public transit rational again

Bridge tolls went up today. Most notable for me and many others, carpooling during rush hour is no longer toll free. Below is the spreadsheet I made to calculate the options I typically use- bicycle, bart, motorcycle and car. This has changed from my previous spreadsheet in that 1) I now drive a car that is less fuel-efficient (bought a new-to-me car after another driver drove into my stopped vehicle and totalled it- don't worry, no injuries to anyone); and 2) gas prices have decreased.



So for regular work hours with carpool (assuming no contribution from passengers), bicycle shuttle still wins at jus over $2, but otherwise car is cheaper than moto is cheaper than BART+bike ($6.22<$6.92<$7.34). However, once the carpool option is taken away in non-peak hours, the unchanged public transit price puts it in front as the personal vehicle options increase by at least $1.50 or as much as $3.50 during rush hour.

Taking on a passenger, however, does decrease cost per person to below public transit cost. It's not on the spreadsheet, but basically goes like this:
Cost of non-HOV travel during rush hour (+$3.50 toll difference from carpool column)= $9.72
one way $9.72/2 passengers = $4.86
per person with one passenger, one direction $4.86/2 = $2.43
so for the driver (ie, me) it would be $6.48 if my passenger were to contribute their share, which is still cheaper than public transportation, or I can chalk it up to saving someone else about $1, depending on where we go.

I don't usually take the bus since that basically combines worst factors, ie it's slower because it still sits in traffic and it doesn't get me right to where I want to go. However, after realizing that the transbay busses that go to fancier neighborhoods such as mine are also fancier coaches with upholstered seating while costing only a few cents more than BART, I may reconsider. How this fits into the spreadsheet is simple: $4 for transbay fare, $8 roundtrip (plus a few cents bike maintenance, if I combine with that) which positions it fairly comparably to taking the train. Combination of bus and train would basically keep them in the same ranking, assuming no addition fare on MUNI or AC Transit.

Much as the toll increase doesn't help me, it does finally make the BART a more economical choice for me and places it in line with my transportation ideals which wasn the case with my previous calculations. Since I don't commute as often to SF these days, I am now considering selling my motorcycle.