For public transit users, autumn brings a culture shock. Suddenly there are a lot more riders on any given bus than there were during the summer. Today was Veteran's Day, a holiday, so I expected the density to abate somewhat. It very much did not. The first bus I took this morning was almost ten minutes late and barely had room for me. That was extreme, but everything from that point was pretty full.
Gonna go out on a limb and say there were two reasons for this. One, while RIPTA was on a lighter holiday schedule - the same schedule that they run on Sundays - a lot of people didn't have the day off. Also the mini-winter of the past three days broke, so more people were venturing out whether they had to or not.
And why not?
2 comments:
You're probably correct that more people ride buses once the weather turns cold and nasty enough that riding a bike isn't so pleasant. I wonder if there are many cyclists in RI these days? When we lived there it used to be said the only adult males you'd ever see riding bikes were the ones who'd lost their driver's licenses.
Anyhow, they've been so busy building cycling lanes around here the city should give out free bikes so they get used more.
It's interesting you noted that RIPTA was still on a Sunday/holiday schedule on Veteran's Day. Nowadays it seems the only places that officially recognize holidays are government offices and the transit companies. Everybody else has to go to work.
I'm sure I've seen people riding bikes for that reason, that they've lost their licenses. In fact there are a couple I can think of in particular, where it wouldn't be much of a mystery why their licenses were taken away. They're not the only riders around, though. Oftentimes on the bus I'll see passengers loading and unloading their bikes from the rack on the front bumper. A healthy way to mix it up, I guess.
Giving away bikes to keep the lanes in use would be a generous policy. Wonder if any country has tried it.
Fairly true. Veteran's Day isn't a family get-together kind of holiday. Businesses have to, or at least want to, keep making money during it.
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