So far, so good.

Whadayaknow? The first day I'd planned to take the bus to work, and I had to take the car in for repair. It's as if the universe is trying to remind me what a pain and expense car ownership is and that I'd be much happier if I could transition all the way out of it. (I'm $300 poorer. Ugh. Thanks, stupid car.) So I drove to the car repair shop, dropped off the car, and then took the bus to work. It all went seamlessly and I got to work a few minutes early, fairly glowing with energy from that final 15 minute walk from the bus. This won't be as fun in the winter, of course, but today it was wonderful and I honestly felt like I could be happy riding the bus to work every day, even though it means getting up 50 minutes earlier.

Logistical considerations:

--took breakfast with me to eat at work so I wouldn't have to eat an hour earlier than usual

--took an apple to eat on the way home so that I wouldn't be ravenous and eat half the fridge when I arrived
--took lunch with me (I almost always do this, but it will be especially important on days that I take the bus to work because there is no place in easy walking/busing distance of my work where I can get a healthy and inexpensive lunch)

--wore good walking shoes and took work shoes with me to change into at work

--brought a book to read

Observations:

--I never noticed there's a pinball machine dealer on State Street and a dental spa (??!?) on 2100 South (things you don't notice when speeding by in a car)

--UTA buses are frequently a bit late and sometimes even a bit early (though they're supposed to slow down if they start running early), so it's wise to be a bit early--who knows? If you're early enough you might get lucky and catch the prior bus that's running super late, and get where you're going early as happened today--booyah!

I'd never used the tap-on fare card reader thingy, though I'd seen them at TRAX stations. If you have a card that's good for transit (such as a monthly transit card or HivePass) or want to pay your fare with a contactless credit or debit card, you'll use this reader as you board the bus. Here's what it looks like--a bit different than the TRAX fare card readers, but they work the same.

It's next to the bus's cash receptacle thingy. You tap your card on the base of the reader where the hand icon is pictured and if your card is accepted there will be a green checkmark flashed on the screen. If your card is rejected (expired or no more funds), it will flash red and you will have to pay some other way. You're supposed to also tap off when you exit the bus (you can do this at either bus door), but I always forget to do it. It doesn't make a difference to me since my Hive Pass is unlimited use, but those whose cards are charged based on the number of bus trips need to remember to also tap off. If you fail to do so, UTA thinks you remained on the bus, which depending on your location and the payment system you're using, could mean extra charges, though I don't think that would ever mean more than one extra adult single-trip fare. (That is, I doubt that if you failed to tap off, the system would assume you rode the bus back and forth all day long and charge you for 10 or 15 or 20 round trips--probably just one round trip.) The other function of tapping off is to give UTA an idea of what portions of what bus routes are the most traveled, enabling them to adjust routes to be more useful to riders. A worthy reason for me to get into the habit of tapping off even though I don't have to.

Eventually UTA may begin charging bus riders by distance traveled, instead of a flat fee no matter the distance as they do now. This tap-on, tap-off technology is designed to make distance-based fares easy to implement, and this is already the payment system on the Frontrunner commuter trains. If you forget to tap off when exiting the Frontrunner, you get charged for a longer ride because the system thinks you remained on the train.

Again, if you're a Salt Lake City resident, getting the crazy-cheap Hive Pass makes all this irrelevant. One flat rate for unlimited rides for a year, and no need to remember to tap off. Just don't lose that precious plastic sucker, or you will be a very, very sad little wingless bee.