Kudos to Asheville Transit Drivers

Hail to the Bus Driver
The passengers applauded as the aeroplane touched down,
But no-one claps the driver of the bus to Blanchardstown.
He pulls up to the bus-stop, but there’s no-one there reacts,
He doesn’t get the kudos that the airline man attracts.
So next time that the fifty five pulls into Heuston Station,
Let’s give the poor old driver a magnificent ovation.

by Peter Goulding
http://petesholidaypoems.blogspot.com/2007/08/hail-to-bus-driver.html

I was trying to find a little ditty to celebrate the bus driver and found this one with an Irish flavor.

I realized I hadn't really said anything in praise of the Asheville Transit drivers yet in my blog. But since I've been riding the bus, the drivers have been great. Always professional, competent, calm...

So thanks, Asheville transit drivers! Kudos and a "magnificient ovation" to ya!

the credit crisis

There is bad news for public transit in the most recent edition of USA Today.

You can read the whole article here.

After you've read that, I highly recommend that you take a look at Bus Chick's angle on the subject. Be sure to read Bus Chick's October 24 post.

A Quiet Rainy Friday on the Bus

Very quiet on this bus this morning. I wasn't ready til 8:15, so I dashed out the door in the drizzle. I took an umbrella, but still felt surprisingly light. I was sure the Brevard Rd. bus had already gone by, since it was so late. Just as well. I wanted to walk up to West End Bakery and get a muffin anyway. I can then catch the #1 bus right across the street. As I was walking, at 8:18, the Brevard Rd. bus passed me. Told ya before, it's really variable!

So the rain had all of us quiet this morning. The only flurry of sound was when we started into Pisgah View, I saw someone running for the bus. No one else saw her, not even the driver!! This was so exciting for me...I pointed and said, "Hey, (sputter, sputter)"...or something like that. Fortunately a young man looked, and then yelled: "Someone's trying to catch the bus." So an older lady in a green raincoat and carrying a red umbrella caught up with us. And all was quiet again.

After I got to work I realized why I had felt so light this morning. I didn't bring the leftovers that I had intended to eat for lunch! Fortunately, Ken (it's his day off) and Walter were coming into town, so they brought them to me!

Who Says Americans Won't Ride Mass Transit? (article)

I saw this article from Salon posted on a bus-riding blog that I just found. Here's the link:

http://www.salon.com/env/feature/2008/10/23/mass_transit_america/index.html

The blog I found it on is called Bus Chick, Transit Authority. Isn't that a great name! The link to that blog is in the list of blogs at right. (She's in Seattle).

Blizzard Tech Guy, Loud Pater Familias and a Soggy-Bottomed Purse

This is Thursday and I haven't driven my car at all this week. Monday was the first time that I rode the bus at 8:30 at night and walked down Brevard road by myself in the dark. But it was okay. It looks like I can also ride the bus tomorrow. So, a full week of bus riding. Woo-hoo!

We missed the Brevard Road bus on Tuesday. We got out there around 8:08 I think. We always shoot for 8:00. We saw it going past just as we got out of the house. This bus is really variable. Sometimes it is there by 8:08. But sometimes, like Wednesday morning, it was 8:18! Anyway, missing it isn't such a big deal, because we still have plenty of time to walk up to Haywood Rd. and catch the #1 at 8:35. The only drawback, when we do that, is that we are a few minutes late to work.

Each group of passengers gives the day's bus ride a different flavor. Tuesday evening's ride was loud, mainly due to BlizzardTech guy. He is a regular rider and has a very sonorous voice. It's really quite a beautiful voice. Unfortunately, what he chooses to talk about is usually pretty annoying. Tuesday he spent most of the ride complaining that his nipples were sore because someone had twisted them. (His off button needed to be twisted!) Anyway, I wish someday he would break out into an uplifting speech (or an a cappella solo) of some sort. He was rapping one time, but again, the subject matter left a lot to be desired.

The other morning we were regaled by a loud Pater Familias. We learned that he has 8 kids. The youngest, who is 18, goes to Asheville High, where Pater Familias had been called in recently to take care of something. He also has 8 grandkids. One of the little kids on the bus came and sat by him and Paterfamilias kept insisting: "Get yo thumb out yo mouth."

The same morning of the Paterfamilias, one of the young women hauled her toddler onto the bus, carrying him by one arm.

A few of the rides this week have been totally quiet. I still haven't gotten to the point where I read during the commute. Maybe the novelty will wear off soon, but so far it is fun to people watch and to overhear (otherwise known as eavesdropping--but when people are yelling is it really eavesdropping?)

And finally, this morning, I was walking down the street. My leg started feeling a little damp. It turns out that my water bottle was leaking inside my cloth purse and dripping out onto the sidewalk. It's the middle of the day and my pants are still damp. My purse is still wet. All the junk inside my purse is damp. All the little receipts and papers that litter my purse are wet beyond recognition!

Purple Transit: LaZoom at LEAF

Well, even though we aren't taking public transportation to get to LEAF there are at least two of us in the car and once we get there we are riding the shuttle from the Owen Middle School parking lot on out to LEAF...not exactly mass transit...nor is it public transit, but better than a bunch of cars with one or two people in them all converging out at LEAF. Their shuttle is none other than our own LaZoom, the big purple bus (biodiesel!) that we see downtown all the time. We watched LaZoom being conceived and researched at the library so feel sort of like godparents or maybe aunts and uncles! It's like a festive lounge inside.

Almost Off the Wagon, Into the Car

Oh boy. This week has not been much of an alternative transportation week for me. On Monday, I felt rotten and it was my late day at work, plus I went in even later because of feeling bad. So I drove. This was the first time I had driven alone to work since I started this experiment!

Tuesday we both rode the bus. Wednesday, we did carpool in together, but I had to shop after work for my job this year at LEAF. So Ken took the bus home, while I burned gas. Thursday I was off work to spend the day with my daughter, Kimzey! That was wonderful, but we did have some places to go by car that weren't on the bus route. Animal Haven, to see the pigs, for one thing! (That's Kimzey in the picture!) Then, to burn the final few gallons of gas, I drove to Marion to pick up my son, Nathan. This morning, Ken and I drove in together, but I'll be leaving at 1:30. To use more gas.

Speaking of driving, I really hadn't been used to driving much in town for a month or so, and it seemed crazy yesterday being behind the wheel in what seemed like lots of traffic. Stopping, starting...where did all that traffic come from!?

I have high hopes that next week will be more normal and that I will be back to bus riding most of the days.