I Get Around

One of my very favorite things is mass transit. When I returned from Paris, people asked me how it was, and I raved about the Metro system. Granted, Paris does have other things to recommend it, like beautiful churches, the Arc de Triomphe, and delicious food (I was underwhelmed by the Eiffel Tower, which really just looks like a big radio tower), but the Paris Metro is a wonder of mass transit. It is so efficient and so well laid-out that you could probably use it without knowing a word of French (I'm not the best judge of this, having studied the language for many years) since everything is color-coded. The Montreal Metro is very similar; however, my native language is English and I couldn't make heads or tails of the New York Subway System. The signs made no sense: "R Line this way. Q Line this way." Yes, but where do they GO? We waited forever for a train going our way; three passed going the other way, then we heard one coming our direction, but it went down the middle track instead of stopping. But this story does have a happy ending, because one finally stopped and we got where we were going.

Mass transit should always clearly state where it is headed. Here is a good example: in Montreal, I told my friend we could just take a bus up the mountain instead of walking. She said, "Which bus, though?" and just then we saw a bus that said "Montagne" coming toward us. I said, "Probably that one." Sorry, but "R Line" doesn't tell me anything - if you're heading to the mountain, just say so.

In Venice the transit were all watercraft. They had boat taxis for those in a hurry, and the rest of us took the boat bus. It went down the Grand Canal, stopping on one side and then the other every few feet. (Gondolas are only for tourists, not for getting places.) When friends asked how Venice was, I told them how great the boat bus was. I love boats, so it was like Heaven - mass transit and boats all in one wonderful package!

In New Orleans you have a choice of trolley cars or buses. If you are in a hurry, take the bus. However, if you want to see anything, take the trolley. Not only is it way more adorable than the bus, you can also see out the windows better. However, it is slow and more limited in scope.

Mass transit has so much to recommend it. If you are a tourist, it allows you to get more of a feel for the place than driving around ever could. If you use it to get to work, you save money AND reduce your carbon footprint, and of course there is the social aspect. I only know the neighbors who take the bus, since we have ample time to chat while walking to the stop and waiting for the bus. Sure, you might have to wait in the cold during the winter, but is that any worse than getting into a cold car and having the windows frost up when you turn the heat on? And in really bad weather, it feels good to be in such a large, heavy vehicle that travels slowly by nature. Not to mention that you can leave the driving to experts!

In my town, we have decent mass transit, although there have been times that taking it was a labor of love for me. At one point I had to transfer buses and often missed my transfer, which meant a half hour wait. That was when I had free parking at work, and it was very tempting some winter mornings to just take the car, but I soldiered on. Everyone else thought I was crazy, but I felt it was better for both me and the environment. My current place of employment strongly encourages taking the bus, even giving us free passes and charging a fortune for parking, so my days of waiting alone at the bus stop (and getting a seat on the bus!) are over. It does annoy me, however, that there is construction around here and provisions were made for cars to get by (of course), but the sidewalk on both sides is torn up. Excuse me, if they want us to take the bus, shouldn't they at least make it possible to walk from the bus stop to the front door? And why do pedestrians not merit the same forethought as drivers? Can you imagine if the road were completely blocked off? There would be riots! But now all pedestrians are forced to walk in the middle of the road because they have left us nowhere else to go.

Kudos to our local bus system for installing bike racks on the bus. Gone are the days when I had to consult the weather forecast before biking to work; now I can bike on a beautiful morning and just throw the bike on the bus if the weather turns bad later in the day. Unfortunately, the racks are so popular that those of us further down the line generally don't have a prayer of finding a bus with an open rack, since they can only hold two or three bikes. I know people who will actually bike AWAY from their final destination to get to a bus stop further up the line, just so they can get a space on the bike rack.

I LOVE mass transit! Give it a try, and you might too!

Famous Hat