This morning I got a call from Krista Terrell, spokeswoman for the Arts & Science Council.
"I'm so excited. I just had to share this with you," she said.
Krista took the Lynx light-rail line to work uptown for the first time this morning. She was excited to report that it ran smoothly and was more convenient for her than she thought it would be. She didn't think driving to the I-485 station from her home in Steele Creek would make sense. Why not just drive to work?
But she's getting tired of paying nearly $4 a gallon to fill up her Honda Accord. In fact, she doesn't even fill the tank. She stops at $30 or $35 because that's all she can stomach at one time.
So this morning she has her husband leave the house at 7:45 a.m. and he drops her at the I-485 station at 8 a.m. She buys a ticket and the train leaves at 8:15 a.m. She takes the train to the Time Warner Arena station and after a short walk gets to work around 8:35 or 8:40. All told, it took her about 10-15 minutes longer than driving would have, she said. But it's worth it to save some gas money, she said. And now Terrell plans to do it two or three times a week.
Turns out it works well to have her husband drop her off on his way to work in Ballantyne. "It was easier than I thought," Krista said.
I still haven't tried light rail. I have it in my head that it would be too hard with a baby who my husband drops off at daycare and who I have to pick up at night. How would that work? Am I wrong?
Plus, I don't live as far away from uptown as Krista. Her commute to work is about 16 miles, double mine. And I need my car for work.
Are you taking the train to and from work? How's it working out? What do you think?
Thursday, May 1, 2008
Pain at the pump?
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15 comments:
And I need my car for work.
That sums it up right there. Cheris Hodges of Creative Loafing, who tried a pretty sad little experiment a few weeks ago and then wrote about it, found out the hard way that using mass transit requires lots of extra time and really cuts down on your flexibility with respect to getting where you need to go, when you need to go. Ultimately, she found that it simply was not worth the inconvenience in terms of time wasted and flexibility lost versus the money she saved riding the bus and the train.
If people really want to make a statement against high energy prices and the inconvenience of traffic, they should put their money where their mouths are and live within walking distance of work. That's what I do, and it didn't require half a billion in taxpayer dollars for me to do it.
I don't work Uptown (I live 5 mins from my job) but I use the train whenever I visit Uptown for a game/event or just a night out. If I worked Uptown I would use it to commute.
A journalist is the worst person to make a case for commuting via mass transit in a city like Charlotte. Journalists need to travel extensively to get stories, interviews, etc. The Creative Loafing story was interesting, but what idf Cheris sat in an office all day? The commute would have been easy.
For a cube dweller or office worker (or most others), a car is not as important all day at work. Ask them how the train assists them on a daily basis.
And, as above posted mentioned, people make decisions about commuting vs living near work. If you made the choice to live in Lake Norman or Ballantyne and work in Uptown, you should STFU about your commute. You made your choice.
I've been taking the 77X from Huntersville into Charlotte (where I sit in a cubicle all day) for at least four years.
I absolutely love it. Not the cubicle part.
@12:18: "everyone should live within walking distance from work."
are you being serious? i'm not trying to be rude, but am i missing the joke?
are you being serious? i'm not trying to be rude, but am i missing the joke?
I am being mostly serious, and I was not joking. As mcap pointed out, people make choices. If you choose to live far away from work so that you can have the big house with a yard, you should expect a time-consuming commute. If you choose to live close to work, as I do, you can walk to work. Suburbanites may think that they are saving money by living far away, but the higher cost of my downtown residence more than makes up for the time and money I save by not having to drive for an hour in each direction on workdays. I prefer to use my time in more constructive ways.
But I don't ride the train or buses, because I don't need to. I walk when I can, and I drive when it's too far to walk.
@12:18: "everyone should live within walking distance from work."
And for what it's worth, I never said "everyone should live within walking distance from work." Adding new words to a quote to make it sound like someone said something they didn't is dirty pool.
I've taken the LYNX all but two days since it opened. I'll gladly spend the extra 10 minutes taking mass transit so I don't have to deal with the poorly timed traffic lights and idiots who have no clue about staying out of the PASSING lane.
Before the LYNX opened, I took the 62X (Rea Road Express) between one and three times a week.
@2:51: I apologize for misquoting you. No need to get snippy, I wasn’t trying to be rude or play “dirty pool.”
I just want to say that at this point in my career (more so in my financial situation), I am unable to live close to where I work. Not only that, I hope to move forward in my career and am looking forward to future job change(s). As much as I would love to cut out my commute out and walk, it's just not feasible for me as a young professional.
@4:36: No problem. Some folks here sometimes misquote people on purpose.
And your situation sums up exactly that you can't always get what you want. Ideally, everyone would have exactly the house they want, in the location they want, and with no or at least a very short commute. But geography and income conspire against us all, and you can't just move on a whim.
I just have a hard time sympathizing with someone who chooses to live a very long way from work and then complains about the length of their commute. Unless the commute was good when you moved and then it got bad, you don't really have a leg to stand on. But until we get quantum teleportation or Futurama-style people tubes, the commute is always going to be rougher for some than for others.
I take the Lynx uptown every day and I LOVE it! I drive a short distance to the Park and Ride at Woodlawn and hop on the train. I no longer have to deal with traffic going uptown or parking. I save money on gas and parking and it really adds up! Not to mention that I no longer have to sit at the traffic lights and it takes me the same amount of time that it did when I drove and parked uptown.
It is ignorant to think that you have to live where you work. You can live anywhere you choose to. Besides everyone can't afford to live in overpriced condos.
It is ignorant to think that you have to live where you work. You can live anywhere you choose to. Besides everyone can't afford to live in overpriced condos.
No one said that, genius. Yes, you can choose to live anywhere that you can afford. If you choose to live farther away from work so that you can have a bigger house, or a big yard, or better schools, then there is a price to pay for that: A long commute.
And of course, not everyone can afford to live everywhere. Again, if you had read what was said, you would understand that the choices we make are sometimes constrained.
I think mass transit in Charlotte is a great thing. If it wouldn't take me three bus changes to get from Matthews to where I work by the airport I would do it. I did however finally sell my 2006 Nissan Frontier and get a '08 Nissan Versa. Yes for a guy it is a little rough thinking about driving such a small car but it's a fun little car and I am saving a ton on gas, payments and insurance...
As for the light rail I would love to see them bring it out to Matthews and have another connecting to the Airport, then we could really grow into the big city we are trying to be.
One last thought and sorry to ramble but if they had free Wi-Fi on the buses and Lynx it would make the extra time commuting productive, just an idea.
-T
Hey, maybe we could have free foot massages and lattes, too.
"Free" WiFi on the buses and trains translates into higher budgets for CATS. Since the taxpayers are already on the hook for roughly 90% of CATS' budget, with only 10% or so coming from fares, your "free" WiFi is something that all of the rest of us who don't ride buses and trains would be on the hook for. I therefore respectfully say no. If you want WiFi on buses and trains, then fares need to be raised in order to pay for that service.
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