The other day I was at the airport and my wife was delayed in coming to pick me up. I decided to try an experiment by using public transportation. Here is the story of this experiment.

First, I had to catch a shuttle to the South Remote parking. At South Remote, I had to catch a shuttle to Trinity Rail Express. Then, you must buy a ticket. The ticket descriptions must have been written by the same governmental group that writes the IRS tax directions. The ticket description was confusing. I made a decision using my best judgment and purchased a ticket for $3.50. There are only 2 trains to get on for the Trinity Rail Express. One train goes West toward Fort Worth and the other train goes East toward Dallas. Be sure you are on the correct side of the tracks before the train arrives. After getting on the train, I was pleasantly surprised by the comfortable seating and the table where I could rest my laptop or even plug in devices if I needed to. Some of you might ask…why should I buy a ticket, nobody ever asks for it? Well, if you are caught, it’s a fine and I actually witnessed Dart police issuing citations.

I took the East Trinity Rail Express train toward Dallas. After several stops and several eclectic people along the way, I arrived at my stop at Union Station. I departed the Trinity Rail Express. I looked around to discover which of the next trains would take me to the Lovers Lane station.

It looks like I need the red line towards Parker. Next, I’m curious about what time the next train leaves.

I take the Red line towards Parker. I see several interesting characters including one person who is talking to themselves. She seems kind of happy crazy which is so much better than angry crazy. She asks for some guys leftover hamburger and he gives it to her. That was a nice gesture. Here is a picture of the interesting characters that you might meet.

I arrive at the end of my journey. It took around 2 hours from airport to Lover’s Lane station. However, if I had parked at reduced parking, it would have taken me approximately 1 hour and 15 minutes by the time I took the shuttle and drove home. Parking at airport would have cost 12.00/day for 3 days plus gas to drive home. The public transportation option cost me $3.50 and took 2 hours. Plus I got to read and surf the net during the drive home. The taxi from the airport would have taken 30-45 minutes depending upon traffic and costs $30-40. I think the experiment paid off.

Hope this post helps to educate other road warriors!