Grape Ape:
It is, in fact, possible. My 2BR condo in Clarksville was $96K when I bought it, and is still valued at well under $200K. Plenty of similar condos exist all over town on or near good transit routes very close to downtown. You aren't going to get a new fancy big one for that much money, but that wasn't the criteria.
Kat,
Ride a bike to the bus stop. Bikers get mugged less than pedestrians. If you are really concerned, where a rape whistle around your neck, as well. You can throw the bike on the front of most any bus in town and the 1/2 mile would take about 3 minutes. Or lock it up at the bus station with kryptonite and pray it doesn't get stolen.
"My point is simply that most people have some degree of choice regarding where they live, and they will be happier if they choose to live closer to where they work, even if that means sacrificing in other areas..."
Stop the bus! Why do you assume that everyone shares your preferences?
If living closer to work made people happier than good schools, low crime rates, bigger houses, etc. then more people would chose East Austin over Round Rock.
In general, people are rational economic actors. Unless the inconvenience of commuting starts to outweigh the perceived benefits of living in in the 'burbs people will continue to choose Round Rock.
"People tend to overvalue the benefits of commuting (money, house, prestige) and undervalue the costs (sleep, exercise, fun)."
By "overvalue" and "undervalue", i assume what you really mean is "place a different value than I would". This is a pompous article assigning irrationality to anyone making a different decision than the author.
Wes, the basis of the article (and the post) is that people are often not rational economic actors in this context. My personal preferences are irrelevant, and I am not assuming that anyone shares them. Paumgarten cites various studies by economists and psychologists indicating that people would be happier if they preferenced living closer to work over the various other factors you mention. The "perceived benefits of living in the 'burbs" are precisely the problem - they are not actually as substantial as people perceive them to be.
Thanks Modam. That would make me feel better. Of course, then there's sitting at the bus stop. I will think about this. Thanks for the idea:)
Also counfounding the so-called rational actors is the fact that suburban commuters don't pay anywhere near the full cost of the infrastructure required to move their car - so living in the suburbs is artificially cheap compared to living close-in.
M1EK, I think of that as a slightly different issue. If the government is subsidizing a particular lifestyle, then I think it becomes more rational for an individual to choose that lifestyle (independent of other factors). Whether or not it is rational for the government to subsidize sprawl is another question.
"The "perceived benefits of living in the 'burbs" are precisely the problem - they are not actually as substantial as people perceive them to be."
This study and many of the people commenting on it are forgetting one simple thing: You can't quantify or measure happiness and quality of life. You can look at factors that may or may not make for a better quality of life, but ultimately the most important question is, "are you more pleased living in the suburbs than you were in the city?" or vice versa. This answer will vary from person to person, based on the preferences. I live in town because I'm single and am without kids. I prefer all the things city life has to offer over the suburbs. Others prefer the suburbs for all of the things the city cannot provide (namely greater affordability, greater safety and a more family friendly environment).
Bottom line, it's up to the individual to make the best choice for themselves. And you'd have to take their word for it because, after all, they know better than you about their own experience.
I can't believe the discussion has come this far without a compliment on the Parappa ref in the headline. (If that is indeed what it is.)
Check, and turn, and signal to the left...
When they finally give far south Austinites a reasonable park and ride option, I will be the first on the bus. The only park and ride anywhere south is in Oak Hill. It is classic bias. The northside has multiple options. Sorry, had to whine a minute. Here's hoping CapMetro will get on it!
CAP METRO SUCKS
Let's get some collectivos in Austin.
Cap Metro absolutely does not suck. And I can't believe that girl needed someone to tell her to ride a bike to the stop. Damn the stupidity.
And it's not a Parapper reference, it's a Simpson's reference as someone already pointed out.
you people...