Malingering’s World

Taking the bus to work in the mornings is driving me insane. By the time I get to work I am pissed off and grouchy and I feel like my day has started all wrong. It’s starting to make me crazy.

Like I said in the last post about public transportation woes, I take the bus to work 3 times/week. These are the 3 days/week that I show up totally pissed off.

The nearest bus stop to get me from my apartment to work is 1/2 mile from my apartment at one end and 1/2 mile from my office at the other end. I suppose I could transfer and take a bus on either end for that half mile, but this means waiting for another two buses which is aggravating in itself and increases my bus travel time to 32 minutes and my fare by 60 cents each way, which is stupid. THIRTY TWO minutes to go less than 3 miles, and it would still be a 5 minute walk to each bus stop making this a 42 minute trip. In my car: 7 minutes. Cost of gas to go 3 miles: about 40 cents.

Wait, what?
7 minutes vs. 42 minutes.
$2 vs. $0.40. Damnit.

But despite the fact that time is money and I’m losing out on both here, I have decided to take the bus because it seems dumb to drive 3 miles and I hate looking for parking and because I’m afraid to ride my bike with all of the stuff I have to carry because I am super clumsy and will probably get run over and I am trying to do my part to not use up so much gas, even if it is less than 1/20th of a gallon. Also I get nostalgic for NYC and try to prove to myself that I can burst out of the car culture bubble that we call LA. 

So I take the bus and I walk the 1/2 mile on either end of the trip which reduces my bus riding time to about 10 minutes but my walking time to about 20 minutes so we’ll call it an even 30 minutes plus bus waiting time. I don’t mind walking, but carrying my books, my laptop, my lunch and a change of shoes (can’t walk a mile in my working shoes) makes it a bit more than just a walk. Add in that it is 85 degrees outside and I’m already sweating by the time I get to the bus stop. Then I get on the bus and there is never, ever a seat so I’m standing up the whole way with all of my stuff and the bus driver never, ever turns the A/C on so I start sweating even more. Then I get to my destination and walk the next 1/2 mile, so that when I actually get into the office I have sweat running down my face and back. At this point I have to go into my office, lock the door, take off my clothes and stand in front of the fan for 5 minutes to cool off. No one’s walked in on me yet. Then I change my shoes, comb my hair, put my clothes back on and start the day.

The other problem I’ve been having is the “exact change” issue. I only ride the bus 3 times/week because the other 2 days I am at a location that literally would take 3 1/2 hours by public transportation (or 35 minutes by car) and I absolutely refuse to waste 6 hours/day on the bus which is like a double header every single day which is too much for even your best trained athlete. At 3 times per week it does not pay off to get a monthly pass, so I have to use “exact change” to get on the bus. Despite scrounging for coins, hoarding quarters, picking up dimes from the side walk, checking pay phones for loose change, digging in the couch cushions, and closely following overweight men whose pockets jingle, I still can’t seem to come up with the right number of coins to ride the bus. I may have to start panhandling.

This morning, a passenger got into an argument with the bus driver about where the bus stopped. He’s causing a ruckus which forces those people in between to raise their voices because they are all making important phone calls. The driver yells back and I realize he’s never going to turn on the A/C now because this jackass pissed him off. People start talking louder. Ipods are turned up. Everyone escalates. I’m trapped in a rectangular box of chaos with no way out.

Then there is the issue that causes the most anxiety: the schedule. In my car, if I am running one minute late then I get to work one minute late, which I can handle. On the bus if I am running one minute late (and miss the bus) then I am 15 minutes late to work because I have to wait for the next bus. This is more pressure than I can handle. Also Milo and Zumi are getting upset (no I can’t scratch your chin, I might miss the bus) and I’m feeling rather neglectful (open the cat food yourself, I’m late!) which I hate. It seems that no matter what time I leave the apartment, the bus arrives (and departs) my stop about 20 seconds before I get there. This is nice because I get to see it pull away from the stop and take off down the street while I’m huffing and sweating and angry at the realization that it happened AGAIN. I’ve started taking notes on my Treo of what times the buses come, but it’s never the same time from one day to another and despite my best efforts I cannot come up with an algorithm to optimize my bus boarding time.

This is why I will never, ever tell people that they should take the bus and if they don’t then they hate Mexicans or whatever was said in the other articles. It’s a pain in my ass, it doesn’t save me anything, and the experience is not particularly enjoyable. But I will continue to do it myself, mostly because I am stupid. 

 Viewed 13281 times by 2012 viewers