First off, in the DC metropolitan area we have it worst than most. The Metro rail is pricey for any reasonable distance, and it is unreliable in terms of when the train will come and whether it will be delayed along the way.
More to the point, the cost of using a train for me personally would be that I would lose my job. I live in northern Virginia and work in Columbia, Maryland. It's a 40 mile commute. I took on this job because it was too good an offer to pass even with the long drive.
If I had to rely on the train I wouldn't be able to have this job at all. There are no trains that could take me directly there, and I would have to devote HOURS of my day to travel if I wanted to go from bus to train to bus, especially considering there would necessarily be train switches in the middle. I'm not even sure a feasible combination of trains and buses would be possible.
So I save time and money by not taking the train, and I also make more money by having a better job than I would be able to get to by train.
Slashdot Mirror
First off, in the DC metropolitan area we have it worst than most. The Metro rail is pricey for any reasonable distance, and it is unreliable in terms of when the train will come and whether it will be delayed along the way. More to the point, the cost of using a train for me personally would be that I would lose my job. I live in northern Virginia and work in Columbia, Maryland. It's a 40 mile commute. I took on this job because it was too good an offer to pass even with the long drive. If I had to rely on the train I wouldn't be able to have this job at all. There are no trains that could take me directly there, and I would have to devote HOURS of my day to travel if I wanted to go from bus to train to bus, especially considering there would necessarily be train switches in the middle. I'm not even sure a feasible combination of trains and buses would be possible. So I save time and money by not taking the train, and I also make more money by having a better job than I would be able to get to by train.