Ride the Bus

For the past month, I've been using the city bus for portions of my daily commutes. I have a few reasons for doing so. First, I have assigned a project to my college students where they are to work on conserving natural resources. One possible project area is to reduce the number of single-passenger car trips, and two ways to address this are either through car pooling, or through using the transit system.

Of course the second reason for me to do so is to save a bit of money while saving the planet. The metro bus system for our area charges $16 for a month pass that provided unlimited trips. With gasoline hovering around $3 a gallon, $16 equals half-a-tank in most vehicles. So...for $16, I can travel far more distance than what the purchased gasoline would provide.

My other reasons include challenging myself to use the bus, supporting the transit system, and "slowing down".

Since I started riding the bus (I'm doing so at least once a week), I've found that other than getting ready to ride the bus, my life is "slowed down". It takes about 1 1/2 hours to travel the distance I can drive in 25 minutes (17 miles). During that time, however, I can read and prepare for my work day, or I can socialize with the interesting people I meet on the bus, or I can close my eyes and relax, or I can gaze out the window and notice things about the city that I didn't see before. Bus routes take a person to all of the key locations, as well as traveling through some residential areas that one doesn't typically see. Fact is, I noticed a little coffee shop that I'd like to visit---I never would have found it otherwise.

Yesterday I decided to take the bus to the grocery store. It meant some planning on my part so that I could figure out where I wanted to go, as well as how long I would have in that location before the bus passed by again to take me home. I left my home around 8:30 a.m., and I was back home by 10:15 a.m. I arrived at the grocery store at 8:45 a.m.

The first thing I had to consider was that I had about an hour to do my shopping. Secondly, I had to remember that I was going to need to carry whatever I bought, for at least a block, once I got back to my home area bus stop. This made me make some choices that, if I'd have driven my car, I would not have had to make. Shopping had to take on a bit more thoughtful choices as I considered "What can I carry".

The grocery that I went to is just a standard grocery store. No little coffee shop or cafeteria, and no strip mall. As I collected the various items I needed, I noticed that I was nearly done within 15-minutes, not good since I had 45-minutes left to wait for the bus. I slowed down. I still was done within 30-minutes, and had 30-minutes to wait.

An interesting thing happened when I went through the check-out stand. I asked the cashier to double bag my groceries so that I wouldn't have trouble with bags breaking. I told her I was riding the bus, and then we had a short conversation about good reasons to try it. I told the cashier about having to make some shopping choices related to carrying my groceries rather than loading up my car.

The woman in line directly behind me suddenly took pity on me. She had intently listed to my story, including that I'm doing the grocery thing so I can report back to my college class about what it takes to ride the bus and shop. The woman offered me a ride. Said she would help me out, take me home, even if it took her out of her way. (This is not the first time this has happened to me since I started riding the bus). I thanked her and told her no, I needed to ride the bus. She became a bit more insistent - kind in her insistence. I told her thank you, again, and praised her for the idea of car pooling.

I still had the 30-minutes before the bus came. I decided to carry my 5 bags of groceries and walk to the next bus stop. I then walked to another bus stop beyond - carrying all of my groceries. I was walking back along the bus route towards my home. This, of course, meant that I was actually increasing the number of minutes I would need to wait for the bus! (smile).

I found a bench along the main street, and sat down to await the bus. Strangely, our town has not put the benches at the bus stops. I selected a bench within quick walking distance to the bus stop. I sat there, with my sacks of groceries surrounding me, watching the cars pass by and enjoying the crisp, sunny autumn day. Again, I was slowed down enough to "smell the roses"...(so to speak). While I was sitting there, a few people waved, and one car passed by an honked a hello. (Not sure who that was, but they were friendly!).

The bus came. I got on for the quick ride home, and felt satisfaction when I walked in the house with my purchases.

One thing I realized, while on my shopping adventure, is that when I'm awaiting the bus, and then see the bus coming down the street, I get this feeling of joy. I suspect it comes from when I was a youth and the bus was my way around a large city. Its arrival meant I had new found freedom, and my parents trusted me enough to let me take the bus to various destinations.

I hope you'll try riding the bus. I also hope you'll find that bit of excitement and joy that I feel when the bus arrives and I step on it to begin my little daily journey.

S~