“I can’t do nothing about it. Ain’t got no car,” he told Berger.

If you thought people who live where I live, in Wildwood, or on the other side of the river, say, Collinsville, have it tough when it comes to commuting, think again.

My drive to downtown is generally about 45 minutes one way. Sometimes it takes an hour.

Census Bureau records paint a much more difficult picture for people who live in areas of the city and county where neither jobs nor cars are plentiful, and mass transit is far from accessible.

In Black Jack and Spanish Lake and Bellefontaine Neighbors; in Affton and Mehlville and Bella Villa; and in several south St. Louis neighborhoods, in Carondelet, in Patch, in Dutchtown, these are the areas where residents have the longest commutes to work in the St. Louis region, according to the Census Bureau.

You can place the long-planned Northside-Southside Metrolink route over a map of the city and county, and every one of the Census Bureau tracts that show the longest aggregate travel time to work in the region would be served.