Commute Time from Western WI to Warehouse District? (Minneapolis, Edina: centers, discount) - Minneapolis - St. Paul - Minnesota (MN) -Twin Cities - Page 2 - City-Data Forum

uptown_urbanist · 02-13-2013, 03:43 PM

I agree that bus is the best option, at least for time. You could always bring your son with you on the bus. Kids ride free until age 6, and that way you'd still be able to find childcare by your work.

golfgal · 02-14-2013, 05:32 AM

Do you really want to get your son up at 4:30, drive 40 minutes to a bus stop, wait for the bus, ride 40 minutes to day care, walk however many blocks from the bus stop to day care, then walk however many blocks to work. Then pick him up at 5:30 from day care and do the reverse getting home at 7:00 PM?? I would find someone to come into your home or find an apartment near where you will be working or at least closer to where you will be working and go "home" on weekends. I know you don't have the job yet but just something to think through. Also, do they have day care near where you work? Is that even an option?

Not sure what line of work you are in but that sure doesn't sound like a lot of fun.

xandrex · 02-14-2013, 08:59 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by golfgal

Personally if I was to have a long commute I would rather do what you are doing then the 1/2 hour it took me to go 6 blocks in Minneapolis yesterday....

Of course I go more than 6 blocks entirely in Minneapolis on local streets (partially through downtown) and my entire commute from work to home is 15 minutes or less.

Quote:

Originally Posted by golfgal

Do you really want to get your son up at 4:30, drive 40 minutes to a bus stop, wait for the bus, ride 40 minutes to day care, walk however many blocks from the bus stop to day care, then walk however many blocks to work. Then pick him up at 5:30 from day care and do the reverse getting home at 7:00 PM?? I would find someone to come into your home or find an apartment near where you will be working or at least closer to where you will be working and go "home" on weekends. I know you don't have the job yet but just something to think through. Also, do they have day care near where you work? Is that even an option?

I gotta agree here. Your commute will be brutal. I've gone east from Minneapolis to St. Paul and whizzed down 94 with relatively few problems, but the traffic going from St. Paul to Minneapolis looked like a nightmare. If this commute is necessary, I'd definitely take the bus because having to deal with 1+ hours of driving a direction each day in gridlocked traffic sounds horrible.

One option if you need to drive...take 94 to near St. Paul and then find a local route. For work I've sometimes needed to travel around the metro. When that traveling takes place during rush hour, I've often skipped the highway and taken other east-west routes like Como Avenue, that are thoroughfares but are pretty free-flowing (University, on the other hand, is probably still a mess, but it's a commercial corridor and only a block from 94, though it would still probably take less time, to be honest). Just a thought.

Globe199 · 02-14-2013, 10:27 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by golfgal

Do you really want to get your son up at 4:30, drive 40 minutes to a bus stop, wait for the bus, ride 40 minutes to day care, walk however many blocks from the bus stop to day care, then walk however many blocks to work. Then pick him up at 5:30 from day care and do the reverse getting home at 7:00 PM?? I would find someone to come into your home or find an apartment near where you will be working or at least closer to where you will be working and go "home" on weekends. I know you don't have the job yet but just something to think through. Also, do they have day care near where you work? Is that even an option?

Not sure what line of work you are in but that sure doesn't sound like a lot of fun.

Not only will it not be fun, I imagine it will be stressful for her child. That will almost certainly negatively impact his health. On the other hand, I don't know what choice she has. In-home nannies are very expensive, especially since it appears she would need that care for a good 12 hours per day (6.30am - 6.30pm).

At the risk of sounding insensitive or captain obvious, what about looking for work in Eau Claire?

golfgal · 02-14-2013, 11:08 AM

In-home care isn't really any more expensive then a day care center, especially if you are talking about someone from rural WI vs a center in downtown Minneapolis. I thought that looking in Eau Claire would be an obvious choice as well but who knows...

I would also suggest that since you have to take care of the child, maybe your whole family should move to the Woodbury area and your husband does the major commute and your child isn't.

Globe199 · 02-14-2013, 11:31 AM

We don't know the whole story, but it appears she is in a difficult position with no good options. There may be no jobs for her in EC. I think if it were me and my kid, my first goal would be to reduce the kid's commute. Seek care in Menomonie and work west if there's nothing immediately in town. Really, you are traveling along a big stretch of I-94. There must be places on the route that would provide for less car time. Even something near the park&ride would be preferable to needlessly bringing him downtown.

golfgal · 02-14-2013, 11:56 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Globe199

We don't know the whole story, but it appears she is in a difficult position with no good options. There may be no jobs for her in EC. I think if it were me and my kid, my first goal would be to reduce the kid's commute. Seek care in Menomonie and work west if there's nothing immediately in town. Really, you are traveling along a big stretch of I-94. There must be places on the route that would provide for less car time. Even something near the park&ride would be preferable to needlessly bringing him downtown.

The hard part with working so far away from your child is getting the child if he is sick and picking him up on time at the end of the day. It's expensive to run over time.

Globe199 · 02-14-2013, 12:11 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by golfgal

The hard part with working so far away from your child is getting the child if he is sick and picking him up on time at the end of the day. It's expensive to run over time.

Well, like I said, there are probably no good options, so there might need to be compromises. As for the kid getting sick, this is only my experience... our daughter has been in daycare 2.5 years. In that entire time, she had to leave early only once, and that was only because the provider became ill.

So if it were up to me, I'd take the chance that the kid won't get sick, or that it won't happen often enough to be a serious problem. And then about running late, you could easily work out something with the provider, assuming it's a home. You say, I'll pay you $10 extra per day, with the understanding that you may be frequently late. I gotta believe a lot of providers would be flexible about that. Hopefully it doesn't happen too much, and maybe the kid has dinner with the daycare family

And I think that $10 per day would be worth it so that there isn't such stress on the child.

xandrex · 02-14-2013, 01:53 PM

Don't some employers offer childcare benefits or anything similar? I have to imagine that some large employers might even offer daycare or have agreements with some places to keep it cheap. I don't know, but if that's the case, it could be worth looking into?

golfgal · 02-14-2013, 02:24 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by xandrex

Don't some employers offer childcare benefits or anything similar? I have to imagine that some large employers might even offer daycare or have agreements with some places to keep it cheap. I don't know, but if that's the case, it could be worth looking into?

The only benefit I know of is a Flexible Spending Account for Dependent Care so your day care expenses are taken pre-tax up to $5000. Not every company offers this though.