RER B

I ride the Paris RER B line from  Denfert-Rochereau to Le Guichet, which is about a 30 minute train ride. This is then on top of the time to ride the subway to get to Denfert-Rochereau, but those trains come about every 2 minutes during rush hour. Luckily the train is typically not that crowded going out. It all depends on when the last train to Massy – Palaiseau was, as that by far is the most popular transit point on the line going south. If there was a train that went there recently, then my train is uncrowded. If not, then it's sometimes standing room only. But once we hit that station, then there's only a handful of people left. The train itself is alright, nothing fancy but it gets the job done. The ride home is almost completely empty when I get on, so I never have to worry about a seat. It's not until Massy – Palaiseau again that it may fill up to seat capacity, with a handful of people standing. The trains also skip a lot of stops, so there are signs that show which stops that particular train will stop at. Though all the trains always hit the popular ones (Massy – Palaiseau obviously, and Antony since it connects to Orly airport).

The commute is significantly longer than my 15 minute one in Austin, but as it's on the train and I don't have to pay much attention (and can read work email and news), so it's not too bad. And I do like living in the center of things, so all in all I figure it's worth it. It takes about an hour in all from leaving the apartment until I get to my desk, and even if I drove it would be at least 45 minutes assuming no traffic (and there is always traffic) so it pretty much evens out.

Well mostly evens out except when the trains are running late. I never understand the PA announcements, but when I see "tarde" on the screen at the terminal, I know it's going to be a long delayed trip.  This seems to happen about once a week. When I talk about it at work, they say it's more news when the trains actually run on time than when they're late and it's just how it is. Though to be fair, the trains normally do run on time, but if I ever had a super important meeting or flight to catch, I'm definitely leaving WAY earlier to make sure there aren't any unexpected delays.

I park my car at a free RER B parking lot about 300 meters from the Le Guichet station, which always has spots available in the evenings. It made it very nice then to ride the train out from the Paris city center out to the suburbs, and then I only have a 5km drive to get to the office. There is a bus that goes there too, but it takes quite a bit longer to add that in.