It struck me today how I feel like a suburbanite transplanted into the city. In one way, anyway. Suburbanites who move into civilization always marvel at how well they can get around without their cars. Not that they all give them up; old habits die hard in the Midwest, after all.

Meanwhile, although I’ve been an urban dweller my whole life, living in Marina City, squarely in downtown Chicago as it is, this is the first time in my life I’ve ever been able to walk everywhere with no need to take transit, much less drive (and without a license or the knowledge of how to drive a car, that would be an especially neat trick).

So I sat down and wrote out my transit commuting history prior to living in the center of it all so I could see…um…just how far I’ve come (I had to go there).
1992-1998:
E train from Jamaica, Queens to Lower Manhattan. 60 mins./$1.50

1998-2002:
Q train from Park Slope, Brooklyn to Midtown Manhattan. 30 min./$1.50

2002-2003:
2 train from Park Slope, Brooklyn to Times Square. 30 min./$1.75

2003-2004:
Belmont bus from Lakeview to Avondale, Blue Line train from Avondale to Rosemont, Pace bus from Rosemont to Schaumburg. 75 min./$3.50

2004-2005:
Blue Line train from Logan Square to Pilsen, 45 min./$1.75

-and-

Kimball bus from Logan Square to Avondale, Addison bus from Avondale to Lakeview, 35 min./$1.75

2005:
Walk from 300 block of N. State Street to 0 block of N. State Street. 11 min./Free.

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