It was about a year ago that I started to take the bus to work in earnest. I experimented with a three month bus pass and then purchased a yearly pass. I don't take the bus every day, but I imagine I've averaged twice a week this year. Buying the pass was the easy part. Harder was figuring out things like what potluck dishes do bus travel well, how to get errands done on the way to and from work, where I can go for lunch without a car, and those kinds of adjunct issues. Being a bus rider adds a half an hour to my work day, but since I can listen to the news or pray, it's not a complete loss of time.
This is the desert, so we don't get much rain; the morning I took this picture was the first time in a year it was uncomfortably wet in the morning. I've had to ask someone to come and get me once because of bad afternoon weather. Last Summer there was a spate of trouble with missing or broken down buses, but my route has gotten new equipment, and we don't seem to have those troubles any more.
The new buses don't seat as many people, and lots of folks sit sideways, which I don't like to do. They arrived just as gas prices started to rise, so just as we got less capacity, we got more riders. I actually had to stand for a while one day, which is a first since my Boston Days. I do feel good about my riding the bus. Not only is it the ecological way of the future, but I have a sense of knowing the people of my city better. And I do arrive at my destination more relaxed. All in all, I like the bus.
No comments:
Post a Comment