Bad Timing

I took the train (blue line) back from the Trylon last night.  I've done it a few times now that bicycling season is sort of over (I'm more worried about the cars in the dark than I am about the cold.  They don't pay attention in the winter and the dark.  But I will admit, I'm not a fan of sub-32 temps on my bike.  It's difficult to dress perfectly given the temp variations.) - it's an easy option now that the Red Line bus runs up and down 77 all the time.  And I've been practicing going to places that don't really require a car.  The U of MN is a good example - there's never a reason for me to take a car there - the bus is actually faster most days, at least on the weekdays, and runs from my house to the alumni center, which is where I go for conferences.

If I go to a 7:00 p.m. movie, the walk to the train station on Minnehaha is almost perfectly timed.  I show up somewhere between 6 minutes and 2 minutes before the train pulls up.  So today, it showed up 3 minutes early.  I was trying to stuff my dollar bills into the machine while the car doors were open, but just wasn't fast enough.  Another guy sprinted up behind me and just hopped on.  He appeared not to have a pass, because he pondered the ticket machine for a moment before going for it.  I thought if you got caught without your ticket you'd just have to pay for the ticket.  But the fine is up to $180 and you have to touch your pass to the pass scanner, so he was risking some serious money.  Not that it mattered to me - I wouldn't have hopped on without a ticket even if the fine had been the cost of the ticket.  I'm a bit of a goody twoshoes when it comes to following rules.  It seems to be a habit Eryn has picked up.  She doesn't like to break rules, even when we tell her she can.  But it is a lonely ride except for the part between airport stops.  Just not a lot of traffic on a weeknight from just shy of downtown to the Mall of America as you can see.