The culture of driving
In college, I biked the North Berkeley hills to campus. I made my way around town by bike or foot, and occasionally public transit. I was against cars and resented having our environments shaped by them. I never thought that in a few short years, I’d end up having to drive a car to work every day.
When I first started working, I compared the different commute options:
- There’s driving. Since I live near the freeway and the office is right off the freeway, it takes 15 minutes door to door. It’s nice because it’s a reverse commute.
- There’s a bus that runs up San Pablo from Oakland to Point Richmond. But it takes upwards of an hour and a half. One way. Walking to the bus station alone takes 15 minutes.
- There’s BART. But I would have to take the Emery Go Round shuttle to BART, ride BART up to Richmond, and then take another courtesy shuttle to the office. Comparable in time to taking the bus, but it involves transfers and is slightly more expensive.
Clearly, driving is the most convenient option. I would like to take public transportation, I really would. And if there were a nice bike path, I would even consider biking. But the infrastructure to do so safely and easily isn’t there.
The public transportation options are just as expensive as driving a car (and much more costly in terms of time). So why would I not drive? I’m sure a lot of people feel this way, too. There’s a reason why there so many cars out on the road.
My thinking is: unless a better alternative is available, I’m going to keep driving. Turns out that I’m a big fan of parking lots.