Washington: 10 good things about Metro Transit — including one that’s simply priceless

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Chances are if you’re reading about Metro Transit in the Minnesota Star Tribune, it’s because something bad happened. The system’s been plagued by high crime, low ridership, rampant fare evasion and an ever-ballooning billion-dollar budget. But there are good things to be said about the buses and trains, and at the risk of looking for lutefisk at a taco truck, I went out to find them.

My goal was to find 10 such positives — and who would know better than those who regularly ride the system? To my surprise, riders unhesitatingly offered them to me when I asked around one day last week. Here are their responses, in reverse order:

“It’s a lot cheaper than owning a car,” said Jayna Breda of West St. Paul, waiting for a bus at Jackson and 6th Street E. in downtown St. Paul. She also appreciated the electronic fare payment systems that, despite evasion, mean you rarely have to wait for someone counting out pennies to put in a fare box. “My ticket’s on my phone, so I can just show my phone and walk right on.”

The doors of the C Line bus had just closed on Jeremiah “Tiny” Williams at the Brooklyn Center Transit Center. But he wasn’t upset. “He’s got a job to do too,” he said of the driver. “If his job wasn’t to open the door at that time, I’m going to respect that.” Williams, an artist who lives in downtown Minneapolis and rides Metro Transit to various studios, summed it up simply: “It gets us everywhere we need to go.” He caught the next one just fine.

Also waiting at Brooklyn Center, Andrea Smith of northeast Minneapolis said the buses are reliable when it counts. “Monday through Thursday, [my route runs] every five-to-ten minutes. Weekends, it’s a 30- or 45-minute wait. But other than that, it’s pretty good for me. It gets me where I need to go on time.”

In a pinch, Nicole Najmon of New Hope doesn’t have to take the bus; she’s got a sturdy Motiv Tahoe mountain bike. But it’s the combination of both that makes her commute a breeze. “I’ve never had a bad experience or anybody steal my bike off the bus,” she said as she fastened her bike to the rack on the 721 bus. “Each rack holds two bikes,” she said, “so if there’s two already on there, you gotta wait for the next bus. But other than that, I’m happy I don’t have to bike everywhere.”

Green Line rider Samantha Sarmiento of New Hope was impressed with the train’s physical space. “It’s usually super clean,” she said, “and I can always find somewhere to sit.”

That last observation may need qualification: Sarmiento got on at the Nicollet station in downtown Minneapolis in late afternoon, not at Target Field after a Twins game when the trains can be jammed. But the season’s over anyway.

Sarmiento’s friend Lucia Rojas seconded the observation about cleanliness and added that Metro Transit vehicles are climate-controlled. “It’s usually really warm inside during winter,” she said.

Riding to a University of Minnesota stop, Muhammed Lone praised the system for going where people actually need to go — “like the Mall of America, downtown, the University of Minnesota and all the way to downtown St. Paul.” What’s really useful, he added, is that tracking apps work. “I can check Apple Maps or Google Maps, see when it’s coming, and leave my apartment three minutes before that and reach the station right in time.”

All of their answers were insightful — and frankly, better than I expected. Maybe the thesis is if you go looking for good, you might find it. Satisfied that I had all I needed, I settled in my seat on a clean, warm train for the ride home — only to be jolted by a loud crash.

At first, I thought it was a bicycle falling. (A rider had placed one in front of the doors instead of hanging it on the bike bar, which, with all the good feeling I had just heard, I was willing to forgive this time.)

But it wasn’t. Far more seriously, a woman had collapsed on the floor of the car. A companion talking to her was getting no response and the woman wasn’t moving. I couldn’t tell if she was breathing.

A man who identified himself as a nurse crouched down and said, “She barely has a pulse!” Two of us called 911. The dispatcher immediately transferred my call to Metro Transit’s emergency line, who asked for her condition, the train number, and where exactly we were. I couldn’t think of the names of the stops and said we were two before the St. Paul Depot, the end of the line. My thought was if the train just kept going, we would meet the transit personnel stationed there.

Yet as we pulled into the next stop, Central, two squad cars had their lights flashing. A Metro Transit cop boarded. Kneeling, he said, “I need you to get up with me, OK?”

“You drank too much. OK. We got medics on the way for you.”

And he got her up and out, the train barely delayed.

So does a person falling unconscious on your train ruin the idea of good things on the transit system? Actually, it makes it better — because: