Ride the Bus - Tips on the Internet

Riding the bus is now a national story. Today, when looking at my MSN news here on the Internet, the banner advertisement flashed a story that includes tips on how to ride the bus. Since I'm trying to advocate for folks to at least try riding the bus once or twice a week, here's the link to the "how to" article.

With my own busy life that includes working some nights - and thus negating the possibility of riding the city bus - I take a look at where I need to be on each day and then make my decision. On days when I don't have to stay late to teach a class, and when I don't have other work related errands to run in other towns or cities, I ride the bus. This equals any where from one day a week to three days a week. The savings in gas money is marvelous.

Since I live in a small city area, the bus is a very pleasant thing to ride. The folks taking it tend to be older people, or people having disabilities. The morning routes do include many children riding the bus to school - mostly to the parochial schools. Some of the riders are folks on their way to work, or on the way home. I've yet to see a "questionable character" get on to the bus.

I became excited the other day when I discovered that a person can take a bicycle along on the bus. The front of our city bus has a bike carrier. Although it only holds 2 bikes, I've only seen one person take advantage of that perk. I, however, stowed the idea away. I'd like to work on riding my bike farther and farther...and now there is a way to get back if I get pooped out!

I have noticed that the number of riders on our bus have increased. When I first started riding in August, the numbers of folks per trip was very few. Sometimes I was the only one riding - possibly because of the time of day. Lately the buses have been busy with lots of people riding. I've yet to see a completely full bus, but I've not seen an empty bus on the routes that I ride. So...I would agree with the article I linked above that ridership is up.

S~