Time is Money

As the old adage says... time is money.  

In an effort to buy more time and to keep my life in balance, I am a frequent MNPass customer. As I see it - I have put a price on a few extra minutes of sleep.

A few years ago the Minneapolis/St. Paul metropolitan area joined the ranks of cities two, three and five times the size and introduced a modified concept of the high occupancy vehicle (HOV) lane.  I say modified because the state of Minne introduced a lucrative approach to traffic congestion.  I did a little research and found that we are one of just 2, maybe 3 states to implement such a program.  The Department of Transportation's website indicates:


"MnPASS is designed for solo drivers to be able to use the HOV lane by paying an electronic toll. Its purpose is to maintain traffic flow and alleviate congestion. If you drive alone and want a more convenient and predictable trip, open a MnPass account and start using the MnPASS Express Lanes."



Might I add a few descriptive words to their definition:


"MnPASS is designed for solo drivers to be able to use the HOV lane by paying an incredibly expensive electronic toll. Its purpose is to maintain traffic flow and alleviate congestion. If you drive alone and want a more convenient and predictable trip, open a MnPass account and start providing some additional revenue to the never ending road construction season by using the MnPASS Express Lanes."

One morning last week I left the house in a typical hurried frenzy.  Note the key ingredient this morning happened to be a light dusting of snow on the ground.  I rounded the on ramp to 394 heading east, moved 2 lanes to the left and prepared to enter the MnPass express lane.  I expected to see what I see most days, something like this:

Only I gasped out loud to find the current price to downtown Minneapolis listed as $8.00!  Yikes - that's a steep price to pay for sleep.  Unfortunately this isn't the first time I've been faced with this sitation.  In the debit & kredit world all entries must balance.  Once again I am making a vow to put my head on the pillow a little earlier at night in order to avoid this steep price tag!