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Anyone take the bus to work?
If so--please tell me what you love about it, so I can think of those things as I'm standing there freezing at the bus stop at 5:30 a.m. every Wednesday, and Friday for the semester. And every Tuesaday as well, but that time it's not until 3 p.m. for my night class. 
We get a free bus pass each semester we take 6 credits or more, because it's built into our student fees. I can't help but think that it'd be stupid NOT to take the bus because of this. I won't have to pay for gas OR parking downtown--which is more of an expense than the gas. However, my class starts at 7 a.m. Wednesday and Friday mornings and it's downtown Milwaukee, and I don't live close to there. So I have to leave way early to catch a bus that'll get me there in time!
Tell me what you like about it so I don't "accidentally" miss the bus and have to drive myself. 
Re: Anyone take the bus to work?
I dont take a bus, but I do take the train. I LOVE it!!!! I love the fact I can get on the train, read, text, email etc. I get to relax for 40 min to work and home from work. You dont have to fight traffic.
I found out the times my train leaves, type it up and put it on the fridge. I put up 5 different times on my list. The time I need to leave, 2 trains before and 2 after. This way I have it handy in case I am running late etc.
The waiting part ist he worst. Over all I feel it pays off. You could be sitting in your car waiting in traffic too.
I looooooove the bus!
1 - No dealing with parking (and paying for parking) downtown. Saves money!
2 - No dealing with traffic (read, relax, listen to your ipod, do your homework...) Less stress!
3 - Reduce your carbon footprint. Really, this does not make or break it for me, but it's an added benefit right? Or you could think of it as helping the squirrels
Our MetroTransit site will calculate how many pounds of carbon emissions you save by taking the bus instead of driving.
It sucks that you have to be on the buses schedule in the morning, but once you get used to it, it's much easier.
Do you take a bus from a park and ride?
I lucked out in that most of the time I can just watch for the bus from my car and run out and hop on when it pulls up. This helps with freezing temps. (Although I just realized today that my view is now blocked by a 8 ft pile of snow!)
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It's 30 min. each way. Plus, we just don't have the money for parking there 4 days a week since I'm barely working anymore.
Parking gets ridiculous when you have to do it on a regular basis.
When I have to drive, I go with the cheapest, but at least somewhat convenient option, which is $8 if I'm in by 9 (othwerwise it increases to $14). But $8, 5 days a week, ~4 weeks a month... is $160 per month. I pay less than half of that, pre-tax, for my bus pass. And that doesn't even touch the gas savings.
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I'm laughing because parking here is like $40/day on weekdays (weekends are usually $8-25 depending on where you park). $150/week if you're lucky to find it! Usually around $500/month.
I can only take our Metra in (not the el or buses) because of the motion sickness. If I can take a Metra in during the week I do but sometimes it doesn't always stop at my location and if it does it takes 2 hours because it stops everywhere but if I hit an express it's awesome and only takes 50 min (stopping at like 5 locations). But the Metra is around $12 round trip on weekdays (cheaper if you have a pass obviously) plus a cab fare usually ends up to $10+ so the convenience for me parking my car is worth my time. Since then I can at least bring my laptop and do some work while I wait for rush hour to end. When I take the train I can't do that.
Thank you for all the reasons you like the bus! I think I will like this option, I just have to get used to it first. But even if I were driving, I'd still have to get used to getting up early enough to get to class by 7. That's the time I usually wake up!
The bus just seems like the way to go for me since technically it's free, but I guess I did pay for it in my student fees. And just in case I need to stay at school longer to study or practice my labs, I won't have to worry about paying for the extra hour or two in parking or whatever. I think this will be good.
I couldn't imagine paying for parking in downtown Chicago on a regular basis! I've driven there a couple times before and it was so expensive. I couldn't imagine that on a regular day.
Yes, express buses and trains are key! My commute only takes an extra 10-15 minutes when I take the bus, so it's worth it. An extra two hours would be horrible.
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Public transit here is somewhat of a nightmare. Even taking the Metra in from the burbs, a lot of the park and ride locations have a 10 year wait list and you have to pay $500 just to get ON the list. The only reason I really wanted the Olympics to be here was so that they'd redo the transport system. The worst part is that they've cut a lot of service so you're basically screwed either way! Ah the joys....
For only 15 min more, I'd suffer through the motion sickness!