Where to live based on cost of gas (Albuquerque: credit, vs)

[mortimer]

Zoidberg predicted:

> Rio Rancho will probably not continue growing ...

The one-millionth-Railrunner rider was boarded yesterday. That person will be awarded free tickets for the next twelve months. She commutes from Rio Rancho to UNM and has done so for the past two years. I would guess that her commute is from 1 hour to 1.5 hours one way.

In a car that commute might be from 45 to 60 minutes.

Such a commute is not necessarily wasted time. She says she enjoys reading and such on the bus-train-bus commute.

> $4 gas will definitely slow down growth outward, ...

I'm going out on a limb here and agreeing with that statement.

the_mudman left something out:

> I am personally taking fuel prices, or more specifically, commute times into account when looking for a home.

That's good. Almost no one takes commute time (wastage of your life) into account.

You neglected cost of operation of your vehicle. At $4/gallon it'd just about half of the overall cost of driving. From my house, a commute to Mesa Del Sol would require about 1 gallon of gas one-way. Therefore, I calculate that it would cost me $4 * 1 gallon * 2 directions = $8 in gasoline every day. It would cost me the additional $8 in wear and tear. It would cost me an additional one hour of automobile time, so let's call that an additional $30 an hour - all after tax. Each day.

yukon mentioned:

> ... I'd love to live in Placitas or Tijeras ...

Yeah, let's say they built a light rail line that went directly to your place of work and you lived right next to the station. There would go all your free time. Right now, you could own a Hummer and gas could be $10 and you could just snap your fingers at it.

[yukon]

Not really. I rode express bus and light rail in Dallas and loved it. I used the free time to catch up on my business reading, write my speeches for Toastmasters, training plans, etc. Sometimes I'd just read a book, or even nap. Can't do any of that while you're driving. Now I'd use it to work on my eBay listings on a laptop.

[trappedinNM]

Originally Posted by yukon

Not really. I rode express bus and light rail in Dallas and loved it. I used the free time to catch up on my business reading, write my speeches for Toastmasters, training plans, etc. Sometimes I'd just read a book, or even nap. Can't do any of that while you're driving. Now I'd use it to work on my eBay listings on a laptop.

Another thought: if you live close to work there is no time to take a nap! There are advantages to living close to work; time is the biggest one.

Last Thursday was Spare the Air day. I asked my staff to take the bus. I live in NAA near, and work in Journal center. It is ~6 miles from my home. I mailed Abqride for the best route. I walked and caught the #2 Eubank, transferred to the Montgomery bus, and finally transferred to the #140 San Mateo. I walked the final five minutes. Repeated the process at five p.m.. Most of the riders seemed to be using the monthly pass. The drivers seemed to know their riders. The young driver on the Montgomery route welcomed me as a new rider. The busses were generally on time. The evening San Mateo bus was 8 minutes late, resulting in a missed transfer and an extra 20 minute wait. Overall, I was surprised at the number of people riding.

Now the bad part: the ride took ~1:15 minutes in the morning, and a little longer going home. I can drive it 10 minutes. My vehicle, including fuel and depreciation, etc. costs ~$0.50 per mile based on 100k miles. For 12 miles, it costs me $6 versus the $2 for the bus (it was actually free that day). So I save $4, but lose 2 hours of my day.

I read a report prepared in conjunction with a proposed extentsion of the BART. For public transportation to be effective, the cost / benefit ratio needs to be only slightly less than driving. In other words, despite all the rhetoric and moaning, most people place a value on their time. At $4 a gallon, many people can still rationalize driving in Abq. because the bus system is still in its infancy comparitively speaking.

I am not knocking the system; I would love a system I could utilize everyday. I would pay $1 a gallon at the pump in taxes to finance the infrastructure of a modern system in Abq. But until the ride gets down to 30 minutes or less (excluding the walk on either end) I'll take my car. Until then, my time is worth more.

[mortimer]

trappedinNM related:

> I would pay $1 a gallon at the pump in taxes to finance ...

I'll spot your $1 and raise you another.

> until the ride gets down to 30 minutes or less (excluding the walk on either end) ...

Right. You have to count that as exercise.

> ... I'll take my car. Until then, my time is worth more.

My rule of thumb is that if there is more than one transfer, the bus is not worth it.

[yukon]

In Dallas, the bus IS usually faster than driving. They get to use the HOV lanes. Light rail there is often quicker than driving too.

Here, that's not the case, depending on where you drive. I live 2 miles from work (uphill in a.m. ), so I can walk it if I want/need to. It's also the first time in 20 years that it's taken me less than an hour to get to work. I love this place.

The downside, though, is most of my driving now is in city/stop-go, and my mileage is way down from past cities. I'm getting a good 30 miles LESS per tank here. Ugh.

[mortimer]

yukon related:

> Light rail there is often quicker than driving too.

All the Light Rail I've seen in Dallas (limited sample) has grade separation. It adds quite a bit to the cost of construction, but adds quite a lot to the desirablitly of riding it. I suspect that it also makes future infrastructure maintenance (power, sewer, etc) much cheaper since all you have to do is work under the elevated tracks and not re-route trains and such as you would in San Jose.

> I live 2 miles from work (uphill in a.m. ), so I can walk it ...

Don't you feel better for it? You also don't have to budget time in your day for "exercise" stuff.

> ... my driving now is in city/stop-go, and my mileage is way down ...

I suspect that the uphill/downhill also cuts into your mileage. Going downhill, you get much better mileage, but you still have to stop a lot (more brake wear/tear), but going uphill you use way more gasoline. The net effect is increased use.

I've found that using the downhill grades to accelerate via gravity is efficient if you don't have someone behind you. Why waste the gas? Timing your uphill braking when you know you're going to have to stop at the next light also saves a bit.

Finally, your gas mileage will be less simply because of the altitude.

[trappedinNM]

Interesting fact I saw while researching public transportation: Albuquerque is one of the largest metro areas in the country without HOV lanes.

One Californina legislator wanted to increase the HOV lane requirement from 2 to 3 or 4 during rush hours to increase the incentive to carpool. Some opposed claimed it was racist, benefiting Mexicans. Not sure what happened; the story was 12 months old.

Some companies in the Bay Area offer private "busses" to attract employees and reduce traffic. They are similar in size to airport shuttle busses, an offer curb-side pickup.

Employers across the country are now switching to 4-10's or 9-80 work weeks. A 4-10 workweek immediatley reduces commuting costs by 20%. There is a reduction in energy costs on the office side also; reduced lighting, computers, and HVAC.

In the short-term, there are dozens of things we can do as a nation to reduce dependence. As an added benefit, it reduces pollution also.

Here are a few of my ideas:

Obtain the addresses and zip codes of all workers at Kirtland/Sandia, Intel, Downtown, UNM, etc. Plot each set discretely on the map. Tailor a bus service specific to the largest population set of each employment center. As an example, when I worked at Sandia Labs, many of us lived in the same area.

The city needs to purchase vacant land NOW that can be utilized as future park-and-ride or transfer stations. Marty just bought a balloon field. In 10 years if gas is $10 a gallon, we'll wish he had picked up the corner of I-25 and Montano or Paseo and I-25 instead. The longer we wait, the more difficult and expensive it will be. We need progressive, long-term planning now. Many city planners recognize that the future will require greater population density, and more public transportation.

The city needs to start planning today for the transportation system we will use 20 years from now. While researching the BART system, one of the biggest issues (and costs) they have today is acquiring right-of-way in the proposed extension areas. It is extremely expensive to wait.

For example, the NE crossroads of Paseo and Coors was still used for grazing cattle until about three years ago. It would have been an ideal area for a large park-and-ride and transfer station. Now it is just big houses. We might not have a system operational for 20 years, but eventually it will be a neccessity. It could have been purchased and used as a park until needed. There is no strategic planning going on in this city!

[Zoidberg]

Albuquerque's traffic density is probably significantly lower than most areas with HOV lanes. It's much more helpful to add a regular use lane than an HOV lane, and it costs a bit less, since HOV lanes often require their own interchanges.

Further, much of Albuquerque's freeway traffic is through truck traffic (I-40 in particular) and this reduces the percentage of HOV-capable riders.

I think an HOV lane on I-40 between Tijeras and Juan Tabo might be a smart bet, given how nasty traffic can get during inclement weather. They're already keeping trucks out of the left lane; this might be just another logical progression.

Most of the other areas that would benefit from carpooling aren't wide enough yet for an HOV lane to make sense. When you only have two lanes each way to Santa Fe, you can't dedicate one of them to HOV, and adding a third HOV-only would be less cost-effective than a third regular-use lane. That said, if you made a directional conditional-use HOV lane in the median (Northbound until noon, Southbound until midnight), this might make a cost-effective difference, particularly if it had a higher speed limit (say 80). Better to give the railrunner a chance before we hedge against it though.

Many have posited that upward growth creates cramped conditions whereas outward growth doesn't. I think outward growth creates cramped conditions on the roadways, which some people might find worse than cramped conditions at home or at work.

[mortimer]

trappedinNM, having an idea-fest said:

> ... workers at Kirtland/Sandia, Intel, Downtown, UNM, etc. Plot ...
> Tailor a bus service specific ...

I really like that idea! Did you make it up or hear it somewhere?
Cool, either way.

> ... land ... as future park-and-ride ... Paseo and I-25 ....

This wouldn't require much land since they are already going to be building a huge stack interchange. Just put a parking garage there.

Being able to have your car under cover comfy and cool(er) in the summer and comfy and warm(er) in the winter is a big plus.

For the record, I hate HOV lanes. Too many of the users are kid-poolers which take *no* cars off the street. Others are grandma-poolers, etc.

For the record, I love it when people cheat and use blow-up dolls or just say "screw-it" and hop on. That leaves more room for me in the "greedy polluters" lane.

[trappedinNM]

That is my idea. I'm always thinking!

I loaded the employee database of our CA factory into MS Streets after we lost the lease. It can read Excel files. It places a pushpin for each employee. It turned out many of the employees worked quite far from the plant; they lived where the homes were more affordable. We printed a map and gave it to the broker and told him to find space within close proximity of the employee epicenter. We finally leased space much closer to the employees. They loved it, and we did also as the space was actually cheaper.