Live from Minnesota: Planes, Trains, and Buses Part 1

Arriving in the twin cities at about 12:30pm (central time) on Wednesday, I knew I had an adventure waiting for me. I'd decided to forgo a $35 taxi from the airport to my hotel and take mass transit instead. From their site, Minneapolis appears to have a great mass transit system. Indeed, they do, the problem was that my hotel, the airport and the route of the buses form a triangle--not the most efficient shape.

My trip began on the Hiawatha Route 55 light rail system. This part was awesome. Really fast, smooth, and clearly announced station stops (more on that later). The train took me from the airport to downtown Minneapolis. Getting off the train I made about three circles in place to get my bearings. It was no use. Without mountains to guide me I was lost in finding directions (digital compasses on cell phones should be the next big thing).

Thanks to the magic of Google maps Streetview you can see exactly what I saw here. Once there click on the steetview of the location and spin around in place. You'll see a train parked and farther left of that the bus stops.

I wandered across the street to a bus stop which I presumed to be the one I wanted. Then I spotted a bus stop across the street. Which one did I need?

I asked a passerby / street person (he lingered in the area for most of my duration there). He had no idea which routes ran on which sides. Don't do drugs kids.

After about 15 minutes (did I mention the high was 8 degrees on Wednesday?) of waiting a man passed by and asked me if I knew which bus just passed by. Of course I knew (the #6) since I'd been watching the buses like a hawk waiting for mine to pass me by on the other side of the street (and also secretly hoping that would happen so I had an excuse to call a cab). So I asked this man which side the 12C ran on. He said the other side. I went to the other side and boarded the 12C about 15 minutes later. And that's when things got interesting...