Getting Around: Transit Options

Your ticket to freedom in St. Paul:  a bus-train pass

"Is the bus safe?" my co-worker, Sam the security guard, asked me the other day.  He had just learned that I take the bus to my university library, an eight-mile commute, on a regular basis.  "I mean, for a single lady?"

Now, I'll grant you that our university is in a slightly dicey neighborhood, but I honestly had no idea how to answer his question.  Is it safe to take the bus?  In my universe, that's a question on a par with, Is it safe to walk down the sidewalk?

The Metro Transit store, Minneapolis

So I told him the truth:  "Yes."  I've been taking public transit in the Twin Cities for over half my life, and the worst thing that has ever happened to me here is when, eight years ago, a saggy-pants youth decided he wanted my half of the seat as well as his, effectively pinning me into a corner for the 10 minutes it took me to screw up my courage and move to a new place.  (I was worried about hurting his feelings.  Minnesotans are like that.)

Sure, the Number 21 bus, which runs from downtown St. Paul all the way to Uptown Minneapolis, is a window into a number of different lifestyle choices, and I sometimes hear language that I devoutly hope my daughter doesn't use — yeah, right.  But I love the bus.  Heck, I love all the transit options the Twin Cities have to offer.  Maybe it's because I grew up in a small town that didn't even have a taxi service, but nothing says Big City to me like hopping on a bus, or waiting on a commuter-train platform, or zipping my bike down the Midtown Greenway.

Downtown St. Paul, where the MLA conference is this year, is small enough that an able-bodied person can get around just by walking.  It helps to have a good map; if you'd like a self-guided walking tour, check out the St. Paul Smart Trips Web site.  You can also download a downtown map from our host venue, the St. Paul RiverCentre — click on the "Skyway and Walking Map" link.

The Hiawatha line: light rail

If you want to go farther afield, like shopping on Grand Avenue (about 3 miles away) or exploring the Mall of America (about 12 miles away), a car is not the only way to go.  Given all St. Paul's winding one-way streets, and various construction projects, it's not even the most convenient option.  Trusty Google Maps has a "transit" icon in its "get directions" mode (also a "walking" one — try it!).  But for up-to-the-minute schedules and other information, the Metro Transit Web site is worth bookmarking on your smartphone.  FYI, you'll take the Number 63 from 6th Street to get to Grand Avenue, and the Number 54, also from 6th Street, to get to the Mall of America.  Cost is $2.25 during rush hour, $1.75 other times; you can also buy a pass.  From the MoA, on that same pass, you can take the glorious Hiawatha light-rail train to downtown Minneapolis.  Be still my small-town heart!

And if you run into a gangsta wannabe with saggy pants, just do what I did the next time he sat by me:  Whip out your knitting.  He'll move over — and, as a bonus, you'll learn all about his grandma's crochet projects.

Rebecca Ganzel