We're driven to commute

Despite horrific traffic, many of us stay put behind the whell

By Erik N. Nelson, STAFF WRITER

Article Created: 05/23/2006 02:28:51 PM PDT

Click photo to enlarge

Commuters still have a long wait before they will be able to drive on the new Bay Bridge, which is not expected to open until at least 2013

First, the awful truth:

``The Bay Area's surface transportation system is poorly maintained, seriously overcrowded at peak hours and woefully underfunded.''

That's what the experts at the Metropolitan Transportation Commission say in their Transportation 2030 planning document. But if you're coming to the Bay Area from another fine American city, you're likely to be pleasantly surprised by the number of different options available to commuters here.

But if you're like the vast majority of commuters, you'll think about those options while sitting in bumper-to-bumper traffic, probably in the MacArthur Maze while inching toward the Bay Bridge.

There are 26 public transit agencies running the area's subways, commuter trains, buses and ferries, but if you're going somewhere, you're probably driving there, alone. More than 84 percent of all of the 21 million average weekday trips made by the Bay Area's 7 million souls were by automobile, according to the most recent figures reported in "Bay Area Transportation/State of the System 2005,'' a report by the MTC and Caltrans, the state's transportation department. About a tenth of the trips were by foot or by bicycle, and a surprisingly low 6 percent were by public transit, despite the area's eco-consciousness.

So, let's get real. You're gonna drive. You're gonna pay for parking, for tolls, for gas, tires, mechanics and oil. But if you're new here, you need to know a few things.

Among those 30 billion miles driven annually on area freeways, quite a few were traversed in something of a space-time conundrum: Let's say that the speed limit is 65. The preferred speed by motorists is 80, but you're going maybe one-tenth of that, and you have to be at work in 10 minutes.

Your mistake? You didn't call 511 or log onto 511.org before heading out. Had you done so, the MTC's friendly automated voice would have told you driving times for your most hated stretches of freeway.

You should also know that weekday delays on westbound I-80 between State Route 4 and the Bay Bridge deprived commuters of an average of 10,080 hours due to delays each weekday in 2004. While no other freeway segments could compete with that, I-580, U.S. 101 and State Routes 92 and 4 each have their own unreasonable claim on motorists' time.

And if 511 can't help you with an alternate route that's not equally clogged, turn up the radio and remember: You're a motorist. You're the backbone of the Bay Area's transportation grid. If it weren't for the $3 (make that $4 in January 2007) toll you're paying every day to cross the Bay Bridge or any of its five lesser siblings, who would pay for much-needed seismic retrofitting of the bridges, or the stunning 525-foot, $1.4 billion Bay Bridge ``signature span'' that will make Oakland proud to watch the sun set?

The first subway system

If you're not into basking in the glow of motoring, you can join the 35,000 riders who ride BART through the TransBay Tube or along the spine of the East Bay. It was the nation's first automated subway system when it started 35 years ago.

There's also the much younger Altamont Commuter Express that connects the suburbs of Livermore and Pleasanton with San Jose and Stockton; the Amtrak-run Capitol Corridor trains that run from the Sierra foothills above Sacramento to skirt the East Bay shore and end up in San Jose; and Caltrain's ``Baby Bullet Train,'' which whisks riders from San Jose to downtown San Francisco in less than an hour. Try doing that on U.S. 101 at 8 a.m.

Better yet, don't.

And whether you ride the rails or take buses run by Alameda County's AC Transit, Livermore, Dublin and Pleasanton's Wheels system or any other part of the Bay Area's transit kaleidoscope, you can get the government and perhaps even your employer to pick up some of the slack. Many employers offer a pre-tax deduction toward the Commuter Check, which pays up to $105 a month for transit tickets. You can even defray the cost of BART parking with a separate pre-tax program.

And if you're into hybrid solutions, you can stay in your car and carpool. Sharing rides isn't as popular as it once was, according to the most recent stats, but it's no less useful. On I-880 between I-580 and I-680, you can save nearly 20 minutes by using carpool lanes. The trick is finding someone special to share the fun with. The MTC will be more than happy to help with its Ridematch Service, a kind of dating service for carpoolers at http://www.rms.rides.org.

However you choose to get around, chances are there's another way to go. If you choose wisely, you'll likely save a bit of air quality, a lot of gas and, best of all, mileage on your psyche.

Need to Know

Metropolitan Transportation Commission's 511

Information, from highway conditions to ridesharing details 511 http://www.511.org

AC Transit

Bus system for western Alameda and Contra Costa counties, with service to San Francisco Transbay Terminal (510) 891-4777 http://www.actransit.org

ACE

The Altamont Commuter Express, train service between Stockton and San Jose (800) 411-7245 http://www.acerail.com

Altamont Commuter Express

ACE offers train service between Stockton and San Jose (800) 411-7245 http://www.acerail.com

Amtrak

Capitol Corridor route provides daily round-trip trains between San Jose, Oakland and Sacramento (800) USA-RAIL http://www.amtrakcapitols.com

BART