Riding on the Bus with Bfth

 For almost two years (come April), I've been riding the bus from my town to Newark to go to work.  Two years in and I'm still not thrilled with the whole process, but as they say, it is what it is.

When I started commuting regularly (which would have been in the fall), I liked to take the express bus from my town that brought me right to Penn Station.  From there it was a quick walk (inside, thanks to the elevated walkways that lead from Penn Station to a variety of buildings in the area) to the office.  There were some downsides to the express.  The first being that it was a 20+ walk from my house to the stop (which is in the middle of town, where I live towards the outskirts).  When it's nice out, I don't mind the walk.  It meant leaving the house around 6:30 to walk WEST to get on a bus at 7:01 to go EAST (well, actually southeast) to the office.  Because I am an anxious person, the morning walk was often a course of apprehension as I didn't want to be late.  Of course most times it was the BUS that was late and I would end up waiting (and waiting).  However, once I was on that bus, I could sit back and relax.  (Or relax as much as I could.)  

The express generally had many of the same people day to day heading in and going out.  Probably because there are a limited number of express buses.  In the morning there was the woman who worked as an aide at a school in Newark along with her granddaughter.  (The granddaughter would fall asleep and who can blame her?  I'm guessing they got on the bus a good half hour before the bus even reached my stop.)  There were mostly transit people:  the woman who was very friendly and always wore a mask, the man who was from Eastern Europe who was usually asleep and the go-guy who knew just about everything about EVERYTHING when it came to transit.  Most of the same people were on the first express bus out at night.  

However, the express bus started to be less and less express.  (At least for me.)  Traffic to get to the highway (the route that the bus took) got worse and worse at night.  Getting to the office actually took longer in the morning as local street traffic in the area (along with double parking) caused back up.  

And then there was the cold weather.  With my son away at college, I have no one to pick me up if I take the express, when it is cold (or damp).  I like walking.  I even like walking uphill at the end of the day (for the most part), but I don't like it if it's cold and/or possibly slick.  Hence, I've been taking the local bus.

The local means lots more stops and I have to keep my eye out for my stop as I transfer from the bus to the city light rail.  To say I'm a little paranoid about this is putting it mildly. (Remember:  ANXIETY).  I can do some reading on the bus, but not much because it's too "lurchy," however, by the time we hit the middle of the third town we go through, I tend to tense up.  Sometimes the local bus will call out when we are entering Newark, but not always.  I keep an eye on landmarks.  The stadium: we are getting close.  The "tower/castle" by the bakery is the stop before mine.  Once everyone has boarded there, I need to ring the bell and get ready to get off the bus.  Of course if I forgot, 99.99% of the time the bus would stop at the light rail station anyway because someone is always waiting to get on. However, being me...I'm on high alert and make sure that I make sure the driver knows he needs to stop.

Local also means more options.  There are two different bus routes I can take.  One  (#11) is only about a block and a half away from my house.   The other (#29)is about three blocks away.  (It is actually just about as close IF I could walk directly to it, but I no longer can, so I need to go the indirect way which is a pain, especially as when I am waiting on the bus during the colder months, I can actually see my house...the fact that my neighbor took down most the trees on the property and what few are left are barren, makes it easy.)  Since I like to get into the office early (I work better in the early morning AND I like to get out and get home), I catch either the 7:47  or the 7:55.  (Believe it or not, the few minutes between the two buses can make a big difference.)  

Every morning, the transit app (which I have a love/hate relationship with), tells me that the 6:33 (which would get me into the office too early) is on time, but the 6:47 is delayed.  So then I check out the 7:55, which is estimated to arrive on time.  After waiting 5 or so minutes, the 6:47 pops up as arriving at 6:51 and I usually have enough time to hurry down to catch it.  And USUALLY, by the time I get there, the bus has made up time and the scheduled arrival is around 6:49.  The 7:55 (which is closer to my house) has even less people on it. (There was one day when the only other person was a guy from the next town over; he and the driver always have long conversations and as a result, I know ALOT about this guy and his family, as well as a lot about the Caribbean islands, which is where the driver is from.)  However, 7:55 usually doesn't arrive at my stop until almost 7 and as a result, there are more people who get on during the route who are heading to work or school, which means it takes longer to get to the city light rail station.  (And there will be more people on and waiting for the light rail.)

The light rail portion of my journey is usually the easiest.  They arrive just about every 5 minutes, so even if I've missed one (because I'm not running down the stairs to catch it; I can just see myself landing flat on my face) I usually don't have to wait long.  My time on the light rail is usually quite brief (less than 10 minutes) but it's where I do most of my reading.  (Since the ride is more fluid.) In the time that I've been "going local" I've read the following:  Imaginable: How to See the Future Coming and Feel Ready for Anything, Even Things that Seem Impossible Today,  Unclobber, Our Last Days in Barcelona, Eagle, Mrs. Claus, Wolf, Salmon, Moose (don't be impressed all of those last 5 "books" are incredibly short reads; 15 minutes MAXIMUM) and Cocktails For Three.  Most of these books I have gotten from my local thrift shop and I am always looking for paperbacks to travel with me. (Suggestions?)

Getting home is more challenging.  I can never time the light rail to the bus correctly.  That's not my fault or even transit's fault.  It's traffic.  So I usually end up standing and waiting for 10 or more minutes.  (All the more reason to find some more light reading.)  Getting on a bus after 4 means traffic no matter how you slice it.  While I can make it to the light rail station in the morning in approximately 25 minutes; getting home takes much longer.  (But all that much sweeter?)

Three days a week; and three different bus routes to take.  Maybe I should do a different one every day?  Probably not, but then you never know...