Place to live (Minneapolis, St. Paul, Rochester: apartments, rent, houses)

[Cairoky]

Happy holidays and happy new year to all;
I would appreciate to receive suggestions regarding where to live in Minnesota close to Woodbury. My husband will be working in Woodbury, and we have a son at grade 10. I don't have a job right now, but I will be training at Mayo clinic, Rochester For a possible job. My priority is good high school, safety, good public transportation and easy commute from Woodbury/ St Paul to Rochester, because I don't drive on highway specially in winter. I am not sure if we are going to have a car. Also my question is can we live without a car? or at least for me to commute to Rochester by bus?
Thank you all for reading my questions and appreciate your advice

[CCbaxter]

You will find it challenging to get from Woodbury to Rochester without a car. Rochester is a fair distance from the metro area. You may be able to get a shuttle from Rochester but it won't bring you to Woodbury, DT St. Paul is probably as close as you'll get, and it would probably cost 30 or 40 dollars a day. Then you can get a city bus to Woodbury. Mayo might provide some transportation options for employees I am unaware of. If you are determined not to have a car, you would do better to live in Rochester and have your husband do the drive.

[Meemur]

I had to Google it because I wasn't sure where Woodbury was, but it's about a little over an hour's drive down to Rochester, so that would be two hours+ on the road each day if you stayed in Woodbury.

I don't think the bus is doable for commuting -- too expensive:

Woodbury to Rochester by bus, car | Rome2rio

I certainly wouldn't want to do that commute in the winter, and I drive all year long.

Some options might be:

- Live in Rochester
- Look for different training (for a different job) closer to Woodbury, where you can ride an in-town commuter bus
- Your family remains in Woodbury - you get a room in Rochester and take the bus home on weekends

There are rooms in private houses in Rochester that you could rent by the semester. I don't have a list, but if you are doing your training through Mayo, check with them. You might also be able to room with other students in your training class in an apartment.

In any case, you aren't the only one with this problem! Ask the staff who are running the training about housing options. I'm sure that they will have additional ideas. There may even be some apartments just for students training with Mayo.

[mr roboto]

No way to 'commute' from Woodbury to Rochester without multiple hours driving, all of it on highways. Highway 52 is 4 lane 65 mph. Even the long way through Red Wing is highway driving.

I will say there are some small towns (Cannon Falls, Zumbrota) that are half way between. Many of these towns have commuter buses to Mayo (I grew up in a small town that was essentially a bedroom community of Rochester).

But these towns are small (2,000-5,000) and not really connected culturally to either the Twin Cities or Rochester. Schools are decent but not that big HS experience like Woodbury.

Otherwise, you could find a suburb in the Cities that are closer to Richester like Farmington, Lakeville, Rosemount. Still though that commute to Roch will be tough.

The only real way to have a daily commute to Rochester is to live in a small town on Highway 52 that has daily bus shuttles for Mayo.

[Tipsy McStagger]

Originally Posted by Cairoky

Happy holidays and happy new year to all;
I would appreciate to receive suggestions regarding where to live in Minnesota close to Woodbury. My husband will be working in Woodbury, and we have a son at grade 10. I don't have a job right now, but I will be training at Mayo clinic, Rochester For a possible job. My priority is good high school, safety, good public transportation and easy commute from Woodbury/ St Paul to Rochester, because I don't drive on highway specially in winter. I am not sure if we are going to have a car. Also my question is can we live without a car? or at least for me to commute to Rochester by bus?
Thank you all for reading my questions and appreciate your advice

No, you certainly can't live without a car, and you might need two.

The only possible solutions are either Mr. Roboto's suggestion of a couple small towns east of Rochester, or to live in Rochester and have your husband commute to Woodbury and back each day. Even that doesn't guarantee that you are going to have a viable public transportation option from your house to Mayo and so you still might need a second car but would be driving that on city streets.

[Cairoky]

Thanks everyone for the advice. I Searched and found Rochester city line bus that commute between Rochester and some cities, the closest one to Woodbury is Iver Grove. So I need your opinion about this area and the high school there.
Thanks a lot.

[Tipsy McStagger]

That thing is 90 minutes each direction and the last bus leaves Rochester at 5:10pm so make sure that works with your schedule. And you still have to get to the stop in Inver Grove Heights which doesn't appear to be walkable from anything and bus service coverage that far out isn't going to be extensive. I assume the commuter bus operates mostly as a park and ride so you'd probably still need a second car. I mean you're basically talking about a three hour bare minimum daily commute, and probably more like four hours. When the roads are good. Add significant time to that in the winter if roads are bad. There is a reason almost nobody commutes that distance.

[mr roboto]

Originally Posted by Tipsy McStagger

That thing is 90 minutes each direction and the last bus leaves Rochester at 5:10pm so make sure that works with your schedule. And you still have to get to the stop in Inver Grove Heights which doesn't appear to be walkable from anything and bus service coverage that far out isn't going to be extensive. I assume the commuter bus operates mostly as a park and ride so you'd probably still need a second car. I mean you're basically talking about a three hour bare minimum daily commute, and probably more like four hours. When the roads are good. Add significant time to that in the winter if roads are bad. There is a reason almost nobody commutes that distance.

Yes, agreed, but there are more people who commute from TC to Mayo than you'd imagine.

And depending on the field the Mayo experience may catapult the career.

[Tipsy McStagger]

Originally Posted by mr roboto

Yes, agreed, but there are more people who commute from TC to Mayo than you'd imagine.

And depending on the field the Mayo experience may catapult the career.

That's true but a lot of those people do the weekly commute and home on weekends (which is probably the most sensible option, although it's tough with kids etc.) and more than a few do the commuter flights.

[ellysbelly]

You might have to "bite the bullet" and start driving on highways, even in winter-- otherwise your options are severely limited and discussed extensively above (move close to Rochester and have your husband take on an onerous commute-- or consider the possibility of a 4 hour daily, roundtrip commute-- or live in Rochester during the week and commute home on weekends only).

The roads here are cleared remarkably quickly and the highway to Rochester isn't a huge highway, at all-- so it might not be as scary as you imagine. You can live best without a car if you live inside the city limits, but even then, MSP isn't like NYC where public transportation is both extensive and regular enough to truly live without a car without experiencing some limitations on your mobility. It's most doable to live without a car within MSP if you both live and work within the Cities and, preferably, if you work downtown. Commuting to Rochester daily without a car is nightmarish even with perfect weather.

Not certain whether there are shuttles to Mayo from either Minneapolis or St Paul (but I imagine that there are more from the Cities than from the 'burbs); but living in either city is far more "suburban" in feel that you might expect and there are some excellent high school options. Furthermore, living in a suburb without a car will make it quite challenging to run even basic errands-- the vast majority of public transportation is designed to bring people into and out of the metro-- not to transverse the suburb itself. Living in either Minneapolis or St Paul will have neighborhoods where you can far more easily walk or take public transportation to run errands to grocery stores, go out to dinner, etc.