Daily Commute Observations: 29 April 2011

The Morning Commute:

This morning's ride was pretty calm. Fridays frequently are, since the route I take is a popular one for students at the Auraria campus (is it still called "AHEC?") Mondays through Thursdays. No classes on Fridays, apparently, though, so we go from 4 days of a packed bus (sometimes Standing Room Only), to a bus that's taking maybe a third of the capacity that it can handle. The ebb and flow of student traffic has been interesting to watch as well - they are teeming at the beginning of the semester, and dwindle noticeably within maybe a month or so, as they find other transport or drop an early class. The main route I take is also the only express-route that goes from my neck of the woods to the airport, so we get a variety of folks going to DIA, but today was pretty light on that count also.

Unusually, there was a baby on board this morning. A four-month-old boy, quite large for his age (he's already in 6-9 month sized clothing). I wasn't really close to him, but there was a lot of chatter, and he spent a lot of time (when Mom was holding him up high enough) looking around the bus and smiling at whatever he was smiling at. I didn't get a chance to boop him on the nose, unfortunately - timing just didn't work out. but he was happy, so it made the ride in somewhat lighter in mood, even for a Friday. The ride was uneventful, and I spent a lot of time looking at passing traffic.

The Evening Commute:

The main ride out of downtown was pretty quiet as well, though it was a bit late arriving at the station where I board. The ride from the main Park and Ride, though was anything but. There was this guy who got off his express-route and headed for the local bus, apparently fully expecting to just walk on. But the local-route driver was taking a break (the PnR has facilities for their drivers, probably about halfway between a Port-a-John and a real bathroom), and had closed up the bus to go do his business. The passenger-to-be, who was watching "Pineapple Express" on his phone while walking from bus to bus, actually went looking for a way to open the bus so he could get on while the driver was away.

Wow.

OK, yeah, it was cold and breezy, but the drivers are probably told to close the bus up when they aren't in it, if only so some whackaloon doesn't get in, start it up, and drive off with it, yes? He eventually gave up, at least (though I'm not sure he would've stopped if there hadn't been witnesses, frankly), paced around, leaned on the bus for a minute, then sat on the bumper for another minute before wandering to a seat in a nearby shelter. All the while, his movie was playing - loud enough that it could be heard clearly enough to identify the actors by voice. Outside. In the wind. At a 10-20-foot distance. Once the driver got back, and everyone got aboard, the volume of the movie didn't go down.

Wow again.

Are headphones really that expensive? I mean, everyone on the bus could hear the movie.

Well, everyone except for the gal talking to "Rachel" on her phone. About a co-worker of one of them named "Zack." And, to be brutally honest, probably anyone who was a seat or two away from her wouldn't've been able to hear the movie.

Ah, well...

Why a Blog about Riding the Bus?

Partly because it's an interesting experience for me, riding the bus to and from work. I'm not used to being around so many strangers. And some of them just keep getting stranger and stranger... Others? Well, it's an interesting slice of life, I guess. Some times more than others.

Partly, it's because it's also somewhat amusing to see what some of these otherwise normal, rule-following, law-abiding folks will do on or around public transportation, presumably because, well, it's "public" transportation, after all.

Partly because Randall nagged about the idea.

Finally, because, even when (or maybe especially when) the ride is uneventfully boring, that provides about an hour each day of near-pure right-brain time - and while I'm considerably more left-brained than right, I still exercise that other hemisphere. When it's early and I'm more-or-less operating on too little sleep and too little coffee, I may come up with whimsical, unusual, or interesting thoughts to share. Or at least it seems that way to me at the time. Your mileage may vary.