Matvey Farber: He’s Been Commuting on the Railroad

Old Five Points

Matvey Farber is not your average public transit commuter or even your average commuter—he works in Burlington.

The first time Matvey took the train was a couple of months after he started the job. He did a little research online and found that he could bicycle to Durham’s Amtrak station, have his bicycle hung in the baggage car for free, get off in Burlington and cycle to work. He finds that the reliability and timing in the morning work perfectly.

The way back to Durham takes a bit more thought. Currently there are only three trains a day that run between Burlington and Durham: morning, afternoon, and evening. His employers would probably not be thrilled if he made it a habit of leaving mid-afternoon, and usually Matvey does not want to wait to head home to his family until the evening train leaves Burlington at 7:30pm. Although he sometimes settles for taking the late train, Matvey has also discovered that during good weather he can bicycle home in two hours, thereby taking control over what time he gets home and enjoying the many perks of getting in a nice long distance ride.

The commute back to Durham without a car is a bit of a commitment, so Matvey generally drives his car to Burlington four out of five days a week. However, when your commute is 70 miles round-trip, the energy savings for taking the train one day a week are high. According to Matvey, the bottom line about commuting by train is that it only costs five bucks and he gets to relax and set aside any worries about speeding tickets or getting cut off.

If you would like to learn more about taking the train contact robin@cleanenergydurham.org to be connected with Matvey.

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