Bus-ted! (or, Do not drill the bus!)

[shunn]

Laura and I have started seeing a personal trainer—and boy are my arms tired! (Bah-dum!)

Of the many factors prodding us toward car ownership, this is the one that finally pushed us over the edge. It's an hour each way on the bus, with at least one transfer, to travel the mere 3.4 miles to Payne Management.

Our bus yesterday, once it deigned to arrive, we dubbed The Prop Bus. I didn't seem possible that it was a real bus. I was sitting in a seat adjacent to the railing around the rear door, and when I leaned against it the railing gave way. The street announcements were more than half a mile out of sync with our real location. And at every stop, the bus driver got out of her seat to wrestle the fare box, which was not securely bolted to the floor, back into its proper spot. I'm surprised this bus didn't let us off on the shores of the River Styx.

Our buses back home were better, but it's no fun spending fifteen or twenty minutes awaiting your transfer unprotected from the subzero wind and bathed in the aromas from a nearby Popeye's Chicken. I said to Laura, "That smells like the Promised Land, the Celestial Kingdom, Paradise, Nirvana, and 72 virgins all rolled up together and deep-fried."

By the way, Laura took the accompanying photo Saturday on a gleaming new bus on North Avenue. I can understand why the older buses are in such raw shape if Chicago has problems with random drilling on public transit.

Or maybe they want to keep passengers from getting fed up and trying to repair city buses on the go.

Comments

[just-a-sliver.livejournal.com]

I realize that February probably isn't the best time for this in Chicagoland, but have you considered getting a bike? If nothing else, you could bike part of the way and put it on the front of the bus for the rest of the ride. Even if it doesn't end up saving much time, you'll get a great workout.

[shunn.livejournal.com]

We have great bikes. But they're not so great that it's easy to complete a Costco run on them, even when the weather is nice. And forget about taking the dog to the groomer or the vet or Montrose Beach on a bike. Or the bus.

[just-a-sliver.livejournal.com]

I see your point. A car it is then!

[shunn.livejournal.com]

<sigh>

[nayad.livejournal.com]

The public transportation is one of the many reasons I can! not! stand! Chicago. You have my sympathies.

And yeah, I know the city has its good points, but I feel that I function better as a human being when I treat one city as my nemesis, so that I can love the other cities more. ;)

[shunn.livejournal.com]

I'm not here to slag Chicago, really, but our hearts will always belong to New York.

[brezhnev.livejournal.com]

What do you think about the elevated train system in Chicago? I thought that would have been a great deal for Houston -- you don't have to take a lane away from Main Street in downtown and the med center in Houston, and it would still work in flooded conditions.