I often talk here about how much I like public transportation. When I lived in DC I never got in a car if I didn't have to. Now I live in a somewhat rural area and work out of my house, so I don't drive much. Of course I love my VW Passat (the car just rocks BTW), but I got no desire to drive if I don't have to. I also often tell people how great the metro system is in St. Louis.
But I realized as I was preaching about the benefits of public transportation, outside of a few times going to a Cardinals game, getting to Lambert (the airport), or Forest Park in St. Louis, I'd actually driven most places for the last eight years.
That seemed a little messed up, to preach about the benefits of something and not using it myself. So I decided not to drive for 90 days. I thought it would be a piece of cake. I could not have been more mistaken.
*Mental gymnastics is a term I use to explain doing something not cause you have to, but just cause you can for the experience. To learn something.
BACKGROUND
I live just outside of St. Louis on the Illinois side. We have what I thought was a pretty extensive public transit system called Metrolink. There is a bus stop three blocks from my house. A Metrolink stop 8 miles away at the community college. If I need a soda, newspaper, or candy bar I have a 7/11 type store three blocks from my house which I already walk to 7 times out of 10. Hardware store, bank, and grocery store within 1.5 miles of my house.
Factor in I work out of my house, I am an avid hiker/walker, I own an expensive Cannondale mountain bike, and I collect backpacks/bags the way some women collect purses, this exercise should be easy.
REALITY HITS QUICKLY
The first couple days were a walk in the park. A few days in I was going to grill some salmon and realized I didn't have any fresh garlic or lemons. Hopped on my bike and went and got some. This is fun I thought.
A few days later I was feeding my cats and realized I needed some more dry food. I then pondered how the heck am I going to ride a bike with a 20 pound bag of cat food? Had not really thought about that. No worries, I'll just take the bus to the Metrolink stop that is across the street from a huge shopping center.
I jumped online, expecting the site would allow me to enter my home address and the address of where I was going (like I don't know, Google Maps) and get all the info I needed (they now have changed and/or added this functionality). Nope. I printed out the schedule, pissed, and saw that there was a 7:53 AM bus.
Next morning, as fate would have it, it was raining. But I got gear for that and headed to the bus stop with a skip in my step. Got on, paid my $2.25 and sat back and relaxed. Within minutes I am at the shopping center. Bought what I needed and walk back.
I might have even thought to myself, lower income folks that don't have cars can get around if they want. This works really well.
I sat at the bus stop waiting. Waiting. Waiting.
I grabbed a complete schedule and see that there isn't a bus going back to my town until 4:27 PM. It is 10 AM. I figure I just have to backtrack and go a little out of my way to another stop and then catch a bus to my town. Nope, although there are more than a dozen bus lines running, only one goes to my city. They only run from 5:30-7:53 AM and 4:27-5:41 PM.
I had a meeting that afternoon I couldn't miss. I call a cab. I've taken cabs thousands of times, never did I pay $28 to go 8 miles.
That evening I unfold the entire map (which I should have done sooner) and studied it for longer then I care to admit. What I found wasn't pleasant.
Not only is service only an hour or so in the morning and an hour late in the afternoon, there is no service on the weekends. None. So going to the Farmers Market as I had planned Saturday is out. Running into the coffee shop I head to a few times a week with my laptop to do some work and get out of my house, out of the question unless I want to spend the entire day in the place.
At this point reality hits home ..... this really sucks! I was about a week in, ready to give up. But you know what I am stubborn. So today is day 89.
WHAT I'VE LEARNED
First, outside of huge metro areas like Chicago, NYC, DC, and some more "progressive" cities there is no "real" public transit in this country. If you live in a place that isn't one of those places I just mentioned and you don't have a car you are pretty much screwed.
Clearly the schedule is set-up for 9-5 workers. But what if you don't work 9-5, maybe the late shift at a fast food place, you know a low income job where you might not own a car. Guess you are shit-out-of-luck.
Second, the lack of public transportation is yet another way to screw people with lower incomes. I quickly found myself paying $8.95 for a seven pound bag of cat food instead of $10.99 for a 20 pound bag cause I didn't have half a day to waste to head to Wal-mart. Or $4 for sour cream at the local convenience store cause I didn't feel like riding my bike for three miles to pay $1.89. If I had it to do over again I would have charted what I was paying, but I am thinking it is close to 20% if not 30% more for food.
This isn't a big issue, but you almost need a graduate degree to figure out how to use the service. I'm a big fan of the Albert Einstein quote, "Everything should be made as simple as possible, but not simpler." But when you have to actually study a map for an extended period of time there are issues. I mean how many people get on a bus or train, end up in the wrong place, and vow to never use the service again.
And also though the system in St. Louis kind of sucks, it is better than Amtrak. Now I want to stress I am a huge fan of Amtrak. When I lived in DC one of the ad agencies I worked at had a large amount of Amtrak business and I did a ton of market research for them. Got to ride their best routes. And if you live in the Northern Corridor, it is the only way to get around IMHO.
But it is totally not an option I can imagine anybody would ever use here. About halfway into this little experiment I wanted to head to Chicago for a few days. Now I will admit it is "cheap" to go from St. Louis to Chicago, but it takes six hours. Let me say that again, six hours. Now Illinois is a larger state then I think most people realize, but a 12 hour round trip is out of control.
CONCLUSION
The first Metrolink line opened in St. Louis opened in 1993. I get most of the major systems in the country were built out over time, but who the heck thought just one line from East to West was a good idea. If you are trying to get someplace that isn't right on the single line, you are pretty much screwed.
Now the system was started with the federal government provided $351 million and the local communities (Called the Bi-state Authority) matched that with $351 million in equipment. And in 2006 a $550.3 million extension was added. But I'd argue that just isn't enough money. I mention this cause the system is losing money to the tune of tens of millions a year. We've had rate increases multiple times in the last couple years.
The system was in such financial straights that lawmakers from my part of the state threatened to shut down the business at the Capital in Springfield if they didn't get more funding. Thankfully it worked, but who knows for how long.
Which brings us to the question I keep asking people. Do people not use the service cause it sucks, therefore it loses more money and they cut back the schedules even more and jack up the rates? Or do people just love their cars? It would seem like a business 101 question, yet I can't seem to find anybody that knows, which I find a little troubling.
I do have hope, cause we've requested a ton of money from the Stimulus plan and since their are a lot of my fellow Illini working in the White House, maybe we'll see some of it, cause we sure could use it.
But I have to admit I can't wait to hop in my car tomorrow!