On Getting to Work

About four miles from my house is the subway terminal. Across the street from my office building is the light rail station.

I’d long thought about doing the socially and environmentally responsible thing — take the subway into downtown, and pick up the light rail back out of downtown to the office. I’ve had the timetables for months, I even figured up one day how everything coincided.

I’d never done it, though. But with gas prices being what they are, it’s now cheaper to take public transportation than to spend the gasoline. And today being a fine spring day, I decided today was the day.

It didn’t work out quite the way I planned.

The light rail coming out of downtown was running forty-five minutes late.

I did, however, complete a Sudoku puzzle on my wait at the light rail station. Baltimore has a new daily paper — B — and after reading through it quickly (it’s about sixteen pages long, and it’s quick, burst-like information) I needed something to occupy my time. Hence, the Sudoku puzzle.

The puzzle, by the way, started off quickly, and then it went into a period where I couldn’t puzzle anything out, and then the pieces began to click.

Baltimore now has three daily newspapers. The Baltimore Sun, the free Baltimore Examiner, and now the free B. I’m just throwing that out there.

The trip, all told, took about two hours. I’d pegged it, at least by the timetables, at an hour fifteen. Which is about a half-hour, forty-five minute increase over the drive, but at the same time, there’s no traffic to deal with, and it’s cheaper than the gas it would take. The opportunity costs aren’t really comparable in this trade-off, but public transportation is the more socially responsible option.

We’ll see how long the trip home takes. Hopefully, not as long. 🙂