— By Theresa Duque
For the past 27 years, Amit Kothari has devoted his career to developing and implementing innovative solutions to address transportation, safety, and parking challenges for some of California’s largest cities. As Oakland’s Transportation Manager under then-mayor Jerry Brown, Kothari played a critical role in revitalizing the Downtown area and replacing the eastern span of the San Francisco-Oakland Bay Bridge. He later continued his service to the public sector as San Jose’s Deputy Director of the Department of Transportation, and as San Francisco’s Director of Parking. Today, as the Lab’s newly appointed Senior Manager of Transportation & Parking, he is charged with finding effective and sustainable commuting options for the Lab’s growing population.
Earlier this month, Kothari tried five commute options in five days for his 64-mile roundtrip commute from Dublin to the Lab: driving alone, carpooling, taking BART, using the Lab shuttle service, and telecommuting. In this latest issue of the Commuter Chronicles, Kothari shares the results of his weeklong experiment.
Carpooling to the Lab: 60-65 minutes
On Monday and Tuesday, I carpooled with my regular carpool partner, a very intelligent postdoc working at the Materials Sciences Division. Each day, it took about an hour door to door. We try to carpool two to three days a week and keep it very flexible to accommodate each other’s scheduling needs at work and at home.
We meet at 7:15 a.m. sharp, and arrive at the Lab around 8:05 a.m. Including the eight to 10-minute drive from home to a nearby Park & Ride Lot in Dublin, my commute time is about one hour. Our two-person carpool works very well in terms of flexibility, compatibility, and being punctual at both ends of our trip.
BART from Dublin to Downtown Berkeley + Lab Shuttle: 1 hour and 45 minutes
On Wednesday, I took BART from Dublin. It required multiple connections, and you have to account for the time it takes to drive from home to the station (for me, 10 to 12 minutes), park, and get to the platform (five minutes). To get to the Downtown Berkeley BART station from Dublin, a transfer is required anywhere between Bay Fair and Lake Merritt stations – I transferred at Lake Merritt. Once I arrived at the Downtown Berkeley station, I hopped onto our Lab shuttle after waiting for about seven minutes.
All in all, it took me an hour and 45 minutes from door to door (home to office). Luckily, there were no BART delays. I expected my trip to take at least an hour and a half, so I wasn’t disappointed. My return commute took about the same time — an hour and 40 minutes with no BART delays.
Telecommute from Home
Telecommuting from home worked extremely well. Because I didn’t have to commute, my workday started well before my usual time. Telecommuting still requires you to plan ahead to be productive, so I intentionally scheduled meetings with an employee vanpool provider and sign vendors in the Dublin/Pleasanton area.
I don’t have any distractions at home, and that is very helpful. Not having any interruptions allowed me to focus on the Lab’s current commute challenges, 10-year goals for transitioning from solo driving to alternative means of transportation, and projects/initiatives for next year’s budget.
When working from home, I wear my regular work clothes, keep the same lunch time as if I am at the Lab, and try to minimize any possible distractions, such as my personal cell phone. This helps me to be highly productive.
Driving Alone from Dublin to the Lab: 55 minutes to an hour
On Friday, I drove alone. Friday mornings are better than others, but with Friday evenings, you can never tell how it’s going to be. For me, driving solo from Dublin to the Lab usually takes about 55 minutes to an hour. In the evening, it’s about an hour driving back.
Driving alone is a little faster than carpooling due to the additional “meet up” time required at both ends of the trip when carpooling. Since there are limited carpool lanes along our commute, there is little time saved when carpooling.
Looking Ahead and Moving Forward
I will continue to carpool as many days as I can. I am actively searching for more riders to join our carpool through rideshare applications such as Zimride, Carma, Carzac, 511 Rideshare, and other resources. Although carpooling adds about ten minutes to my commute, the benefits far outweigh the extra time. Why drive alone when carpooling gives me a chance to chat with a colleague, reduce the stress of driving every day, and help cut greenhouse gas emissions? In the future, I will consider telecommuting as well.
As we build new world-class research facilities and bring more employees to the Lab, the use of cleaner and sustainable commute options will become even more critical. It might not seem easy to share a ride or take public transportation, but I try to do it at least twice a week. Even small changes like that will be a big help.
Staff can provide input via commute.lbl.gov. See the Lab’s Zimride page for information about ridesharing.