So I’ve finally started taking the train to work. Sure I only live 13 miles from campus, and the drive is only 30 minutes, but sometimes driving just gets old.
At first, since it’s summer and I have free time, I was taking only DART buses—two to be exact. That took over an hour, but still was only $2.40 per day for unlimited bus rides. The trip involved one bus to north Wilmington only a few miles from home, then waiting for another bus to take me northward. The bus routes are clearly geared for 9-to-5 commuters and shoppers from major residential areas and only to urban areas. But I managed to work out a schedule even though my trip is pretty much against the flow.
Now that I got a monthly pass for SEPTA, I’ll take one bus into the city to catch the train to Newark. Total travel time about 30 minutes—the same as driving. It does require me to walk a bit—to and from the bus stop, and then to and from the train station near campus. Believe me, I need the exercise—though it kicked my ass at first. In all it’s costing me just under $3 per day for the train, plus $2.30 for the buses. $5 is well worth it. Especially if I cancel my $413 per year ($34 per month) parking at UD.
The one thing I’ve learned is that people annoy the piss out of me complaining that their drive to work is too stressful! We have lots of buses here in Delaware and there are few excuses! It doesn’t help that many of them buy houses 20 miles from work! But they too can take the bus, especially if they work in Wilmington. For $10, I can even take the bus to the beach and not drive that long horrid drive through the country! I think I’ll be doing that within a few weeks!
I also noticed that an awful lot of Delawareans take Amtrak to New York for work on a daily basis! That’s a bit excessive, but I found out is only $63 round trip—cheaper with monthly passes or 10-trip tickets. At least I know there’s a cheap and quick option for getting to NYC if I need to interview for a job—or just for pleasure. It’s only an hour and 43 minutes to Penn Station. The bus takes 2 hours and costs almost as much.
So how many years did it take me to figure out how many places you can go without driving!?