Archives for May 2008

You’ll never guess what I did on Monday.

My co-worker and I bought a commuter sticker. I found out that I can ride the bus to campus for $10/semester with my Campus ID card. The bus leaves one block from my house, drops me off on the opposite site of Campus and I’ll have to walk about 15 minutes across to my office. Awesome! I totally want to do that [at least half of the time]…. and I feel so non-American right now.

While everybody is bitching about the soaring gas prices, I keep thinking to myself…. gas is cheap, people. Have you been to Europe lately?

And still. Taking public transportation does not seem to be an option for most people. I have to say that I feel quite lucky to live in one of the few American cities where the public transportation system is somewhat decent. There is a light rail net and a relatively good bus system.
Did I mention that I took the bus to the airport a couple of weeks ago for the fare of only $1.50?
I really don’t mind using public transportation, in fact, I enjoy it and it feels like the right thing to do. Public transportation is what I used to get to and home from College back in the days and I never really owned my own car in Germany [except for a couple of years when I shared a car with my sister].

They do have to improve the bus schedules though: To get to work somewhat on time, I have to catch the very first bus in the morning which leaves at 6:40 a.m. and gets me to work about 20 minutes later than I usually start, but that’s fine. No big deal. The problem is: If I work late, which I usually do, I have to leave at exactly 6 p.m., because – you can probably guess it – the last bus back to downtown runs at 6:20 p.m. LAST bus of the day. After that, it’s walking or hitch-hiking.

I mean, this is ridiculous. Seriously. 6:20 p.m.? How many students leave Campus by that time? How many employees might work later than that?
So why not have the bus run later?

Oh yeah, that’s right. I forgot. The majority of people are still using their cars. That’s why. I am so stupid.