Monday, November 14, 2016

10 Days of Thanksgiving: Day 3 - Public Transportation

Day 3:  Today I am thankful for public transportation.

Now that I no longer live in downtown Minneapolis, walking to work isn't an option. I hate driving oh so much and parking downtown is costly, so I started to take the bus to work when I moved in with Phil. I know that our public transportation system leaves a bit to be desired compared to other larger areas, but it works really, really well for us. Luckily, there is an express bus to downtown that picks us up on our corner and it drops me off across the street from work. It takes a total of about 15 minutes to get to work in the morning and 20 minutes to get home in the evening.  It doesn't get much simpler than that!  My bus commute is actually pretty close to the amount of time it took to walk to work when I lived downtown, so moving out of the downtown area really hasn't impacted my morning routine.

While I do miss walking to work each day, I love that I can now sneak in some extra reading time on my commutes to and from work, or if I don't have the mental energy to read, it's a good time to catch up on some podcasts.

I know this home isn't our forever home, but I know that no matter where we live next, we'll make sure that commuting via bus is still a convenient option as it's something that Phil and I really value!

What are you thankful for today?

9 comments:

Jeanie said...

We don't have terribly convenient public transport here but I was grateful to be able to use it after shoulder surgery before I could drive. It took about five times longer to get to work -- but I could get to work!

Marlys said...

I would use public transportation, too, if I lived in a big city. That is one of the best perks of living in a small town - no commute problems! Parking is free and my spot is always open. Obviously, we need perks like that as small town living does have some drawbacks!

Emilie said...

We have next to nothing available for public transit in my area. I live only 1.5 miles from my office but the road very bendy and is not well-lit and doesn't have sidewalks so I would not feel safe walking to work. Pete drives 45 minutes both ways to get to work and it puts so much wear and tear on his car, not to mention the cost of gas. I will never leave my little town so being a 2 car family is really our only option, but I do feel envious of people who are able to use public transit! When I visit my brother in NY I cannot get over the cost of parking. My town has free public parking, but surrounding towns do charge a little bit - like $1 an hour. I know we are lucky to have that cost so low.

Today I am thankful to have some leftover pizza in the fridge for lunch. We haven't grocery shopped in 2 weeks and are down to bare bones. I am so tired and do not feel like cooking from scratch on my lunch hour, so having leftovers is making me really happy right now.

Nora said...

That sounds ideal and great to me! I spend about 30 minutes commuting to work, one-way and while it's not terribly long it is a pain the you know what. I would love to have a chance to read or listen to an audiobook/podcast on my way to work. Bonus that it hasn't impacted your morning routine at all!

Today I'm thankful for good friends & family who look out for me when I need it.

Stephany said...

I'm so jealous of your public transit system! We do not have a good public transit system here and what we do have is not very safe for a single female. So I commute. It's only about 20 minutes each way, so I can deal with it. But I'd much rather sit in a bus! Ha.

Today, I am thankful for my tribe of friends. I don't know what I would do without them!

Gracie said...

It's ideal when public transportation fits your schedule. When I lived in Mid-city, occasionally I could take the streetcar to work, but while they are quaint, streetcars don't always run on time.
Now, I can really only drive. My 20 minute drive would be an hour trip by bus.

San said...

While I don't use public transport very much, I love that Sacramento has a pretty solid lightrail and bus system.

Amber said...

My new city has basically 0 options for public transportation but when I lived in Kamloops and we only had one vehicle for almost 2 years both Eric and I used public transit a lot and it worked really well for us!

Jolene - EverydayFoodie said...

The public transportation in my city is terrible. All we have are city buses, and it takes forever (often with transfers) to get anywhere. I haven't used pubic transportation in my city since I was a teen.