Sunday, August 02, 2015

Hating On My Commute: The Adventure

Marcel has to get to work and he has a very interesting commute. Due to the location he lives in, he has four optimal options to get to work. The distance directly from home to work is, unfortunately, too long to walk in fewer than 3 hours and Marcel doesn't have a car. That leaves public transit or taking a taxi, but because Marcel is not rich, he prefers to not spend a relatively large sum of money being driven to work everyday.
Overview of Commute
There are numerous public transit options nearby for Marcel to take. He is even able to walk to a few different bus and train routes. In the schematics, the orange lines show nearby bus routes while the green lines denote faster train routes that have their own dedicated tracks (i.e. trains not influenced by automobile traffic). Let's assume right-side up on the page is north.

He has tried out a range of options and found the four quickest routes to get to work.

Additional Information
- The trains are usually reliable in terms of arrival time and frequency but are very heavily used. An earlier delay may take over an hour to clear. Therefore, it may be necessary to wait for the second, third, or even fourth train before being able to fit onto a train. Marcel's employer requires him to work a specific shift so arriving early would not result in the ability to leave early. Even if he leaves an hour early, he still arrives at the train station during the heavy usage period and can not avoid it without leaving 1.5 hours early.

- The bus routes are not as reliable and it is a regular occurrence for buses to be delayed 10-20 minutes due to traffic. Because the bus routes are very well used and delays are frequent, it usually takes multiple buses before there is space to get onboard. However, Marcel could fight to find a space between 5 people he doesn't know but will probably see again tomorrow.

- Traffic is generally heading towards the location where the two train routes meet.

Marcel has Four Options to Get to Work
1. He walks to the closest west-east bus route, takes the bus west to the nearest to the nearest north-south train route, heads north, then switches back to a west-east bus to get to the office.
PICK OPTION ONE
Good day total time: 0.75 hours

2. He walks to the nearest west-east train route and heads west taking the train to the north-south train, heads north, switches to a west-east bus, and heads east to the office.
PICK OPTION TWO
Good day total time: 1 hour

3. He walks to the nearest west-east train and heads east taking the train to a north-south bus route, heads north, and arrives at the office.
PICK OPTION THREE
Good day total time: 1.25 hours

4. He walks west to the nearest north-south train, heads north, switches to west-east bus, gets to the office.
PICK OPTION FOUR
Good day total time: 1.5 hours
Commute Options

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