Riding the Bus

Last week I had some service done to my car. I decided it was time to take on the task of riding the bus (City bus). I knew that my car would not be available for 3 days so that ment I had three days to ride the bus. So on Sunday night I googled for the Grand Rapids, michigan bussing system (www.ridetherapid.org) After 45 min of trying to figure out where to get on the bus and what time. I decided I was ready Monday to ride public transportation.

When Monday morning arrived, I had my $1.30 in hand and was ready for the bus at the nearest stop to my house. I live about 200 yards away from a bus stop. Not that I could tell from the web site or the schedule on the web site (we will get to that later). When the bus finally stopped in front of me and I got on. I had to fingure out how to pay. So I dropped my money in the machine and coin slot and took my seat. I then watched the next person get on and when they put in their money they took a ticket. It was at that point I realized that I had made a mistake and did not / or forgot to take a ticket. I was hoping this was not an issue. I then had a chance to watch people as they got on the bus. I knew from the bus schedule on line (if that is what you can call it) that the bus made a stop close to downtown, infact near where I would park my car if I were driving. However, when on the bus, no one got off they kept riding, so I did not know the procedure to get off. And the bus kept going past the stop I thought I would get off at. So at this point we are getting on the highway and heading way from downtown where I work. Not knowing what was the next stop I just decided to ride it out. So we eventually came to the bus depot and I was remembering that this bus (route 7) did go back downtown. However, everyone got off the buss at this time. I did not know if this bus I was on would actually still stay on route 7 or go to another route. So I decided to just walk from there, since it was not too far from the office.

My first day of riding the bus was an adventure. I was able to get from my front door to my office in 20 min. That’s with going to the incorrect stop and also being early to the bus stop. I will write more later on my experience.

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