Ticket posting time stats
 

Looking at my last 14 posted trips (2 paid, 12 AGR, all NEC), here are the stats for posting times:

Average # of days: 6.9
Std. Deviation: 2.8
Median = Mode = 6
Minimum = 3
Maximum = 13

At least the stats are better than the promised "2-3 weeks on average".

N.B.: I think one or two old ones (plus two trips yesterday) have not posted; I'm too lazy to check now.

What kind of distribution is this? Perhaps more people could post their posting times...

I would think a lognormal distribution would be appropriate (a normal distribution would give you some probability of a negative posting time...).

OK, you asked for it!
 

I meticulously track these things, so the data are handy. :)

Min: 3.000
Max: 168.000
Ave: 9.498
StDev: 14.687
Median: 7.000
Mode: 7.000

Days Tickets
1 0
2 0
3 1
4 9
5 30
6 34
7 54
8 45
9 15
10 8
11 3
12 0
13 0
14 0
15 0
16 1
17 2
18 0
19 0
20 0
21 0
22 0
23 0
24 2
25 0
26 1
27 0
28 0
29 1
30 0
>30 7

Enjoy the analysis. :)

Man, OCD is a hell of a condition.

Ah, when I throw out the ones over 2 weeks, remarkable in their unusuality, it is more prettily normal:
Min: 3.000
Max: 11.000
Ave: 6.930
StDev: 1.549
Median: 7.000
Mode: 7.000

Days Tickets PredTickets
1 0 0
2 0 0
3 1 2
4 9 9
5 30 24
6 34 43
7 54 51
8 45 40
9 15 21
10 8 7
11 3 2

(PredTickets is the [rounded] number of tickets expected if the distribution were exactly normal.)

A couple things to consider:

1. Thruway bus tickets take considerably longer to post (of my 5, Mean 29, StDev 8.6);
2. Points post only Tuesday through Saturday, so if you travel a lot on Sunday or Monday, your M/M/M would be closer to 9 or 8, respectively, and the distribution would lopside higher, because you'd have no 7's and 8's, or 6's and 7's, respectively.

if you are doing Northeast trips, you may find that trips heading towards NYC will post faster than trips heading away from NYC.