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Commuters find alternatives to buses on fifth day of strike
by Art Hughes, Minnesota Public Radio
March 8, 2004

Kate Plude is the "go-to" person at her company in downtown Minneapolis. During the strike, she's also become the point person for the ad hoc company car pool system. (MPR Photo/Art Hughes)

Workers continue to walk picket lines and no talks are in sight as the Twin Cities Metro Transit bus strike enters its first full work week. Many commuters are settling into alternate travel routines with no promise buses will return to their routes any time soon. While many commuters simply drive their own cars to work, others take the high road.

Minneapolis, Minn. — Kate Plude is the person to go to for setting up such things as employee training at the software company International Decision Systems, in the IDS Tower in downtown Minneapolis. She's known for giving enthusiastic company tours for job candidates. During the strike, she's also become the point person for the ad hoc company car pool system. People interested in car pooling contact her with their home locations, and Plude connects drivers and riders who live near one another.

"It was a solid afternoon of e-mailing. Really, it was the easiest way to do it, to just have one point of contact. So you knew who needed help and who could help," Plude says.

I hung up maps and left instructions on some of our white boards, too. So there was no reason anybody couldn't find a way to work, basically. I left them no options except success. - Kate Plude, International Decision Systems

Plude makes sure everybody has a ride.

"I hung up maps and left instructions on some of our white boards, too. So there was no reason anybody couldn't find a way to work, basically. I left them no options except success," Plude says.

In a move that could only be dreamed up by a human resources department, Plude held a drawing to give one carload of stranded commuters a parking space for a week and a half, because the company executive who normally uses it is out of town.

"We drew names and we were able to facilitate five of our employees with that one pass."

Plude says between car pools, greater use of telecommuting and loosened hours, the company hasn't missed a beat during the strike.

Another business that hasn't suffered while buses are halted is the Yellow Taxi cab company in south Minneapolis.

Manager Mike Kedrowski says there are some 40 extra cabs on the road during the strike. He says it's busier than normal, but many people appear to have found commuting alternatives on their own.

"We're handling our business. It wasn't as bad as we thought it was going to be. We're able to service most of our customers in a timely manner," Kedrowski says.

Many commuters are hoping to stretch temporary transportation arrangements for the duration of the strike. Madeline Douglas, a technical librarian at the Valspar Corp., doesn't own a car because it's normally so convenient to take a bus.

	Madeline Douglas

"I probably will be borrowing cars from family, friends, maybe getting rides from people at work here. It's going to be a one-day-at-a-time situation for me," Douglas says.

For a few days she's driving a borrowed Honda Odyssey she describes as big and green. She can't promise rides every day, so she tries to find other passengers when she can.

"I was thinking about Paul and Sheila Wellstone, if they were still around in their big green bus -- and here I am one person. What can I do?" Douglas says. "I can offer somebody a ride in the big green van on the days that I have it. It's a situation where you have something available and you share it with somebody who needs it."

Last week Douglas drove out of her way to take someone home to St. Louis Park. She says she figures she'll get paid back in other ways, especially when she needs a ride.

"I'm a believer in that old idea of good karma. You give something, you get something back," Douglas says.

Neither side in the Metro Transit contract dispute can predict how long the strike will last. Union officials say it could be two months or more. Transportation experts say temporary arrangements such as car pools tend to fall off after more than three weeks.

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