Don't pass me by, don't make me cry, don't make me blue....

On Monday morning I forced myself out of bed early to ride the bus to work (did I mention that it was a Monday morning? are you impressed?), and by the time I got to my transfer point at the university I was feeling pretty good about the day and good about myself. I waited in the bus stop shelter because it was a somewhat chilly morning and I wanted to stay as warm as possible. I saw my bus coming and stepped out of the shelter expecting it to stop for me, but it just cruised on by without even slowing down. It wasn't dark outside, and I had stepped out onto the sidewalk before he reached the stop, but he kept going. I called UTA to report the incident and figure out a plan B, and was informed that if I'm not standing right next to the bus stop sign, the bus driver doesn't have to stop--even if I'm in the bus shelter (??!?). So this puts a damper on my motivation to keep riding the bus during the winter--when it's colder and windier and snowier and darker I'm going to have to stand out in the weather next to the sign in order to ensure I'm not left behind (particularly at this stop, which is at a blind corner which makes seeing the approaching bus impossible until it's already very close, at which point there's no longer time to move over by the bus stop sign before the bus is gone). The UTA representative told me which bus to get on to get back to my house as quickly as possible so I could drive to work, and when I sat down on said bus there was a new sign on the announcements wall that seemed to be speaking directly to angry little me:

Why even have bus shelters that are more than five feet from the bus stop sign if that means that people in the shelter are eligible for abandonment? I wonder if this is some new policy--until Monday I'd never seen UTA informational signs that say these things, and I'd never been passed over at a bus stop.

At any rate--important to know, whether or not the policy is reasonable or fair. I was 45 minutes late to work and missed a company meeting. Not a good day in my relationship with UTA.

The rest of the bus riding week was great--once I manage to get myself out of bed and out the door, the rest is generally easy and enjoyable--I have a short walk to my first stop, a short wait at my transfer point, and once I get off the second bus I'm more awake, and it's a bit warmer and a bit brighter outside, and I enjoy the 13-minute walk to work. I even rode the bus on Friday carrying food for a church event after work, then took the bus after work directly to the church (only to learn that the event was happening at a different church--but of course I can't blame UTA for that). I was rescued by a friend who happened to be there and headed in the same direction, and the evening played out fine, though it is worth noting again that my lack of a smartphone makes me less independent as a bus rider--I needed help from car-driving friends in order to get to and from a destination for which I didn't know the local bus routes. Again, there's a certain humility that comes with deciding to be a regular bus rider. You're probably going to get stranded at some point, no matter how careful you are, and will have to beg a car driver for rescue. It comes with the territory, I think. I'm grateful for mercy, but hope I have to use it as little as possible. I like feeling independent.

Another great thing that happened last week was a meeting of the LDS Earth Stewardship group last Saturday. I had a good chat with Soren Simonsen, who dreamed up the idea of the Hive Pass and after years of promoting it, got Mayor Becker to try it out for the first time this year. He noted that most of those who bought Hive Passes were already regular bus riders, so not much was gained as far as getting cars off the road--the trick he's trying to figure out is how to get new people to give mass transit a serious try. He feels strongly that the system needs to be much more robust before we can expect people with access to cars to willingly throw themselves onto its mercy. That was exciting to hear, because it's just what I've been hoping for--the inconveniences I put up with aren't awful for someone like me who has no spouse or children needing me to be home at a reasonable hour after work--I just get stuff done on the bus and get home later and it's all okay. But the current system is so poor at getting people where they need to go on enough days of the year--committing to regular use of such a system when you have more pressures in your life than I do--I'd call it unreasonable. I hope he prevails and gets the legislature to devote more money to increasing the coverage of routes and the frequency of buses. It will be costly, but we have to decide to make it reasonably convenient before we can expect a surge in riders.

Oh, and stop leaving riders behind at bus stops. That's another good idea.