Riding the bus....."No good deed".....

[Coventina]

For the last several weeks I've been riding the bus a lot.
Trying to save gas, do my part for the environment, etc.

Now I know why people hate the bus so much!

In three short weeks I've had:

A bus break down, on a 100+ degree day (and guess what? The "breakdown" was that it ran out of gas!)

A bus driver who fell asleep at the wheel!

Random, unannounced detours that caused me to walk over a mile in 100+ degree heat.

Random, unannounced detours that had me waiting for a bus that was never going to come in 100+ degree heat.

So I'm leaving for school shortly, I wonder what fresh hell they have in store for me?

:scared:

on edit: spelling

[kick-ass-bob]

1. that is a bad system.

I haven't had any of that happen to me in my almost 5 years of riding the bus to work.

(One breakdown - a real breakdown, and one traffic jam that made me walk 5 miles in the snow - but no bus would get me home - roads closed, etc.)

[Coventina]

2. That's what I was wondering. Is this normal?

Or is Phoenix just inept at running a bus system?

[kick-ass-bob]

3. maybe Raleigh is just really good?

Buses that I ride generally aren't late by more than a few minutes, so not many missed connections.

And they never change the routes around without warning.

[Coventina]

4. I think I have "Public Transit" envy!

:D

[mike_c]

5. wow, I've had exactly the opposite experience...

...with bus service in my little rural town.

It runs hourly from the town where I live to the town where I work (and where people can make connections to other local systems). Monday-Saturday.

It stops ALL over town-- I usually get on the bus right outside my front door.

It stops for people who flag it between scheduled stops.

It drops me off about 100 m from my office door.

On the return trip, the driver usually asks people where they want to go and takes them there directly.

A ten ride pass costs $10.00. At $2.00 per round trip, I not only save gas in the collective sense (one bus trip verses multiple individual drivers), I probably save money individually-- I'd spend more on gas personally if I drove my car.

It's clean, comfortable, and the drivers are friendly.

[Coventina]

6. And the bus drivers don't fall asleep and weave all over the road?

LUCKY! *Napolean Dynamite voice*