Big City Commuter

I no longer travel to Washington regularly for work. While it was always a whirlwind two days of travel, meetings, travel, I developed a fondness of the Metro transit system. I felt I could get anywhere I needed with a little planning ahead, and if I made a mistake, it was easy to back up and reverse to course correct. I had that same experience in London where we used a combination of the buses and tube system, national train system, and the National Express bus lines to get around in and out of the city. Mass transit is done much better in other parts of the country and world than where I live. I have a few coworkers that have managed to figure out how to maneuver their work schedules and the scant bus service in the suburban office location, which is less than a mile from the city limits of either Minneapolis or St Paul, and less than six from both downtown areas. It shouldn’t be so difficult to not own a car, or be able to rely on one a little less regularly.

Things are changing, slowly. We are up to three light rail lines. One comes in from the south metro, one from the west, and finally, one that runs from each downtown of each of the two cities. I haven't mentioned that DD#2 is temporarily shacking up in her old room for about four weeks in between jobs. She is back from the road, and was able to get some consistent work for an old employer for the month of May, and will be starting another three month position in June. It has been fun having her back, though I think I will be ready for her to move on again at the end of the month. I digress. As her temp job is on route with my office, we are trying to save greenbacks and share a car. I rarely need to leave for a meeting in the middle of the day, and we can make a day to day call about who should drop each other off. Tuesday, she dropped me off, but later I learned I did need to be at a meeting in Minneapolis. I was able to go one way with a colleague, but the dilemma was no one was returning to the office for me to get picked up. Where my meeting was in Minneapolis would have been a nightmare to try and figure out a good pick up spot, let alone the time it would take her to head west. My colleague had the great idea that I could take the light rail back to St Paul, and have her swing by and pick me up on the east side of the line.

This plan worked great. I caught the train by the University, and spent a nice twenty five minutes winding through the campus, along University Ave, past the capital and State office buildings, through downtown, to my final destination of the newly renovated St Paul Union Depot. Union Depot sits right on the edge of the city, and was a straight on route stop for D to pick me up. I was about an hour or so earlier than she would be coming, so I was able to sit in the nice Depot building and get some more work done, computer on lap. Right now, the building is grossly underused, but I think the plans are to develop much more of a train hub. It is a beautiful building inside and out. I read a bit about the building and community use. There are free child events regularly during the week, and a couple days a week a yoga class is offered. A fine restaurant is located in the building, but no other food amenities yet, unless you want to count the coffee and snack vending machines, and the gumball and hand candy dispensers. M&M's by the handful anyone?

I left the campus at 3:40, and the train was probably only 1/2 full, between people hopping on and off. I don't know if it gets busier as rush hour goes on. I hope so. I think it also could be better utilized to support carpooling. It was very slick to have her pick me up. I could envision myself working in downtown Minneapolis, where parking is atrociously expensive, catching a ride in with someone that worked in the East metro, and sharing those commuting costs. I don't think we in the Twin cities have figured out the car pooling too well. Everyone wants to have their own car, just in case. While coordinating schedules amongst people is challenging, between money, social connectedness, and the environment, there is lots to be saved. I’ve had good conversations with D in the car, depending on who is driving, we've had opportunities to check and return a quick e-mail, or make a quick, call, saving time once we were home, and I estimate that we will save $96 in gas, or calculating the true cost per mileage, save $694 in wear in tear and gas, using the federal mileage rate. A light rail ticket, full price is $2.25 rush hour, each way, though there are packages and passes that are more affordable. Even at this full rate, reducing one car to two, is a fuel savings of $6, and rate per mileage savings of $604. Who out there has figured out a workable car pool or missed commute solution? How do you mitigate for unexpected events that might require your own transportation?

My camera on my phone can't do justice and I was without another camera,.  To learn more about the history and new coming of age of the St Paul Union Depot, click here.