Commuter Pain

Check out this article that discusses a recent study on commuter related issues such as what gas prices make commuters consider alternative forms of transportation.
This link will take you directly to the study.

To the North Shore

For commuters coming from or going to the North Shore, there's a new method of travel in development. While it's currently creating a big mess downtown, as so much construction does, it may make commutes easier when it's finished. Check out this article by Chrissy Tautkus on The Globe's Web site.

Clingers

This post may make me sound like a bad person, but I think it needs to be said. I can't stand clingers on the bus--by "clinger" I mean someone who starts making small talk and then all the sudden wants to be your bus buddy, sitting with you on a regular basis and talking your ear off on the ride.

Recently someone sat with me on the way to school because the bus was pretty full, and that's fine. This person then goes on to ask me where I go to school, what my major is, what I plan to do with that major, how long have I been going to school, haven't they seen me on an earlier bus, blah blah blah. As anyone reads this blog knows, I use my bus trips to get in some much needed sleep, also--I'm not a naturally chatty person...so basically this whole situation was just an annoying morning. An annoying morning that continued as this clinger got off at the same bus stop as me and walked with me to my destination.

This clinger also sat with me a few days later when the bus was so empty there was no need for more than one person in a seat. Once again I was talked AT loudly by the clinger when I would have rather been sleeping.

Am I being rude for being annoyed by someone being "friendly" or is the clinger being rude by encroaching on my personal space?

Traveling Moms

I feel really bad for the mothers I see traveling via bus to or from the city. They're usually the only parent/adult trying to wrangle various aged children, strollers and other accessories.

Today, a young mother got on the bus in Oakland. First, her one daughter, who appeared to be about three ran up onto the bus and disappeared into the back of the bus somewhere. Then she had to lift up her other daughter, a very tiny baby in a carrier, to a helpful rider who took the baby carrier and placed it in the seat. Next she struggles to drag a stroller (although it was folded up, it still appeared to be massive) up the bus steps behind her and shove it into the seat across the aisle from where her little baby had been placed. She pays and then calls for her first daughter to come out of hiding on the back of the bus and move up next to her, the baby and the stroller. After a few stern words, the little girl meanders up front and takes a seat next to the colossal stroller.

What a cumbersome task all this seems...and here I thought it was a pain to commute without the added struggle that this poor young woman had to deal with.

Tunnel Traffic

Anyone who has ever driven into the city via the Parkway East has experienced the Squirrel Hill Tunnels. Anyone who's made this commute during rush hour knows how painfully irritating this part can be. Something happens in people's brains as they approach the tunnels. They ignore the posted signs declaring: Maintain Speed Through Tunnels. Instead, they must be doing some kind of calculations in their head, doubting that their Honda will fit through the gaping maw of this structure. Red brake-lights ignite and traffic does everything but maintain speed through tunnels. What once seemed to be flowing easily slows to a halt as drivers throw logic out the window and creep into the tunnel at a snail's pace.

Eventually you roll through the tunnel and pop out on the other-side, startled by the sunlight and returning radio reception. And wonder of all wonders--traffic is coasting along without a jam in sight. All the nervous nellies who had to brake at the entrance actually fit inside, and through and whiz out the other side in one piece. I suspect they will forget this momentous result the following day as they ease up to the tunnel with trepidation...as if a monster were lurking inside.

Bus Stops

Here is a slideshow collection of interesting bus stops from around the world.

From My Window

I don't know what it is about Carnegie Mellon University's trees, but every fall I'm mesmerized as my bus passes by these beautiful trees. They change to the most brilliant hues of yellow, orange and red that they practically glow. I'm thinking, based on their location at CMU, that they must be bio-engineered to be so pretty. Or maybe they're just holograms. You never know what those CMU scientists are up to.

Lost Time

One of the plights of being a commuter that I hate most of all is the loss of time. I wake up at 6:50am on Tuesdays and Thursdays when my first class doesn't start until 9:40am. Do I do this by choice? Of course not. I have to get up at this time so that I can catch the only bus that will get me Downtown before my class starts. I get on this bus at 7:30am and it arrives in Pittsburgh about an hour later. I then spend the next hour sleeping on the glorious couches on the 4th floor of Lawrence Hall. The next bus doesn't arrive until 8:56am, and would get me to class about twenty minutes late.

I get out of my Tuesday/Thursday classes by 12:50pm. This makes me fifteen minutes late for the 12:35pm bus, so now I'm lingering around campus until 2:35pm and get home at about a quarter 'til 4. The fact that I don't get home until about 3 hours after my last class has ended makes me nuts.

Not only am I losing time in transit, but in waiting for transit. I'm a slave to the bus schedules and it's not fun.

Change of Scenery

The city scenes that flash by the windows of the bus each day can get incredibly monotonous (that is, if you are staring out the window rather than sleeping). For some reason, from the start of this semester, I would tend to sit on the same side of the bus for my ride home each day. It was habit I guess, as there were plenty of empty seats and nothing particularly intriguing about this side of the bus. After a few weeks of this, however, I decided to break the cycle and sit on the other side. It proved to be a very interesting experience--suddenly the city scenes seemed new. A building I remembered being under construction last semester was now complete, the SPACE gallery was displaying a new show (which you can sometimes catch a glimpse of in passing, as the facade is completely transparent glass)...all in all, this switch of a seat really broke up that tedium and repetition of watching the same buildings go by each day.

I decided to remain on this side of the bus for another week or two and then, I switched back. This switch proved successful in breathing new life into the boring landscape I had become so familiar with at the beginning of the semester. A new shop had opened, and new and interesting graffiti decorated blank walls on the approach to Oakland.

I think this new found ability to rejuvinate the mundane and gain new perspective should be applied to all aspects of life, because by changing small parts of our routines, we can certainly gain new perspective, understanding, and enjoyment in the world around us.

Charted

According to information from this site, I've created this chart to show the various methods of transport that commuters frequently use. The "other" category includes travel by bike, motorcycle, taxi and walking. "Public Transit" includes travel by train, bus, streetcar, subway and ferry. This information applies to the US as a whole and not solely Pittsburgh.

Bus Drivers

I've had plenty of different bus drivers in my time as a commuter. Some are cheerful and pleasant and love to talk to their passengers. Others are wretched and miserable and respond to a courteous "thank you" with "okay" as they hit the gas before you've completely stepped from the bus to the sidewalk.

Some feel the need to express their individuality with the hole punch they use (The bus pass I buy for Westmoreland Transit is for ten trips, and has the numbers 1-10 on it, which are punched by the driver each time you board). One driver uses a star hole punch, while another inexplicably uses one shaped like a bone. I picture them standing in the crafts/scrapbooking aisle at Staples trying to decide on just the right hole punch shape to define their personalities.

One bus driver frequently pulls up to my stop in the afternoon eating a bowl of Wendy's chili and listening to oldies on a radio he has apparently brought from home and placed in the seat behind him.

It takes all kinds to drive a bus apparently, and I've certainly seen many of those kinds facilitating my commute each day.

Mapped

Here's a map of my daily commute from school to home. It looks so much longer all mapped out.


View Commute in a larger map

Rite of Passage

You haven't truly lived the commuter life until you've run for the bus. I certainly have--both successfully and unsuccessfully. Bonus points if you run in rain, snow, or high heels.

Graffiti

On occasion, I take a bus that travels from Downtown to Wilkinsburg via the East Busway. This trip is an opportunity to check out some pretty cool graffiti. Some pieces are better than others of course, but it definitely breaks up the monotonous scenery whizzing by the bus windows. Sure, it's illegal and some would call it vandalism, but I just can't make myself see it that way. It doesn't appear to be destroying anything of value--but rather adding color and visual interest to dilapitated buildings and crumbling walls. Take a tour of this improvised gallery next time you're traveling the East Busway and decide for yourself.

Get Up, Stand Up

It's completely expected (as it should be) to give your seat up on a bus to the elderly or disabled. Is it also expected for a man to give his seat up to a woman? In decades past when gender equality was more of an emerging idea (or nonexistent), it seems like a man giving his seat to a woman would just be an expected, everyday act.

It goes without saying that it is not pleasant to have to stand on the bus, especially in a commuter situation like mine where the ride is about an hour, not just a quick trip from Oakland to Downtown. Of course, standing for this ride is unpleasant for both men and women alike (though if you're a woman wearing pointy shoes with towering heels, the level of discomfort may be a smidge higher).

I've certainly seen men on my bus give their seats up for women--not many, but there are some who will do it every time. For me, however, it's never happened. Maybe I'm too young and am expected to pay my dues. Or maybe this is just a fading practice that's happening more and more infrequently and I've missed my opportunity.

So to answer my question, should a woman expect a man to give her his seat? No. Not this century--but maybe that's okay. Gender equality is more comforting than a cushy seat anyway.