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Thursday 11 December 2014

Post transit travesty

One of the downfalls that comes with taking transit everywhere is having to walk home from transit at the end of the day.

That's exactly what I was doing tonight after finishing (and hoping to forget about) my last final and celebrating with my classmates after. It was after midnight when I was walking home from the bus. I'm tired; I have my headphones in; I just want to be home and I'm not interested in talking to anyone. I'm waiting to cross the street when I think I hear someone in the lone car at the intersection say something to me. Now I'm tired and my brain is fried from finals, so at first I assume they must be lost (because why else do you strike up a conversation at a crosswalk at midnight) and it takes a few seconds for my inner skeptic to kick in. By the time I realize it's just a couple dudes in the car, not so much lost as pathetic and starved for attention, I've already made eye contact. They say something else I can't hear because...well, headphones, but I give them a wave (because thanks for not running me down with your car I guess) and carry on crossing the street...because what the heck else did they think I would do.

Then as I pass the car I hear the one guy say, "The least you could do is say hi." No, jackass, the least I could do is completely ignore you and pretend like your pathetic existence isn't ruining my perfectly peaceful walk home.

Friday 5 December 2014

More like two busses away

It's amazing how many fewer transit travesties you experience when your over an hour plus transfers crazy person bus rides turn into one 20 minute bus ride through a nice residential neighborhood.

Now I've gotten a little spoiled with Seattle having the One Bus Away app. It's great because you can zoom in to any portion of the map of Seattle and see where the bus stops are, which busses stop there and when they are going to arrive updated in real time....sort of. Which brings us to today's frustration.

I leave my office and go out to catch my bus. It's supposed to arrive in 6 minutes. When I get to the bus stop, I check one bus away: it says my bus is 5 minutes early. Awesome! I get to leave in a minute and be home early (more time for my take home midterm). Three minutes later, still no bus. Check one bus away: your bus is only 3 minutes early, it's arriving NOW. Ok, still early, great. Three more minutes, still no bus. Check one bus away: your bus is on time, it's arriving NOW. Sure, where have I heard that before. Five more minutes, still no bus. Check one bus away: your bus left 3 minutes late, it arrives in -2 minutes. No one bus away, no it did not. I would know, I've been standing here over 10 minutes now watching for it. Couple minutes later, check one bus away: previous bus has disappeared off the app, your next bus arrives in 10 minutes. A likely story...

(Update: after 20 minutes sitting at a bus stop when I could have been working in my office that is 45 seconds away, I'm finally on a bus!)