Pregnant with Commute

I work in San Francisco. In SOMA, the South of Market District. I really enjoy my job- we do cutting edge solar energy policy and advocacy at Vote Solar. And I work with some pretty smart and clever people. Just Monday my boss said he thought we should send every member of Congress a duck with one leg. I giggled for 30 minutes.

But I live in Berkeley, the sunnier, crunchier, plainer cousin to San Francisco. That means to get to work I must commute. The Bay Area being so...cool, I have two good options. Casual carpool and BART.

To get to work, I take casual carpool. Casual carpool has been going on for about two decades. I think the '89 earthquake caused bridge collapse was the start of it. Casual carpool is a collection of maybe a dozen places around the Bay where drivers stop to pick up two passengers so that they may use the carpool lane. The driver gets free passage through the tolls and no restrictive metering lights. The carpool lane can cut anywhere for 10-50 minutes off a commute. Everything is very business casual- freshly showered passengers, a tacit no talking rule that is rarely broken. The passengers are dropped off in downtown SF to make their own way to their offices. The casual carpool runs for the same hours as the carpool lane- 7 a.m. to 9:45 a.m. I have no idea how many thousands of people get to work that way every day.

My other option is BART, the bay area metro. I love BART. I chose my apartment by its proximity to BART. I consider a Metro a must for my home city. BART is no NYC subway but I'll take it. I ride BART home, since their is no afternoon casual carpool (no fees outward across the bridge, no carpool). BART has gotten very, very crowded during rush hour since gas prices skyrocketed. Even for a pregnant lady, it is not easy to get a seat. It's usually some 40-ish mother or a new father, that offer me a seat. I mean to send BART a note requesting public service announcements reminding people to vacate the disability seats near the door.

With BART or the carpool, I have a walk at either end. In fact, walking to and from stations or pick-ups means that I walk a minimum of 3 miles everyday. I used to love this. The beautiful yards in my Berkeley neighborhood, the numerous coffee shops, the sharp SF work crowd. Now I have to admit I find the 1.5 miles each way exhausting. I collapse into my comfy work chair or lunge for the sofa at home. And for the last several months, Daniel has driven me to the carpool pick-up station. Now I know I am really pregnant. I am winded on these short walks.

I have five more weeks of work. I can't imagine driving to work ($10/day parking aside) so I wonder what I will do if I get more tired. Thankfully, I no longer work Wednesdays. The two day, break, two day rhythm is a God-send.