Why would McDonald's pay for a taxi for her? I can't imagine them doing that.
She might not live that far from work. It might be a 20 minute drive, but with the bus system in most towns in the US it's not crazy for that to take a couple of hours on a bus with walking (the closest bus stop to her is a 30 minute walk it said). I'm sure if she could get a job closer that pays as well she would've by now.
A bike would possibly be the ideal solution for someone in her shoes. Of course, there's that lovely enhanced risk of dying you get for daring to brave the streets on two wheels in the US. But if she gets back significant time from changing it up, it might be worth it.
Ok, so cycling is not a 100% solution and won't work every single day. I did not mean to present it as such.
Even if only 50% of days are suitable for cycling, if it saves her an hour a day then, at her hourly rate, a decent bike will return it's investment in less than half a year. And that's assuming her bus rides are free. She/a person similarly situated would have to judge for themselves whether it is a useful tool.
We don't know how far she works. We only know how long her commute takes. Bus routes in cities without good bus infrastructure are often circuitous and don't represent the fastest way to get to any particular place on the route.
Fair point. We do know that it would take 25 minutes by car, but two full hours by bus.
My commute is about 10 minutes by car. Which works out to 4 miles (3 by bike, because there's a trail). So it's doable – if those same 10 minutes where at highway speeds, it would be less so.
Regardless, it's getting better, but even 3 miles gets me sweaty and I have to take a shower. We can safely assume this person's commute to be longer. Now she has to go to work all sweaty – at a customer facing role. This won't be well-received.
She doesn't live in the city because according to Google Maps Durham, NC is 15 km across and you can walk to almost any part of the city in less than 2 hours.
She's contemplating affording a car. If she can swing that, she can swing a used bike. Plus, there are, at least in my city, charitable organizations that will just give you a one.
McDonald's...paying for a taxi? Yeah, maybe in Germany. I'm aghast that anyone could think that would happen in America. I'm at the bottom of the bottom at an IT organization and I don't even get a compensated bus pass. Nor would I expect one.
She might not live that far from work. It might be a 20 minute drive, but with the bus system in most towns in the US it's not crazy for that to take a couple of hours on a bus with walking (the closest bus stop to her is a 30 minute walk it said). I'm sure if she could get a job closer that pays as well she would've by now.