Train pain

[fbhjr]

My wife and I are thinking of taking a field trip to some of the museums in
New York city some time soon.
I was thinking about it today and said “I wonder if we could take the train
into the city.  Then we wouldn’t have to park the car and would be right in
the center of the city.”
So, I went and looked at train fare.
The cheapest ticket from Providence RI to NYC is $81 each way per person.
And, that takes 5 hours each way.
For $157 each way per person I could get a train that only takes 3 hours
each way.

Now gas prices are very high these days.
But, with gas prices at $4 a gallon, it would cost me $30.78 each way to
drive to the city.  That assumes I take the bigger car that gets worse
mileage.
I could get at least 4 people in the car for that.  That’s $7.696 each.
That makes the train 10.52 times more expensive to take the train.
Plus I’d have to drive to the train station in a different city.  Plus I’d
have to pay to park the car at the train station.

This is one of those things that really annoy me.  I’d love to do the more
environmentally friendly thing and take mass transportation places.
But, it costs more.  It takes longer.  It is vastly less convenient.

I’d be willing to pay a bit more to do the environmentally friendly thing.
But, we’re not talking 10% more.  We’re talking 1052% more just in cash,
not to mention extra time and effort.

Comments

[malterre.livejournal.com]

Given the excitement this exhibit has generated, I'm thinking we could take two cars and as discussed, leave at 6:00 am and toddle back that night...

[evrgreen.livejournal.com]

I'll have to ask Laura - last time we went into NYC we took a commuter train in CT - yes, that was already much of the way there, but I remember the prices were much much lower..

[fbhjr.livejournal.com]

The commuter trains are totally different from Amtrak.