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A 2:15 Alarm, 2 Trains and a Bus Get Her to Work by 7 A.M

nytimes.com

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Re: A 2:15 Alarm, 2 Trains and a Bus Get Her to Work by 7 A.M

#91

San Francisco has more than twice the area of Manhattan, with half the population. The San Francisco Bay Area CSA has about the same population as Switzerland, with 2/3 of the area of Switzerland. Both have similar GDPs. If someone wanted to live in Germany, and commute to work in Zurich, with Swiss salaries and German cost-of-living, their commute would be about 1h15min. The housing and infrastructure problems in th…

San Francisco is surrounded by cities which are not San Francisco. Manhattan is part of New York City, and is surrounded by more of New York City.

If someone lived 80 miles away from Zurich, in a German town such as Sankt Märgen, Google is telling me that it would take 2h 51m [1]. This tells me that if the woman in the Article made that same distance commute in German/Switzerland with, say, 30 minutes of slack, she would have to leave her house at 3:40am to arrive at work at 7am.

Let me now quote the article:

  When the second alarm goes off at 3:45 — a reminder to leave 
  for the train in 15 minutes — her morning shifts from 
  leisure to precision.
Hm.

[1] https://www.google.com/maps/dir/Sankt+M%C3%A4rgen,+Germany/Z...

Re: A 2:15 Alarm, 2 Trains and a Bus Get Her to Work by 7 A.M

#92

San Francisco has more than twice the area of Manhattan, with half the population. The San Francisco Bay Area CSA has about the same population as Switzerland, with 2/3 of the area of Switzerland. Both have similar GDPs. If someone wanted to live in Germany, and commute to work in Zurich, with Swiss salaries and German cost-of-living, their commute would be about 1h15min. The housing and infrastructure problems in th…

It's basically impossible to get a job in Zurich though. In San Fransisco, a coding bootcamp grad can get 140K out the door. This is how capitalism works. We take the bad with the good. Politics reflect the will of the people and the people in San Fransisco on both sides of the aisle want to make as much money as they can, any way they can.

These are some broad generalizations.

Re: A 2:15 Alarm, 2 Trains and a Bus Get Her to Work by 7 A.M

#93

While the rising cost of housing is an easy target, why not put the pressure on the companies that are driving the influx of workers and out of control cost of living? If tech companies are drawing people into cities and forcing out those who keep the city itself operating, why not have them subsidize and improve public transportation? Lower income housing? Encourage more remote work or move their headquarters out of…

The same thing is happening in most other cities albeit perhaps more slowly, most of which have no particular industry to blame it on. It's a shortage caused by zoning.

https://www.axios.com/sky-high-home-prices-are-thwarting-thw...

Re: A 2:15 Alarm, 2 Trains and a Bus Get Her to Work by 7 A.M

#94

San Francisco has more than twice the area of Manhattan, with half the population. The San Francisco Bay Area CSA has about the same population as Switzerland, with 2/3 of the area of Switzerland. Both have similar GDPs. If someone wanted to live in Germany, and commute to work in Zurich, with Swiss salaries and German cost-of-living, their commute would be about 1h15min. The housing and infrastructure problems in th…

It's basically impossible to get a job in Zurich though. In San Fransisco, a coding bootcamp grad can get 140K out the door. This is how capitalism works. We take the bad with the good. Politics reflect the will of the people and the people in San Fransisco on both sides of the aisle want to make as much money as they can, any way they can.

> In San Fransisco, a coding bootcamp grad can get 140K out the door

I really hope that's not true

Re: A 2:15 Alarm, 2 Trains and a Bus Get Her to Work by 7 A.M

#95

San Francisco has more than twice the area of Manhattan, with half the population. The San Francisco Bay Area CSA has about the same population as Switzerland, with 2/3 of the area of Switzerland. Both have similar GDPs. If someone wanted to live in Germany, and commute to work in Zurich, with Swiss salaries and German cost-of-living, their commute would be about 1h15min. The housing and infrastructure problems in th…

It's basically impossible to get a job in Zurich though. In San Fransisco, a coding bootcamp grad can get 140K out the door. This is how capitalism works. We take the bad with the good. Politics reflect the will of the people and the people in San Fransisco on both sides of the aisle want to make as much money as they can, any way they can.

Huh? Zurich has lots of jobs, and they pay very well.

Re: A 2:15 Alarm, 2 Trains and a Bus Get Her to Work by 7 A.M

#96

San Francisco has more than twice the area of Manhattan, with half the population. The San Francisco Bay Area CSA has about the same population as Switzerland, with 2/3 of the area of Switzerland. Both have similar GDPs. If someone wanted to live in Germany, and commute to work in Zurich, with Swiss salaries and German cost-of-living, their commute would be about 1h15min. The housing and infrastructure problems in th…

It's basically impossible to get a job in Zurich though. In San Fransisco, a coding bootcamp grad can get 140K out the door. This is how capitalism works. We take the bad with the good. Politics reflect the will of the people and the people in San Fransisco on both sides of the aisle want to make as much money as they can, any way they can.

You don't get 140k out of the door.

Re: A 2:15 Alarm, 2 Trains and a Bus Get Her to Work by 7 A.M

#97

San Francisco has more than twice the area of Manhattan, with half the population. The San Francisco Bay Area CSA has about the same population as Switzerland, with 2/3 of the area of Switzerland. Both have similar GDPs. If someone wanted to live in Germany, and commute to work in Zurich, with Swiss salaries and German cost-of-living, their commute would be about 1h15min. The housing and infrastructure problems in th…

True. But a non-political solution to affordable housing could be coming soon in the form of rapid transit via Hyperloop. Hyperloop could put deflationary pressure on housing prices. If Hyperloop actually materializes, and their route transit times are anywhere near what they say they will be, then real estate prices should decline in the bay area, or at the worst level out. I doubt people will continue to pay crazy…

No Hyperloop required, just off-the-shelf, standard rail technology that has been available for the past 30-40 years.

Re: A 2:15 Alarm, 2 Trains and a Bus Get Her to Work by 7 A.M

#98
post #67
post #11

I think these articles about extreme commutes are interesting. I recommend you read what Mr. Money Mustache has to say on the subject. http://www.mrmoneymustache.com/2011/10/06/the-true-cost-of-c...

Eh. It's reasonable to point out that even a That said, selling and buying houses (or changing jobs) on an ongoing basis so you're right next to your job doesn't seem like a great strategy either. And likely not a plausible one, at least outside of a city, if you have a partner who also goes into an office.

When choosing between jobs I try to calculate the true hourly wage I'd receive. I include transportation costs, travel time, expected unpaid overtime etc and pick not the highest salary but the highest hourly rate all things considered.

Re: A 2:15 Alarm, 2 Trains and a Bus Get Her to Work by 7 A.M

#99
post #43

One way to make this better is to support the plan to inline the Capitol Corridor and ACE trains with Caltrain via the unused and abandoned Dumbarton rail bridge [0]. Make sure to tell your elected officials you support this. [0]: http://www.greencaltrain.com/2017/08/dumbarton-corridor-stud...

I wonder what they're doing in other parts of the world where the population is much larger? http://www.metro-report.com/news/single-view/view/beijing-ma... http://www.chinadaily.com.cn/business/2017-08/15/content_306...

Well, for one thing, Beijing is miles and miles of 20+story apartment highrises. I don't know why San Francisco is so resistant to that, seems inevitable to me.
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