I have simply got to stop grousing, internally and out loud, about our bus system. Yes, it bugs me it takes an hour (sometimes more) to travel seven miles (from the HQX downtown station no less), the commute my husband requires get to the college. Yes, I think the bus system is not designed with any seriousness toward daily commuter needs – an environmentally and socially progressive mandate which would improve our lives immensely. Yes, routes have been cut. Yes, I think so much about Aberdeen and Hoquiam is as pro-car as one can imagine. Yes, I think about all the “bus people” and their needs and their lives and when I see busses leave late or arrive early and the callousness of some drivers I despair.
But I’m not ready to spearhead a campaign about any of this because I have my own life to sort out. So here I sit. It’s not how I long I have to wait (although this bothers me for reasons I won’t go into, here), the worst thing is the noise along what amounts to a highway, and the dust and exhaust fumes. The gawks aren’t that fun either because riding the bus here means there’s a large set of people who pity you or look down on you. For reals.
But whatever, fuck it. Seriously. Some of the people closest to me ride the bus and we can commiserate what it’s like and I can stop bitching so much. I actually enjoy talking to people on the bus and I enjoy helping the mamas with strollers and babies and saying “thank you” to the drivers, every time. It’s been a while since I’ve heard a racist diatribe on the bus although today I heard a man bitching about a couple toddlers who were up front. I turned my head and looked at him, is all. I still do not always know how to handle public asshattery, and I don’t always have the energy, especially days like today with too-little sleep and staggering menstrual cramps.
I walked home from the station. I enjoy walking whenever the weather isn’t miserable – and today it was fine. Most times I walk in Hoquiam I see hardly a soul. But today there was a festive air in town, driveways, block parties: graduation for many adults and young people.
These celebrations seem remote to me although I remember the period of high school graduation well. I guess this would have been sixteen years ago. Having been given a tremendously trivial amount of freedoms up until age eighteen (like most USian kids), for me graduation merely meant more praise from grownups (as I had a great grade point and had earned scholarships etc), a pedigree of other people’s required accomplishments for me, a deeply fragile sense of self, a few very good friends, a lot of excitement in my heart, and a desire to party as much as possible. It wasn’t all bad at all, on balance.
It is touching to see famlies celebrate. It’s nice to see young people honored. It’s pleasant to anticipate more activity in the neighborhood now that school is out.
Also, today I met a small kitten, a little black thing that looked younger than I’d think was decent to separate from his mother. His name was, improbably, “Puffy”, and he had not been fed recently, or at least – he was ravenous. I fed him a bit and in his zeal his tiny mouth bit me harder than I’ve been bit by a cat. I loved him up a bit more, eliciting a fragile purr, and then gave him back to the little boy who “owned” him and told him, please feed and water this little one.
And so life goes.
Not that it makes the situation any better, but here in PDX, where we are supposedly so bike-friendly with a great transportation system…it took me 4 transfers and almost 1.5 hours to get a distance of 6 miles to work. If I hopped on my bike and went to the downtown transit (about 20 minutes) then it was a 15-minute, one-bus ride to the destination…albeit, most likely a very wet 15 minutes for most of the year.
If you’re lucky enough to live by the MAX line (which we are about 1.5 miles from now), you can easily hang your bike on one of the ceiling hooks (much easier than having to make the entire bus wait while you load your bike into the front rack system) and sit down in a spacious chair to read in relatively clean and well-circulated air, as there are at least 2 big sliding doors on each car that open at every stop. The bus system makes for pretty bad episodes of motion sickness for me and the overly circulated vomitous air, filled with stale BO, alcoholic funk drippings and what’s got to be entire bottles of cheap perfume that have been spilled down the aisles, only makes the nausea worse. I do like that I can read on the MAX because it’s a smooth ride – but it’s also a very limited ride: the Rose Quarter, downtown or the mall. It seems that we’ve decided to put a good deal more money into the line and that’s making for some seriously stalled out traffic now that will go on for at least another 5 years or so until we reap the benefits of the new system.
I’m really not sure what can be done to make any of these systems better either. For carless transport we most often choose to bike as it’s the easiest and quickest thing. We’re still at the tandem bike stage with the kid which means that we’re not slowed down a whole lot…though we will be soon and I don’t know if or how things will change. I don’t have the energy to put into it, but it does make me feel good to know that our friend Velma’s son here is obsessed with the bus transit system and wants to completely redesign it when he gets older – and I have absolute faith that he will do a kick ass job of it for sure.
Thanks for being such a kick ass blogger…I’m stoked to keep checking in for my proper procrastination while I study for these damned boards.
@Bex
Thank you for bringing up a particularly salient point: it isn’t about the reputation of a place, or people’s general impression, or an individual’s one-time pleasant ride, it’s about listening to individual riders who regularly use or rely on the service. For instance, in our area if you have absolutely fixed times to go to and from work, live close to good routes, and do not have to transfer (as my brother’s scenario was when he lived here carfree), and/or if you have good weather gear (we share your PDX ass weather except we don’t get it so hot in the summer), the bus can be relatively simple and/or convenient and timely.
But if you’re like my husband’s example (transfer, and we have no such thing as express routes here although I think they’d be appropriate), or my friend J.’s example (varying shiftwork until late) – or my example – small children, many errands/doctor’s appts./ various neighborhoods/living in a food desert – it can be all kinds of ass.
What annoys me a bit are those who don’t have to rely on the public transportation, or who’ve done it on a lark (many of my peers haven’t done it at all) saying, “We have a good system”. WTH would they know?
Anyway, as you know I pulled together our unique bike solution which is still fairly kick-ass, even tho’ I have to take the front tire of the bike off to put it on the bus (I hear they won’t allow longtails in PDX but I do it here). During these warmer months when I’m on the bike alot I get a lot of compliments and interest. I want to believe cargo bikes will be more common soon but I think in the townships of HQX and Aberdeen (population 25K) Ralph and I own the only two. So far.
Thanks for your awesome feedback – and thanks for the compliments, too!
You definitely can’t put a longtail on the MAX in the normal way…but it’s a mere restriction due to ceiling height and what will fit. If you happen to be lucky enough that the car is empty, you can get away with quite a lot…just bringing the bike into the entry way and guiding it down the aisle as necessary (though you’ll need to hold onto it for the ride)…but it’s hard to find a train that empty during the normal commuter times (and often, if you’re trying for a train between 7-8am, you’ll have to wait for 2, sometimes 4, before you’ve got one with a low enough population to bring your regular bike on….fortunately, unlike the bus, people usually grab some part of my bike for me and help me hang it up with a smile.)
As for sticking one on the regular bus…I already suffer from the anxiety that everyone is having to wait for me, that the bus driver is smiling out of job security but behind it, s/he’s tapping her foot loudly enough for me to hear as I throw that bike on the rack. If I can do it in less than 5 seconds, I proudly get on the bus, knowing that I’ve been a “good” busing cyclist. Haha. Lots of insecurity around this one for me, obviously. I have heard of people taking the front tires off the and sliding the front piece of the bike in where the front tire should go (I assume that’s what you’re meaning)…and I think that all depends on whether the rack is full, how late the bus is running (they are almost always late) and whether or not you’ve got true confidence and bus riding power (which I have yet to find).
Cargo bikes are kick ass…we were wanting to set up a system like that but never got to it due to prioritizing other shit and mostly running around like beheaded chickens for most of the last four years. Jeremy really likes those CETMA Cargos that they sell here at Clever Cycles, but for now, the price is far more than right. 😉
Thank you for your awesome posts. They are keeping me relatively grounded in the midst of some crazy stress right now.