I decided to start taking Tri-Rail to work again. After crunching the numbers, I still can’t beat Tri-Rail to ease the financial pain of my 80-mile-a-day commute, even though I know that Tri-Rail doesn’t run on time most of the time.

Helping to ease that pain is the fact that Palm Tran just opened a brand-new Park and Ride lot about a mile away from my house, right behind the Fresh Market at The Mall at Wellington Green. This lot serves Palm Tran Route 40,  which goes practically non-stop to the West Palm Beach Tri-Rail Station (now called the West Palm Beach Intramodal Transit Station) in about 35 minutes.

I used to take Route 62 to the Lake Worth station, but I only did that for a few months–there were a couple of very good reasons why I stopped:

• When Tri-Rail updated their schedules about a year ago, Palm Tran did not. Route 62 arrives at the Lake Worth Tri-Rail Station very close to the same time as the trains do. A few minutes little earlier or later by either mode can spell the difference of waiting at the station for up to an hour. A couple of times I’d gotten off the 62 bus at the Lake Worth station just as the Southbound train was pulling away.
• The last westbound Route 62 bus leaves the Lake Worth Tri-Rail station at 6:30pm. Because the bus and train arrive at Lake Worth so close together, If I miss P634 because I have to work a little late, I risk being stranded stranded at the Lake Worth station–Palm Tran 62 and Tri Rail won’t wait for one another.
• I had to ride 62 from its terminus at the Mall at Wellington Green to the Lake Worth Tri-Rail station, which is very close to the other end of its line. It was an obnoxious, bumpy, ride lasting a little less than an hour, and during rush hour it would stop every minute or so. Quite a number of times it was standing-room-only.

Route 40, by contrast, is practiaclly a straight shot to the West Palm Beach Tri-Rail station along Southern Boulevard, a limited-access state road, stopping for passengers only once or twice. The ride is anywhere from 35-40 minutes and arrives about fifteen minutes before the train does, leaving a nice, big buffer for both modes of transit. Plus, the last Route 40 Westbound bus leaves the station at 8:25 pm, reducing the risk of my being stranded. The latest train I’d need to catch is P642 leaving Cypress Creek at 7:14 pm.

Of course, this morning, I got on 40 Westbound and nearly ended up in Belle Glade. Whoops. However, I got off at Palms West Hospital and caught 40 going the other way still made it to work by around 10:00.

After driving to work for the majority of the rainy season, I’d forgotten how nice it was to let someone else do the driving for a change. I slept on the bus. I answered e-mails on the train (thank you, Verizon BroadbandAcces!) . It was a beautiful day, and the trains were running smoothly and on-time.

Here’s hoping it stays that way.