Tuesday, September 10, 2019

Thunderdome

One weird adjustment that you have to make this time of year is the change in what it's like to take the bus. During the summer you get used to buses running somewhat close to the schedule, at least for most of the day. Certain peak-hour runs are later than others, of course. And you get used to having a reasonable amount of space, too. Then when kids go back to school you get routes that are so jammed up two buses that are supposed to be twenty minutes apart show up at the same time. There's also more of a sardine can effect a lot of the time. This happens every year but I always sort of forget.

They've commissioned new buses this year, though. Blue upholstery. At this point they still have the new car smell.

2 comments:

susan said...

The fact that Providence is getting new buses is good news particularly because of the pervasiveness of Uber and Lyft trying to get rid of public transport. Victoria hasn't allowed them at all. What this city does have are lots of new style double decker buses and bike lanes galore.

Ben said...

Honestly I don't know what's going to happen with Uber and Lyft. From what I understand neither of them is anywhere near the point of making money. Their biggest success lies in getting people to talk about them. In any case, public transportation strikes me as too important to leave patchwork.