of gas per mile, it would cost you about $2.40 each time you drove 5 miles work and home again. This means that every 30 shifts or so you would have to fill your tank. If you worked four days a week for a year, you would save almost $500 by walking or biking to work instead of driving, and that’s not considering when gas prices increase to nearly $5 in the summer when students have more availability to work.
I asked several students if they would consider walking to work on April 5 and for many, it all depended. “I like the outdoors, but the cold weather and the fact that I don’t want to leave early to get to work prevents me from walking or biking to work,” said Nikko Medina, a junior at Winona State University who works part time at Wal-Mart. Some students use Winona State’s shuttle system to commute to their jobs. Winona State junior Angela Christenson is a clarinet studio instructor at Cotter High School and utilizes the shuttles to get to West Campus. “I live in the East Lake Apartments so I take the shuttle to main, then to West Campus and walk to Cotter from there,” Christenson said. Although Christenson doesn’t work on the national holiday, she promised she’d start walking to campus, which is a great idea for students who don’t work while they’re in college. Keeping up this trend can be hard, especially when it comes to extreme temperatures, tight timetables or working the night shift. Riding your bike, carpooling or public transportation in these cases can save you money, as well. There are many students who work together and never consider carpooling to the same location. The next time you work, ask what your coworkers’ schedules are and try to make a carpooling plan to save energy and money. This could also help you get to know your coworkers and build a friendly community at your workplace. Many people are also unaware of Winona’s Public Transit System. The bus is available from 6-6:15 a.m. Monday through Friday. It also has a Safe Ride service from 7 p.m. to 1:30 a.m. Friday and Saturday. A trip on the transit costs only 80 cents for students and monthly passes can also be purchased. Tokens can be purchased at City Hall, Southeast Technical College, and St. Mary’s University.
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