Bus Buddies Reunited!

The bus buddies and I have been a little out of touch. Our schedules just have not been coinciding this semester, so there have been far fewer chuckles on my daily commute, however late last week the stars aligned and when the 16 pulled up to the stop on North 2^nd and Division, the bus buddies were reunited at last. It was a very happy and pleasant commute, though again, much too short. Funnily enough, Zac knew other buddies on the bus, so he had the joy of feeling really popular on his morning commute as many people were happy to see him.

 

Zac and I were also able to enjoy another pleasant conversation over dinner at Doyle’s. I’m excited to say, he’s looking forward to my upcoming show and was laughing very much while reading the script. It excites me greatly and I hope others will enjoy it just as much. He even invited me to join his church choir and offered his knowledge and support for my show. My bus buddies are such lovely and wonderful people and I know that if I didn’t ride the bus each day, I truly would have missed out on two great friendships.

 

Amy E. Corcoran '06

Student Financial Services Specialist

University of Puget Sound

253-879-3234

 

Stranger Danger?

Have you ever been given a gift by a stranger? This happens to me a lot and I think it’s because I’m nice; too nice, really. I make eye contact with strangers, smile, and say hello and this has caused me to be put in some pretty awkward situations.

 

I was followed around a grocery store once, cornered, told I was beautiful, and asked out on a date, all because I simply made eye-contact with a man. I went to a bar once and an older lonely French man proposed to me after I spent the evening in conversation with him. A couple from Gig Harbor once gave me a ride in the middle of the night as I walked to a bar in Hilltop. At this bar, I was offered employment by a pimp and given a portrait of myself by a man I didn’t even see. He just handed it to me and slipped out the door. I have oodles of these kinds of stories because these kinds of things just seem to happen to me. Like this next one:

 

For about a year, I have been catching the 16 on Commerce St. There is a man that I see Monday through Friday that makes me really uncomfortable. It’s completely irrational because all he does is wish me a good day or a good weekend, but for some reason he just makes me feel uneasy. I have been thinking about him a lot recently and wondering if I would be this uncomfortable if he was a little younger and a little more attractive. I’m ashamed to admit that I would probably not be as scared if I found him attractive. I could tell he must be an art student because he’s always carrying one of those large cases and takes the 2 to TCC. I felt bad that I had pegged this man as creepy and so am making an effort to be a little bit nicer to him.

I haven’t seen him much this week and was a little relieved, but at the same time wondering where he could be. Then this morning, I saw him get off his bus to make his transfer on Commerce and he walked right past me without saying anything. Again, I was relieved.  A few moments later, he walked back up to me and got a little too close for my comfort level. I realized he was pulling something out of his case and he handed me this beautiful drawing he did. It reminded me of my backpack. It had the same color of purple in the background and the same exploding flowers. He just handed it to me, told me to have a good weekend, and walked away.

 

 

 

 

 

If you keep making that face it'll stick like that

I was riding the bus back to my friend's apartment one night. I was sitting so I was looking backwards, and a young man was sitting about halfway back, facing forward. We made eye contact and he looked interesting so I thought about moving so I could talk to him, but didn't. The next time we locked eyes he made a weird face at me, so I made one back. We kept doing this for about fifteen minutes, then he came up to the front of the bus and introduced himself. I asked him if he wanted to sit down, but he said he couldn't because he had to get off the bus. I didn't think anything of it, then a few weeks later we ran into each other in a store where I happened to remember his name. We talked, exchanged numbers, and now we're friends.

Lauren, Student

September Bus Blog

Thanks for my half price September and October bus passes, Sustainability Team!  They are *much* appreciated!

 

 

You Have To Be This Tall To Ride

One Monday morning in early September I stepped on a pretty empty bus to ride to work.  There was a slightly smiling man in a suit and tie in one of the first rows on the left and a group of three small boys next to him on the right, a few young people closer to the back.  I took a seat behind the three boys and admired their matching lunch pails and tiny hoodies and skate shoes.  They appeared to be brothers – all three freckled with hair ranging from red to strawberry blond.  They were very quiet, glancing at each other frequently but not saying anything.  Every so often the oldest would nod to the younger two in response to some unspoken question.  I looked over at the well-dressed man I assumed to be their father.  He didn’t seem to be paying any attention to them.  As we headed up the street, the oldest boy reached a tentative hand up to the stop cord, the other two looking on nervously, then put it back down.  At each stop, they worried silently with quick moving glances.  The man near them didn’t seem to notice.  I started wondering if they were by themselves.  Once we neared the next turn, the oldest pulled the cord and the three boys, looking around furtively but not saying a word, started to step off.  It was clear by now that they were by themselves.  They stepped off at the corner and stood at the stop, where no bus would meet them until the next bus on the same route, headed the same direction, would arrive a half hour later.  I wondered why they weren’t at school by that time of morning and why they were riding the city bus alone. Wondered how young you had to be before the bus driver questioned you.  I wanted to follow them off the bus and ask them if they were ok.  They looked unsure and worried.  I wondered if one of us, riders or bus driver, should have checked in with them.  I know kids today have such intense stranger danger-fear instilled in them by their parents - I didn’t want to freak them out.  I thought about them a lot that day and hoped they reached their destination safely.  Hoped they weren’t trying to run away from home bus by bus with all of Pierce Transit as unmoving witnesses.  Hoped if they were trying to run away from home with good reason that they reached Grandma’s house without meeting the wolf.

 

The Singing Bus Driver

There is a 16 bus driver who sings the upcoming stops in a fine, robust tenor.  It makes for a happy ride. 

Please, if you happen to ride his bus, don’t just say thank you – sing it.  It will show him his positive attitude is appreciated.

 

Leah

Leah Coakley

Administrative Specialist

Office of the Chief Diversity Officer

Access Programs

University of Puget Sound

Howarth 215B

253.879.2827

 

Start 'em young

As with most human behavior, people's comfort level with riding the bus seems to depend on prior experience and habit.  If riding the bus is a natural thing for you, the sometimes odd but nearly always harmless behavior of some of your fellow passengers rarely fazes you.  For this reason, I've gone out of my way to introduce my young son to the bus.  We ride fairly frequently to places around town here in Olympia, most often (but not always) if his mother is using the car.

For example, a few weeks ago we were headed out one weekend to our local Children's Museum, a favorite haunt, and I decided it'd be a good day to take the bus downtown.  We caught our bus a few blocks from home without incident (the woman sitting at the curb near our stop complaining about how the last driver had refused to let her on without paying notwithstanding) and made a smooth connection at the transit center.... about a 20 min ride altogether.

On the way home we caught our first bus after a short wait and headed for the transit center.  Now, my son likes to sit near the window on the bus.  He loves being up high and being able to see everything.  Usually this is fine but can present some issues when the bus is at all crowded (which these days is much of the time as anyone riding the bus will have noticed).  We reach the transit center and I point out our connection.  Suddenly, my son bolts for it at top speed and before I can catch up he's on the bus and headed to the back.  I step onto the bus just in time to see my little bull clambering over the lap of a large, gruff-looking, somewhat unkempt about 250 lb dude with a bushy grey beard in the back seat so he can get to the rear window seat.  Thankfully, this guy didn't seemed bothered and took it in stride and I managed to coax my son to sit next to me at a different window seat, albeit with our backs to the window. 

At the end of the day, we had a great trip to the museum and he's getting used to the idea that riding the bus makes sense, even in a city made for cars.  I imagine by the time he's my age, that may change (gas prices, global warming, all point to more dense living where transit makes sense).

Garrett, Staff