Got to take the kid to work today using Regional Transit. Since I was dealing with a teenager who had been given a day's suspension for "DEFIANCE" (teenager, defiance: by definition redundant), my first chore was to convince the kid that when I said, "Time to go," it REALLY was time to go. And I will give him credit for being ready to walk out the door when it was time to catch the bus.
It was another ideal transit day. The bus meet the train and we arrived at work as scheduled. During the trip, however, I was listening to the radio and thanking my lucky stars that I wasn't on the coach that had two women apparently assaulting each other. The police had to be called and the less violent passengers provided with an alternate bus. I think it would make a great feature article to do a day in the life of the control room for regional transit.
On the trip home last night, I had the distinct displeasure to be on a bus with a very loud young man who took offense -- loudly -- when the bus driver made a brief, unscheduled stop to get a cup of coffee. In the course of his loud exclamations about how BIZARRE and OUTRAGEOUS it was for a driver to leave the bus, he mentioned that he had had his driver's license suspended. Those on the bus were left to wonder if the man was under the influence of whatever had caused him to lose his driver's license in the first place.
Passengers on a bus are like family. You don't get to choose who you ride with.
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Postscript: Finished John Le Carre's "The Mission Song" (great book; highly recommended) and started Barack Obama's "The Audacity of Hope." The book tax for riding transit is definitely going to eat into the fuel-saving profits.
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