To Infinity and Beyond...

During my working career I have been a long distance runner. Not the exercise type of runner - the commutes that I have had. Since I have been in the Twin Cities workforce for over 30 years, I have really seen the changes in the traffic flow, particularly from the Northwest part (in which I live) to just about anywhere south, east or west of here.

In particular, the last job I had (which I really liked) was in St. Paul. Getting from my driveway to plugging in my computer at my desk in St. Paul took 1 1/2 hours on a good day. If it was raining, snowing or if there was an accident on the freeway, the time could easily go over 2 hours (one way). The bus service was no better. There were only four express routes that went to St. Paul in the morning and four that came home in the late afternoon. If the last bus was missed (left at 5:05) one needed to take a bus to Minneapolis and transfer to another bus which would travel (with many stops) to the area in which I live. Many times as I was sitting in traffic going nowhere, I thought about how we got here and what we (as a society) were doing to fix it. I could think of many reasons for the first part of the question, but sadly, nothing for the last part. As much as I liked my job in St. Paul, the commute became a real stopper and I left in July of 2008.

As I pondered the state of commuting in the Twin Cities many time as I was immobilized in gridlock, I thought more of my children than of myself. I knew this was a "sunset" tour for me and my days of putting up with this mess were coming to an end. My kids however, had decades left to endure.

How did we get here? By doing the same thing that we are doing now - nothing. This year, with the price of gas almost $4.00/gallon, everybody continues to talk about our "energy problem". Some ideas floating around are how to maximize our mass transit, different fuels to use, maybe enhanced telecommuting and so on. So far, nothing has come out of it. Now with a new crowd occupying the house on the Potomac, we are concerned with the economy, banks, the economy, health care, the economy and the carbon tax. Meanwhile, as the expression goes, "the band plays on...".

We are still using the old playbook that everyone should work 8:00-5:00, M-F. Everybody leaves home or work at the same time and jumps on the freeway system which is inadequate at best. Our mass transit system is a mess and not equipped for the 21st century. When I worked at the Control Data Corporation in the 1980's, if I left work at 4:30 (from Bloomington) I could beat the traffic bubble. Now the traffic bubble starts at 3:00 every day. After the energy crunch of the late 1970's and early 1980's, companies encouraged employees to van pool or car pool. Now they don't give a damn how you get to work, just as long as you get there and give your pound of flesh.

 

The biggest news flash which surprised absolutely nobody, is that sitting for long periods of time is bad for your health. It even has a name - the "sitting disease". Also, it has been found that sitting in traffic going nowhere is bad for your blood pressure. Another huge surprise. So if you have a desk job, you sit in your car for an hour in traffic, get to work and sit at your desk for 9 or 10 hours, hop in your car and sit in traffic for another hour. When I would get home after a day like that, I was trashed.

So the world we are leaving our kids is no advances in  transportation technology or  improved mass transit. No, the future we are leaving our kids is sitting in their cars, wasting gas, wasting time, wasting their health, thinking of Buzz Lightyear...."to infinity and beyond..."