Puzzle

San Fracisco 292 bus from the airport to the transbay terminal will cost you $1,25. The same bus going the same route in the opposite direction costs $2,50. Proof.

Any ideas why?

[ January 21, 2005: Message edited by: Mapraputa Is ]

Are you sure that both directions use the exact same path?

Maybe in one direction the bus is travelling into headwind, thereby consuming more fuel.

The rotation of the Earth makes it less expensive for the bus to travel to the West. And stop using those commas to designate the decimal points -- you are in America now.

Originally posted by Mapraputa Is:
San Fracisco 292 bus from the airport to the transbay terminal will cost you $1,25. The same bus going the same route in the opposite direction costs $2,50. Proof.

Any ideas why?

[ January 21, 2005: Message edited by: Mapraputa Is ]

You seriously asking the question or testing our browsing capabilities?
The schedules show that route starting from "Mission St & Transbay" is a loop.
My guess: From airport to transbay is second half of the route and hence half the price?

Originally posted by Mapraputa Is:
San Fracisco 292 bus from the airport to the transbay terminal will cost you $1,25. The same bus going the same route in the opposite direction costs $2,50. Proof.

Any ideas why?

Maybe 292 bus service is offering $1.25 (or $1,25 whatever) mail-in rebate to the passengers travelling in "opposite" direction :roll: :roll:

possibility 1: -->: one person; <--: a couple. Price doubles.
possibility 2: -->: one person; <--: one person with a dog. Price doubles. (In Germany you have to pay for your dogs on bus.)
possibility 3: -->: one person bought a ticket for a single trip; <-- this person has to take the same routin for a couple of more times, she/he realised that it would be more convenient to buy a round trip ticket. Price doubles.
possibility 4: ...
[ January 21, 2005: Message edited by: Ellen Zhao ]

Originally posted by John Smith:
The rotation of the Earth makes it less expensive for the bus to travel to the West.

Yet another proof that all Smiths think alike. My first idea also was the Coriolis force.

Just in case: I intended this post as an exercise in creative thinking. Let's see how many explanations we can come up with.

Probably, long ago some pregnant lady must have visited Airport and while returning child was born and the Bus authorities were confused over what to do since count of travellers has increased by one.

So since then, they have come up with this rule to avoid any confusion and loss. :roll: :roll:

Possibility 4: -->: The busses which serve in this direction are some low-end product. <--: Busses serve in this direction are all high-end Merzedes Benz made in 2005.
Possibility 5: -->: The bus companies don't have to pay for the infrastructure's fee of the street in this direction; <--: Infrastructure's fee is charged in this direction from all kinds of automobils. (This is very common in China. I remember the expressway from Shanghai to a smaller town is charging automobiles this way.)
Possibility 6: ...
[ January 21, 2005: Message edited by: Ellen Zhao ]

Possibility 6: ...[/QB]

Possibility 6: There isn't such scenario and the web link (mentioned as a proof) is a fake one. "San Fracisco 292" Bus charges equal rates either way.

Possibility 7: The marketing people of "SF Bus 292" decided to plot something big in a hot geek forum. They informed Map with totally illogical/evil tariff and Map was framed to spread their name in the Map Driven board...Before long they adjusted the tarif to normal as charity to "dear passengers". From infamous to famous is that simple. This is all marketing thing.

Ok so it costs more to arrive in SF than it does to leave - why?

Explanation is simple:

SF must be over-populated. The price differential indicates a policy of complex taxation arranged to gently encourage people to leave the area. Assymetric transport fares is just one of the measures in place to attempt this kind of demographic engineering! Other might include:

1)Huge levees on purchasing property, but massive rebates when selling...
2)Increased parking costs for out-of-state registered cars
3)???Any ideas??

Perhaps it is similar to this problem:

http://unref.blogspot.com/2005/01/make-left-at-germany.html

Because of one-way roads, travelling in one direction is much cheaper than the other.

It's a simple matter of supply-and-demand.

The supply is equal both in and out, so one may deduce there is a greater demand to leave San Fran than to enter.

Ok, I asked the driver why is it so. I said "I am just curious". He answered: "I dunno, I am curious also".

Also, either way takes 45 minutes -- I checked.

More people are tempted to take the San Francisco 292 bus from the airport to the transbay terminal to change bays. It must be a huge airport.
And they'd probably have to pay $1.25 whereas a traveller dropped off at the transbay terminal has to pay $2.50 to travel to the airport. $2.50 is probably the cost of a taxi fare round trip and there are more taxis than buses at the airport.