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“It’s a positive sign,” he said. “It’s nice to see an increase.”

Many car owners recently made the switch to public transportation, finding it more affordable to ride the
bus than to fill up at the pump.

Greg Leritz is one such car owner. Like Gibbons, he owns a car but chooses to take the bus to work.

“I’ve been [riding] for about two years,” he said. “It’s so convenient.”

Leritz is a Coon Rapids resident who spends nearly five hours daily during the workweek on a bus.

He passes his traveling time by “slouching around, reading the paper or books.”

In Leritz’s case, driving to work is more expensive than using public transportation.

“With rush hour traffic and everything, its just too much gas mileage to use,” he said.

For the most part, Leritz is pretty content with the MetroTransit system.

“You can catch it almost anywhere,” he said. “The worst part is just the hours. I have to be at work at 7:30
a.m., so I have to wake up at 4:30 to catch the bus.”

Gibbons isn’t surprised that people like Leritz are choosing to ride the bus because of high gas prices.

“People are predisposed to look for an alternative [to driving],” he said. “Provided it’s convenient and affordable.”

But rising gas prices aren’t the only benefit of using MetroTransit services, Gibbons said.

“People ride to avoid the stress of commuting, particularly when the roads and freeways are congested,” he said.

Selena Hotchkiss, another MetroTransit customer, agrees.

“Traffic is horrible, and buses can get by that stuff faster,” she said.

Hotchkiss, like both Leritz and Gibbons, owns a car but chooses to take the bus to work.

“The bus commute is longer, but it is cheaper, as far as gas,” she said.

Hotchkiss takes two buses to and from work each day, and has done so for the past two years.

She uses her car only to run errands and drive her children where they need to go, she said.

Hotchkiss says riding the bus is a practical choice for car owners.

“There’s a majority of [riders] that don’t have cars,” she said. “But at the same time, I think it makes sense
financially for [car owners].”

Gibbons says that most of MetroTransit’s customers own cars.

“Our surveys show that two-thirds of our customers own cars,” he said. “The people who need the bus service by circumstance are living in areas that bus service is available 24 hours a day, 7 days a week.”

But bus rider Veronica Jennings doesn’t own a car, and sometimes finds it difficult to get where she wants to go at late hours.

“Its hard if you want to go out at night,” she said. “Because a lot of these buses stop service at certain times.”

The bus scheduling has even had an effect on her career.

“At my job now, if I wanted to work second shift, I couldn’t,” Jennings said.

The buses near her workplace stop services around 8 p.m., and second shift isn’t over until 11:30 p.m.

“It’s inconvenient for me,” she said.

But Jennings is, overall, pleased with MetroTransit’s services.

She said that her bus always connects quickly and on time, so in the winter she doesn’t have to wait long outside in the cold.

One of the bigger obstacles she faces with not owning a car is going to the grocery store, she said.

“If you have a lot of bags, it’s a hassle,” she said. “Or if the bus is crowded, because a lot of people aren’t considerate and won’t get up and give you their seat.”

Jennings believes people take owning a car for granted, but there are some benefits of not driving everywhere.

“You don’t have to pay for parking,” she said. “That’s one good thing.”

Gibbons said that MetroTransit had to cut 3.5 percent of their services in September, which may have affected riders like Jennings who don’t have the luxury of owning a car.

Improvements to the system are being made though, he said.

Route revisions have recently been completed in Minneapolis, for example, and the Light Rail is
MetroTransit’s newest public transportation option.

Steve Carlson, a MetroTransit customer who, like Jennings, doesn’t own a car, is unhappy with the Light Rail.

“I wish the Light Rail ran into St. Paul,” he said. “It seems like it’s built more for business people and tourists than to function for the everyday worker.”

Carlson rides the bus to work daily. His commute takes about 20 minutes. For him, there are some downfalls of riding the bus.

“You’re in a crowd all the time, and you’d rather be by yourself,” he said.

Carlson said he would like to see more domed heated bus stops to keep riders warm in the winter.

MetroTransit is working toward doing just that.

Gibbons said that there is a possibility for the development of more transit centers that would offer indoor heated waiting for customers.

He admits that the Light Rail needs to expand.

“The next Light Rail line must serve St. Paul,” he said.

Public transportation in Minneapolis and St. Paul is more convenient for people who live in certain areas, according to Gibbons.

“There’s no mistaking that [public transportation] is not as convenient here as Chicago or New York or Boston where everyone uses it,” he said.

“We’re a relatively auto-dominated community in Minneapolis and St. Paul.”

Even so, Gibbons said MetroTransit is continuing in attempt to make improvements to better serve all types of riders.