Public Transit (or, I Am My Father's Daughter)

Alright, I'd like to preface this entry by first saying that I just spent WAY too much time figuring this out. I SHOULD have been reading for class tomorrow, but instead, I was calculating routes and times and costs and savings and all sorts of junk, but I've been waiting for the new Metro schedules to begin (which was today, by the way), so that I can prove a point. Or points, as it will likely turn out to be.

As most everyone in the STL area realizes, the new Cross County Metrolink extension opened for full-service use today. Along with this new line, efficiently designed or not, comes a completely revamped Metrobus service. I believe that every line was affected, and was either re-routed, eliminated, expanded, combined, or otherwise changed so as to accommodate the 8 new station stops, as well as to hopefully allow for more practical and widespread use of our city's somewhat pitiful albeit dedicated mass transit system.

Now, about a month ago, knowing that drastic changes were in store, I used Metro's "Tripfinder" feature to determine how I, poor little Colleen who's sick of paying nearly $3/gallon to drive from Dogtown to her dear job in Kirkwood, might be able to commute via public transportation, and if such a feat would be at all efficient.

Both Mapquest and Metro agreed that my commute was approximately 9.62 miles, and by my usual drive down I-44, this takes 13 minutes. Some other points that I included in Tripfinder was that I wanted to arrive at Target by 7:30am, and leave around 4:30pm (this was before school started, and I didn't get to bust out of there at 2, but regardless).

So...out pop my results, and it's scary. Three buses in the morning commute, the #'s 16, 57, and 49, and I'd have to leave from Skinker and Clayton at 6:14am!!! just to get there on time. The way home was also over an hour commute but this time with only two buses, the #47 and 52. I'd have to leave Target at 4:20 and would arrive back at Skinker and Clayton at 5:23. Ouch.

I don't even need to go on explaining how it can't possibly be reasonable for a sleep-deprived college kid to try to make it to a bus stop by 6:14am, let alone rationalize spending over an hour going from bus to bus just to get to work less than 10 miles away. It's wrong for so many reasons. And it's certainly tragic for all of those who have no choice but to do this every single day simply because they aren't as fortunate as I am with my trusty little Honda.

Well, now fast forward a month or so to today, when the new schedules are in effect, and the Tripfinder is all set up to help me show that sometimes all of those changes actually DO make sense. And what to my surprise do I discover? It is A LOT better. Most obviously, it's just one bus, the new #59 Shaw-Kirkwood, and it's the same bus and route going to and from work. Secondly, it's just a 35 minute trip in the morning, and 42 in the afternoon. That's a lot more appealing to me. Finally, it is a bus that stops at the top of my street on Clayton Avenue! Less than two blocks away! It drops me off right at Lindbergh and Big Bend, too, so I really can't imagine it being more convenient.

The bus would be practical for me on Mondays, Wednesdays, and Fridays, when I don't close. It doesn't run late enough on Tuesday nights for my closing shift, and the weekend schedule is a bit sketchy, as well. That aspect of the new schedules doesn't seem to have changed, although here on the fourth point down, Metro says that they have improved night and weekend service on "key routes", so hopefully the people who really need better access will see some improvements.

One last detail about this whole Metrobus commuting thing that makes it seem more and more appealing. The cost. Or should I say, the savings?

Mind you, I currently ride the Metrolink 8 times a week, and bought a super cheap UMSL student pass for the semester for only $45. This includes all the Metrolink and Metrobus rides I want, not just to and from school. My savings with this pass are great already, considering only the price of parking at UMSL ($216 for this semester if I had caved and bought my first one ever for my last semester ever).

Now, let me get to the numbers, which I am basing on just my drive to and from work, and only 13 times a month, since I'd replace approximately that number of drives with a leisurely ride on the bus. I got the figures through another feature on Metro's website, their cost of driving calculator.

The inputs were: 20 miles round trip, 13 days/month driven to work, average MPG of the good 'ol Honda: 25 (and yes, I've figured this out before, too), cost of parking: $0, and cost/mile in maintenence, repairs, depreciation, and insurance: 25¢. That last figure was given by AAA as 56.1¢/mile, but I halved it since I have low insurance (just liability), a low resale value (that baby is over 13 years old. Anyone who's ever taken any accounting can tell you that it has long since passed it's useful lifespan for depreciation purposes), and well, the fact that by driving a Honda, pretty much everything is cheaper. I haven't had a major repair in a year. Knock on wood, but the car just doesn't give up that easily.

ANYWAY. It costs me $93.60 per month to make those 13 round trips to work. The pass I could buy if I wasn't an UMSL student would cost $60 per month. Right there I'm saving over $30. In reality, I'm saving the whole amount since the pass is done and paid for anyway so that I can get to school. I can think of a MILLION ways to spend that $30, and I really know my credit card would appreciate that extra $90 payment.

Finally, I have to mention that I would also be saving myself some much despised driving time. I. Hate. Driving. Most of you know this. I generally drive like a grandma, and unless I'm completely familiar with the route, I'm a nervous nellie the whole time. I try to be more relaxed about it all, but I just don't like it. I don't like knowing that I'm polluting, either, but that's a whole other blog. Regardless, it would only be good for my jittery nerves (egged on the two cups of coffee I chug on the way to work), and I'd have chill time to wear down my iPod battery, and possibly even get some reading done (if I can convince my stomach that it's cool).

While I wrote this as a hypothetical report on the new and "improved" Metrobus service, I genuinely am considering trying it. If anything, I know I have the option to do so, and that could come in handy when the old Accord just doesn't feel like going anymore. I still have to talk to my Dad, and see how his bus routes were affected and whether or not the changes have helped him or just gotten longer and less direct. I doubt it. Whatever the changes were, though, he wouldn't stop riding. He's probably seen a revamp like this a hundred times. Though most recently it's been cutbacks, not increases in service. All I can do is hope that this trend continues. Public transportation is one of the most decisive factors in whether or not a city can be reconnected and continue to grow. St. Louis needs to do lots of both. I look forward to seeing some promising results.