From Washington DC to Minneapolis

[Clifford63]

Originally Posted by monyck77

Being so COLD in Mnpls, How long do you wait for a bus? the light rail and the train are outdoor!?! What was te reasoning in that infrastructure? DC's buses are pretty bad comparing to other cities in the US and in the world! The metro/subway is good, but still doesn't reach everywhere...but I have to insist, I don't see how the public transportation in Mnpls is good...Everybody say in this threath that busses are good...but you have to wait outside in a below freezing temperature for a bus!! If they pass very often (5min) then it is ok, otherwise...wao, I will be paying a lot in gass (suming up commute and moving inside the city!)...
how much is a bus ticket? and How much is a light rail ticket?

Thank you!
MG

Here is the deal on buses. If you live in core parts of the city, the service is good or even better. I used to live in SW Minneapolis and buses going downtown came about every 12-15 minutes. Some bus stops have shelters to block wind. Some downtown have heaters, but I think those have all been turned off. ALso regular route busses serve some areas 24 hours a day, but you might wait an hour instead of 15 minutes. I had to walk about 4 block to the stop and timed it so I got there 5 minutes or so ahead of the bus. Upon occasion I had to wait for the next bus, and it gets cold waiting around. That said, I never woosed out and drove because it was too cold to walk to the bus stop.

If you live in the burbs, you get express busses from park and ride lots to downtown. They run frequent in morning and afternoon, but not at all on off hours. There are some limited regular routes as well, but generally they don't go all the way out to the far tier burbs.

[Ghengis]

Originally Posted by monyck77

Being so COLD in Mnpls, How long do you wait for a bus? the light rail and the train are outdoor!?! What was te reasoning in that infrastructure? DC's buses are pretty bad comparing to other cities in the US and in the world! The metro/subway is good, but still doesn't reach everywhere...but I have to insist, I don't see how the public transportation in Mnpls is good...Everybody say in this threath that busses are good...but you have to wait outside in a below freezing temperature for a bus!! If they pass very often (5min) then it is ok, otherwise...wao, I will be paying a lot in gass (suming up commute and moving inside the city!)...
how much is a bus ticket? and How much is a light rail ticket?

Thank you!
MG

Keep your car for your commute monyck, at least until the rail is open all the way. You will find that the direction you will be traveling will result in little if any congestion. You should be able to drive that in a little more than an hour once you hit the freeway. Don't think I would look forward to flowing with the traffic however, especially on Fridays outbound between May and September when I94 becomes choked with weekend travel to "the cabin".

I had commuted from straight north into Mpls for close to 15 years on a daily basis from 50 miles out and the commute had always been pretty tame. Changed jobs to be 15 miles further North and I now avoid most all of the traffic now. It is not unsusal for people to commute in from 50 - 60 - 70 miles or more and you are set-up to avoid the typical flow to boot. Enjoy St. Cloud and the Twin Cities.

[monyck77]

Thanks!
Yes, I forgot to ask...how do you plan your trip? is there a web page that tells you the bus number you can take and the timetable.
Again, I live in DC and busses here are the worst I have ever seen...even compared to my hometown Caracas in Venezuela...You have to wait and wait...and they don't have the busses information in the bus stops...so you are never sure if you are really in the right one! Or you can take another one in case yours already passed.
Well, I know I maybe asking too much....but it would be good to know in advanced the bus numbers that you can use if you want to go...lets say uptown to Warehouse District....

[monyck77]

ops! I just found the web page...maybe once I learn the names of the neighborhoods I will be able to use it correctly....
MG

[DaPerpKazoo]

During normal hours local routes are $1.75 and express routes are $2.25. During rush hour local routes are $2.25 and express routes are $3.00. The light rail counts as a normal local route ticket-wise. All tickets are valid for 2 hours after purchase and can be used to transfer unlimited times during that period. You can save money buy using a prepaid go-to card and saving 10% or by buying a monthly pass for $59.

Most routes in the city operate every 10-15 minutes, though some occasionally operate more frequently. Suburban routes operate less frequently. The buses are usually pretty close to schedule so you don't often have to wait outside for too long. Also, people here get used to dressing for the weather, so if you know you're going to have to stand outside in subzero weather for 5-10 minutes, then you dress appropriately and it's really not that bad.

EDIT:

Just saw your last post.

I find the Google Transit website to be way more user-friendly than Metro Transit's. It's an absolutely phenomenal site, and as an smartphone owner, I can use it on the go to find out exactly when a bus will be at a particular stop without pouring over timetables. Most overlooked benefit of smartphones, IMO.

[fashionguy]

Forget it. Taking a bus to St. Cloud for work is not practical at all. Those long-distance buses are usually very very infrequent. People here tend to point out only the optimistic side. I am sure most of them don't know whether the bus would stop at St. Cloud State University at all. And since you are going from the city to the suburb, you can't use those park & ride facilities effectively. Those from the suburb to the city can park their car somewhere and hop on a bus or rail, and once they arrive at the city, they use the city's public transportation, which is a lot more convenient. Not the other way around. The public transportation system here surely can't compare with DC, which has the third most people in US using the metro. Yes, if you happen to live beside a hub and your traveling distance is limited, you might not notice a big difference, but overall, it is just nowhere close.

Don't rely on the future light rails. They haven't started to construct any of them and the construction is usually very slow. I wouldn't expect you can use the central corridor until 2015, on the optimistic side. So for people suggesting you to reply on light rail, I don't know what they want you to do for the next five or so years. The commuter rail is a realistic thing though, since several stations are already finished.

Oh yes, waiting for a bus in the cold is certainly no fun, especially sometimes a bus skips schedule and so you have to wait for the next one. Some people get used to it but I don't. A car with good tires is absolutely necessary in Minneapolis. The only bus I know that is frequent enough, comparable to a metro line except for the speed, and that I can rely on and is the 16 from downtown Minneapolis to downtown St. Paul. There are probably other ones but I just don't have the opportunity to use them.

Honestly speaking, I think for your case, the best solution is to just live in St. Cloud, or somewhere in the middle, and come visting Minneapolis once in a while. I just can't imagine having to commute those long distances every day. I am pretty sure as a little town, St. Cloud has somewhere with clustered restaurants, etc. That wouldn't be so different from neighborhoods in Minneapolis. After all, Minneapolis is not a world class city either. Restaurants, shopping experience, etc. are pretty much the same for every suburb and nothing is very special. In the end, you have to settle down to some kind of neighborhood. Once you settle down, you'll discover that restaurants and shops elsewhere in town may not worth the traveling and you get used to the ones nearby. That's not very different from living in St. Cloud.

Originally Posted by monyck77

Being so COLD in Mnpls, How long do you wait for a bus? the light rail and the train are outdoor!?! What was te reasoning in that infrastructure? DC's buses are pretty bad comparing to other cities in the US and in the world! The metro/subway is good, but still doesn't reach everywhere...but I have to insist, I don't see how the public transportation in Mnpls is good...Everybody say in this threath that busses are good...but you have to wait outside in a below freezing temperature for a bus!! If they pass very often (5min) then it is ok, otherwise...wao, I will be paying a lot in gass (suming up commute and moving inside the city!)...
how much is a bus ticket? and How much is a light rail ticket?

Thank you!
MG