SOUTH ST. PAUL — A man running late to work decided taking the bus would get him there on time. Prosecutors say he did just that by stealing an empty Metro Transit bus idling at a gas station earlier this week.

Now Gregory John Jennrich, 31, who works for Metro Transit as a mechanic, is charged with felony theft of a motor vehicle.

The South St. Paul man told investigators he spotted the bus when he stopped at a Holiday gas station at Robert Street and Marie Avenue and “was concerned he was going to be late for work, so he took a bus that was parked outside the gas station to get there,” according to the criminal complaint filed Friday.

Jennrich said the bus was “running with no passengers on board.”

The driver of the bus, identified as D.B. in the complaint, reported the bus missing Wednesday. She had stopped for a break at the gas station.

Metro Transit police used GPS technology to track the bus as it moved along on Interstate 94 westbound until it headed toward the Metro Transit South Garage maintenance facility In Bloomington.

Police stopped the bus and took Jennrich into custody. The complaint said Jennrich did not have permission from Metro Transit to “take or drive bus #1289.”

Jennrich started with metro transit in April 2015 and had no prior disciplinary action against him.