Son moving to Minneapolis

[WRC5]

Originally Posted by davephan

Yes, I've ridden to downtown countless times on the bus. When I was going to college at the University of Minnesota, I took the bus exclusively for six months while my car, which has severe rust problems, was being repaired at a technical college. The car was kept by the technical college for six months! The work was very extensive, replacing a lot of the metal on the car! The parts were cheap or free and the labor was free. But the car was unavailable for six months while the work was being done. After the work was done, the severely rusted car looked like new, and it was very cheap! That kind of work could never have been done at a normal body shop because the work would have cost almost as much as a new car at the time.

During that six months, I took the bus exclusively. The bus is a "second class" or "lower class" transportation system. The people that ride the bus are a mix of people. Poor people, some students who couldn't afford a car or parking, some downtown workers that didn't want to pay for parking downtown, criminals, trouble makers, and gang members. I took the notorious "5" line. There were two "5" lines. Both went through rough parts of the near north side of Minneapolis. I rode until near the end of the lines near Robbinsdale.

I had to transfer and wait in downtown Minneapolis because I had to take the "16" line between downtown Minneapolis and the University of Minnesota. When waiting for the bus in downtown Minneapolis, you had to be careful where you waited. Never in a isolated place by yourself. There were criminals, trouble makers, and gang members that would occasionally prey on people that were waiting for the bus. When on the bus, you'd have to try to sit away from the people who looked like the criminals, trouble makers, and gang members, who rode without a bus pass and didn't pay with cash for the bus ride. The same thing happens today, those people do not pay for riding the light rail, and make the light rail more dangerous to ride, especially after the normal commuting hours. I also worked part time in downtown Minneapolis parking lots while going to college, sometimes at nights. We'd have to let the criminals and gang members park for free, so that they wouldn't threaten or attack us. Today, the crime problems in downtown Minneapolis are much worse than they were decades ago.

I also rode the bus on bad snow and ice days to and from the University of Minnesota, because I didn't want to get my car damaged in an accident by one of the many reckless Minnesota winter drivers. Over the years, I had three accidents, all caused by poor Minnesota winter drivers that crashed into my car.

My bus riding experience was decades ago. I never ride the bus these days because I can afford to drive my car and park, even if I have to pay the high parking costs in downtown Minneapolis. Public transportation is a a "second class" or "lower class" system that I choose to never ride anymore. Some of the people on the bus are really undesirable people that you'd never want to associate or be near. Some of the people on the bus also have a very strong body odor. I rarely go to downtown Minneapolis now, and I avoid going to downtown Minneapolis whenever possible, like most of the people who live in the suburbs. There's no need to go to that area that is sometimes occupied by criminals, trouble makers, and gang members.

I know what Chicago is like too. It is much much worse. I've visited Chicago many times and I've even accidentally driven through the south side of Chicago, while driving around Chicago. Chicago is a cesspool of run down and destroyed buildings, criminals, trouble makers, and gang members. Those visits to Chicago were decades ago. The crime is much worse in Chicago today. I would never ever consider visiting Chicago anymore.

Lol at all of this.

"I accidentally went to the south side of Chicago, it's a cesspool, blah blah blah".

What a joke. Someone was brought up in some super small town and is terrified of anything and everything from the looks of it to me.

Back to the topic at hand, your son will be fine in Minneapolis. I wouldn't worry about safety. Just common/obvious street smarts and you'll be fine. It's that way in any and all mid size to major cities.