A few months ago, I made a decision to use public transportation (PT) instead of a car. It has been quite a shift for me after years of driving daily, but as gas in my area has crawled up to $4.39 for regular unleaded, I’ve not regretted the decision in most ways … even if a 2 mile trip *is* $3.60.
There are a few things I loathe. Where I live, PT comes through once an hour heading toward SF – except in the mornings, when a second commuter bus comes through. Mind you, that second bus comes through pretty close to the regular, hourly bus. So, effectively, I wind up with that bus OR … a 20 min walk to the ferry, and then 25 minutes on it. There are about 8-9 ferries a day … not really helpful, and when you add the 40 min walk time to the trip … it’s a loss. Golden Gate Transit, for some reason, seems to have trouble with SO many things, in my humble opinion, including serving the customers. No wonder their ridership is bad.
I decided to try a different connection yesterday to SF’s bus system (SFMTA aka MUNI). In theory, by swtiching to bus 10-15 mins earlier in SF (rather than light rail underground), and going roughly the same distance, I should arrive in 30 rather than 45 mins. I arrived at the bus stop, and the sign says “next bus in 4 mins & 23 mins” … 10 mins later, the sign says “Arriving” … 20 mins later, the sign says “Arriving.” No bus to be seen. When it did finally show up, and some pasennger was asking what the delay was about, the driver had the audacity to say that busses only ran every 15 mins on weekends.
Would that it were so.
I was also recently told on GGT to turn my iPod *off* because other passengers could hear it. I wasn’t asked. I was told. One passenger actually prodded me in the shoulder like he was tenderizing meat and said, “Yeah. I can hear it.” Meanwhile, in the back of ths bus, a bunch of rowdies were much louder than my poor little iPod could have been. Of course, they were permitted to carry on …
Public Transportation … I’m beginning to wonder if it’s really that great an idea after all …
