Grantsville is not a big city; it isn’t even a big town. Main street, which runs through the middle of Grantsville, only has one stop light and that is at the far east end before the town really starts. In such a small place the commute options are equally small, but there are a few.
While there are a few options there is only one good one. Well one that I would consider good. See my preference is always to be able to walk to my commute and ideally it is a short walk. From our new house I can take a three minute walk to a bus that will get me within a few minutes walk of my work in downtown Salt Lake City.
But that three minute walk has to be at about 6:10AM. That is it. That is the only option that will get me from my house to my work without my having to drive to a park and ride, or transfer to a different bus. This bus only runs once in the morning and once in the evening.
So this morning I got up at 5:40AM to get ready. I am hoping once I get used to it I might be able to get a bit more sleep, but for now I want to make sure I have plenty of time to get around and catch the bus. I got to the bus stop in plenty of time and waited a few minutes for the bus. It was quite dark and cold. The odd thing to me was all of the cars, and trucks on the road. It seems that early in the morning is the regular going to work time for a lot of people.
The bus from Grantsville to SLC has to get on the freeway a couple times. Because of that it isn’t a regular city bus, it is more like a greyhound bus. The seat are large and comfortable. They have overhead space for your extra stuff and plenty of leg room. On top of all of that the bus has free WiFi.
One other drawback to this bus, other than having to catch it so early in the morning is that it is the slow bus. It has 36 stops between where I get on and where I get off. When it is not on the freeway it is constantly stopping. If I were to drive, not counting for traffic, it would take about a half hour to get to work. This bus takes about an hour and a half to get me there. But I don’t have to worry about the traffic, or finding a parking place. On the way I can take a nap, do some work, enjoy the scenery or even write on my blog.
There are other options. I could sleep in a bit more and drive to the local park and ride. From there, there are a few more options for getting to SLC. But all of them add complexity to my day. I have to drive and / or transfer to get to and from work. So for now I am going to stick with my early morning commute.