Driving to work Meme

[yesthattom]

This is for people that drive to work each day.

Step 1: Calculate how much you spend in gas each month driving to work (take 1 week and multiply by 4.3).
Step 2: Look on craigslist.com to see how much an apartment would cost that was adjacent to where you work. (If there are no living spaces next to your office/place-of-work, find the nearest.) Use this site to do it easier.
Step 3: What is the ratio (Step 2) : (Step 1)

My answer:
Step 1: $ZERO (I take public transportation, which costs about $200/month for parking and the train)
Step 2: $1300 to $3100
Step 3: 200 : 1300 or about 1:8

Update: In an earlier draft I swapped 1 and 2. No, I don't spend $3100 on gas!

Comments

[composerjk.livejournal.com]

Yikes. How far do you live from Google NYC? That's probably about a tank of gas each way in my old car.

It's not worth doing the math for my commute. ;) My per month commute is easily less than a half of a tank of gas. Now the amount I spend on dancing is a totally different story. ;)

[xeger.livejournal.com]

Frankly the job is more transitory than the living space.

[cos]

I get the point, but I don't see how your answers match the steps you described. Do you spend on gas to commute to work, or do you take public transport? And either way, shouldn't both those answers be step 1? Isn't step 2 supposed to be to figure out how much more it would cost to live next to where you work?

[vees.livejournal.com]

Step 1: $16.91

Step 2: $500.00

Step 3: 29.5 : 1

[qwrrty.livejournal.com]

You spend between $1300 and $3100 a month just in gas for your commute? Seriously? That can't be right...

[yesthattom.livejournal.com]

Oops, I reversed step 1 and 2.

[kimuchi.livejournal.com]

I walk to work, but while I was not-working I thought about moving to reduce the length of my hockey commute. :)

[anselm23.livejournal.com]

Hmm.

This is tricky, because I live where I work, so I pay nothing in commuter costs. On the other hand, I live way out in the boondocks, so I pay extra for gas to visit friends, get groceries, drop off dry cleaning, buy books and so on.

So in order to do this, I'd have to estimate what it would cost me to live where my friends live, let's say Amherst, MA, and work out the opportunity cost of living closer to them, and farther from work:

I'd spend $75 a month on gas, so 1. is $322.50

1. $322.50
2. 750.00
3. 2.3:1 (Did I do that right?)

My current formula is
1. $60
2. $0 (for the apartment in the dormitory I run)
3. 0:60

[dossy.livejournal.com]

It'd be more interesting if this meme were a more accurate comparison of cost-of-living.

Step 1: What's your monthly rent/mortgage where you live.
Step 2: What does it cost you per month to get to work (gas, public transport, etc.)
Step 3: Go to Craigslist and find an apartment adjacent to where you work.
Step 4: Compare (Step 1 + Step 2) vs. Step 3.

This makes the assumption that the commute cost from the apartment approaches zero, of course. I guess this wouldn't be very interesting after all.

BTW: If you "pay for parking" that means you drive to the train station -- that gas isn't free. :-)

[stitchinthyme.livejournal.com]

I was going to say something very similar to this.

There's also the issue of how valuable one's time is, as well. For example, I spend about 1.5 hours commuting to and from work every day. If that can be translated into a dollar figure (and I, personally, consider my time to be one of the most valuable things there is), it should also be considered.

[dossy.livejournal.com]

Pardon my stalkerific nature for a moment ... but OMG ... you're Ray's wife? Small world. :-)

Next time I'm down in Dulles, I'll try to remember to tell Ray to say hi to you for me. Heh.

[stitchinthyme.livejournal.com]

Yep, that's me. I've seen your posts on the CVSUSERS list, so I recognize your name. I've been at AOL 3 years now, or about 2.5 years longer than Ray has...in fact, I think you've replied to one or two of my posts on that list when I've asked for help. So yeah, small world.

What amuses me is that you know Tom. Guess he really is famous. I didn't know that way back when we met in college in 1989...I'm constantly seeing comments in his LJ from people I know in other spheres and it kind of weirds me out. :-)

Hey, Tom, I just realized that I've known you for 17 years now. That's almost half my life. Scary.

[yesthattom.livejournal.com]

17 years! Wow!

There'll soon be a point at which we've known each other longer than we haven't!

[stitchinthyme.livejournal.com]

Next time I'm down in Dulles, I'll try to remember to tell Ray to say hi to you for me.

Heh - you can say hi to me yourself if you want. I work in CC5.

(Yeah, I know I already replied, but that just occurred to me. I need to go to sleep.)

[dossy.livejournal.com]

Oh, yeah, duh -- I knew I saw your name before but couldn't place it ... ha! So, what took you so long to get Ray to join? :-)

CC5, huh? I tend to hang out in CC1/CC2 mostly. But, I'll see if I can even figure out where CC5 is and stop by.

[stitchinthyme.livejournal.com]

So, what took you so long to get Ray to join? :-)

I put his resume in several times, but you know what a big black hole HR is...it's pretty much impossible to get someone in unless you know the hiring manager, and I don't do that well with networking -- I'm a total introvert. He ended up getting hired all on his own, without any help from me.

But, I'll see if I can even figure out where CC5 is and stop by.

Last building on the left if you're coming from the direction of Waxpool. Ray is in CC3 now, so he's on the same side of the street.

[yesthattom.livejournal.com]

Yesterday at Usenix I had lunch next to Rich (can't remember his last name, but it began with "M"). He knows Ray too.

[aguynamedwill.livejournal.com]

Step 1 - Cost of transportation: $284/month for commuter train/subway, about $5/month to drive to and from the train station (shared), and about $41/month for parking ($995/year, divided by two for my share). Total - $335

Step 2 - One-bedroom apartment in Tarrytown/Greenburgh, NY: $1,200-$2,000

Step 3 - Ratio: 335:1400, or about 1:4 (I assume you meant the ratio of step 1 to step 2, based on your own answer).