Tales of the Bus

So I get to ride the bus two days a week for my teaching jobs. It is actually not bad although I will confess to being a transit snob and enjoying the subway/train more than the bus in general. I have to walk about 10 minutes to this bus stop, but once there I have two express buses to choose from. I took the bus Wednesday which started well, it was not crowded, I had a seat next to a non-smelly person and we were on our way. Until we stopped at a bus stop and did not go again. Slowly, passengers started to notice the lack of engine noises and that the driver seemed to be turning the key again and again with nothing happening. Then she got on her phone and left the bus to look at something under the hood. At about this point we all started getting off the bus. Everyone was quite chipper, despite the inconvenience and the driver was super friendly and said she would put us on the next bus, but that it was small. She also complained about how she asked at the garage "for a good bus" and clearly was not given one. The new bus came and some people got on, but it was already small and full. I had no schedule so I waited around for another bus, which came soon after and was spacious. I also learned from this experience that if your bus breaks down the bus driver has pre-printed passes she can sign for you to take to work to prove you are late because of the bus. Awesome!

The second bus was empty so I got a seat again. There was a crazy woman on this bus, who kept screaming "Drew Pearson is dead!" in a scary exorcist voice, but other than that she was very friendly and smiled at everyone. She also spoke about how she was altruistic, but I didn't catch most of that sentence. In the end I made it to my destination just 10 minutes later than planned and I was super impressed with the friendliness and cheerfulness of my fellow bus riders in the face of the bus breakdown and the crazy lady. I think I'll leave extra early on days I teach, though, in case of further delays.