Woo Hoo Emily!

I have a question for mass transit commuters. I am thinking about giving up my car. I live in a city that doesn't have the greatest mass transit, but luckily, I live on a main bus route and work at the largest employer and hospital and university in the area, so it is actually possible for me to get most places by bus. BUT most trips are, like an hour to 2 hours for something that would tak eme 15 minutes by car. Or, I have a nice 3 minute trip to the grocery store, but to get back takes much longer. Is this sort of normal in terms of transit, and one just finds things to do, or is this excessive and annoying. I am just not sure. I can get a bus pass that lasts for 31 days that is unlimited for $56.00, which is half of what I spend in gas in a month, and, frankly, I don't really go anywhere except to work and to the grocery store and maybe to Target.

Can you try not using your car for a month and see how it is, before you give up your car for good? That's what I would recommend. Or, can you keep your car, use the bus for work, and only use the car for shopping trips and stuff? The reduced gas useage even in that case would likely offset the price of the bus pass.

For a year, I lived near the center of Rochester, and took a bus out to RIT, which involved a transfer.

Waiting for a bus outside at 7:30am in the winter was nasty.

More than an hour vs 15 minutes sounds like a huge PITA to me, frankly, and I'm a non-driver. In NYC, a lot of trips take longer in a car because of traffic, parking, etc., but if that's not a factor, I don't know.

I guess the question is, is $50 a month worth the amount of time you'd spend on the bus. Maybe it is, maybe it isn't -- depends on your ratio of time to money.

All they have to do is grandfather Pluto. In baseball parlance it's like the * next to the Roger Maris entry in the record books. The planets are blah blah blah Pluto blah. A planet is defined as blah blah. Pluto, which does not meet the modern definition of a planet, is classified as such, because it was so designated, before the definition was standardized and adopted.

Disney could sponsor the footnote.

So let it be written. So let it be done.

I may have skipped and skimmed.

Can you try not using your car for a month and see how it is, before you give up your car for good? That's what I would recommend. Or, can you keep your car, use the bus for work, and only use the car for shopping trips and stuff?

This is sort of my thought. Frankly, I am about to need a new car and I cannot afford it. I mean, I see no way without taking up the selling of my organs or something. I am thinking about trying to eke out the most I can from the car before it dies.

Waiting for a bus outside at 7:30am in the winter was nasty.

It is, but as a car commuter in Rochester for years, shoveling your car out of the driveway/parking lot and scraping it off at 7:30 am was also nasty, as is the 15 minute walk from where I park. I am lucky in that the bus actually picks me up right outside my house and drops me off right in front of work. I would probably be the luckiest commuter in Rochester.

THanks Tom and Nora and Jesse!

ETA: Also, I hate driving in the winter. Like hate, hate, hate.

The astronomers have gone and upset the geologists, because the word "pluton" is already a commonly used term in geology:

[link]

The astronomers have gone and upset the geologists, because the word "pluton" is already a commonly used term in geology:

That's why we can't have nice things planets....

See? The */grandfathering solution is the way to go. Never piss off a geologist. They throw rocks.

How long would your commute be, Sophia? A little extra time for Target trips and stuff isn't that big a deal if the work situation is ok. Also, how often do you work late? Depending on the routes, neighborhoods, etc., that could be a consideration.