The City Bus, Some Things Never Change
This past week conditions in Portland have hit an all time low. Roads that were once just snow gradually turned to a sheer sheet of ice. While I pride myself on urban biking, even my mountain bike was no match for these streets. Finally hanging my head down low I admitted defeat until the ice cleared. Regardless of this realization we all know the world keeps on moving, so I still had to get to work. After weighing all the options only one decent solution seemed to remain, the city bus. This wouldn’t be the first time I’ve rode the city bus, but it would be the first time in a while. Subways, max lines, raxis, ETC I’m good with all of those. However the bus is always more of a love hate relationship.
My Last City Bus Ride
I haven’t been back in Portland long so the last time I rode a city bus in the Northwest was years ago. Prior to that in California I never rode because the cities are so spread out the bus is inefficient. The last official time I officially used this form of transportation was in Japan. Ahhh Japanese public transportation, why can’t the whole world follow suit! If I had to summarize it in three words I would say clean, on-schedule, and friendly. While this shouldn’t be too much to ask for, sadly it is in the United States. On the East Coast good luck finding cleaning public transportation, on the West Coast good luck finding on-schedule public transportation, and in the Mid-West good luck finding anything at all. For these reasons I think it’s save to say most of us choose cars, but with these conditions that hardly seemed worth the risk as well.
Some Things Never Change
It’s Monday morning, somewhere around 28F, and I’m off to the bus stop. To my delightful surprise as soon as I get there the bus rolls up. I have to admit for a few moments I thought I was living easy. For just $2.50 I was cruising downtown at a steady pace headed to my destination. It wasn’t too crowded and the pace was good considering the conditions. However before I could close my eyes and relax reality hit the breaks. Some girl starts arguing with the driver at the next stop because this line didn’t go as far as she thought it did, strike 1. The next day on my homeward commute, it took about 30 minutes extra because they were behind on schedule, strike 2. And then finally on Wednesday some crazy lady ranted to herself for the entire bus ride about young kids knowing nothing about manual labor. Keep in mind no one on the bus still knows to this day what provoked her personal conversation.
So, similar to the day the ice started, I threw in the towel today. Despite the roads still being 70% ice, I limped my way to work…half walking and half bicycling. Sure these aren’t true city bus horror stories, but nobody needs that unnecessary stress on a daily basis. Instead of listening to crazy people/being delayed, I put on some tunes and tackled the icy conditions. It wasn’t pretty, but at least it was on my own terms. Until next time city bus.
