How We Roll celebrates Metro Transit employees who regularly ride transit and other forms of sustainable transportation. Read more How We Roll Q&As here.
How do you generally get around?
When I moved to the Twin Cities, I worked in downtown Minneapolis and took the Route 6 to work every day and the Route 5 to Abbott-Northwestern after work to prepare for the birth of our second son. Eventually, I noticed that every time I went to start our second car, either the battery was dead or a tire was flat because we never drove it, so we trimmed down to one car! Now that I work in St. Paul, I try to use transit for up to half of my commute trips and all my weekend leisure travel. I generally use the METRO E Line, METRO B Line and Route 94. The frequency of the E Line has taken around 20 minutes off my commute as transfers have gotten more efficient. My (other) son now lives in Uptown and takes the E Line to the Southdale stop for work every day!
What do you enjoy most about taking transit?
It really takes the stress out of my commute, especially on snowy days. I love not having to care about traffic, snow, or other drivers. On weekends, we love taking transit to Twins games, concerts, and restaurants downtown. No stress and no parking! We’ve even done a mini-vacation, taking our luggage downtown on the 6 for a baseball-hotel overnight adventure! It’s also a great way to get your steps in. Sometimes, I’ll leave a little early and walk to the Bde Maka Ska E Line stop to enjoy the view. It’s not 10,000 steps a day, but two to four blocks on either side of a trip is a lot better than 20 feet to your car.
What advice do you have for people who are unsure about taking transit?
To be honest, I’m always a little nervous the first time I take a new route because I don’t know exactly where the bus stop is. Metro Transit has made great improvements to its signage, so if you are within a block of a BRT stop, you can see the pylons that are clearly marked with the routes that serve it and real-time info. Metro Transit’s online tools are also great for mapping out routes and getting real-time departure info.