Everything goes in circles, right? (I prefer to think of things as moving in helixes, but that ends up sounding a little precious.) So I began this series of posts talking about a favor that a bus rider received on Monday, and today I got what I can only assume is a Frequent Rider Benefit of its own. Like a good video game, though, not all the prizes are out in the open. Some of them you find by just being persistent and thorough. When I got on my bus today, I dipped my card, only to see the “No Rides” error come up on the LED display. Fine, no problem, since I use 10-ride passes and always keep some spares in my wallet. But oops — same result on the second card. Further oops — no more cards in my wallet. The anticlimax to this story is that the driver waved me on anyway. (If CT Transit is reading this, please note that this was good behavior on the part of the driver.) Another beautiful morning for the weather, and it’s a good start to the day.
But what happens when the weather isn’t so great? Do a daily commuter diary in the winter months and you’ll see a pretty different story. In fact, this is one of my biggest complaints about the bus system. The unpredictability of the arrival of the bus is a problem, sure. Getting one of the old buses makes for an unpleasant commute, right. But each of these would be made better by not having to stand out in the elements, especially if there’s something I need to take to work that isn’t waterproof. While I’m slowly outfitting my bike and myself to be able to ride in when it’s raining, standing in one place being cold and wet is a lot less fun.
Naturally, I wouldn’t want a bus shelter in my front yard, and currently I wait in front of a residence. But it’s a three-minute walk for me into the center of Spring Glen, where there could be one, and it’s a five-minute walk to Best Video in the other direction, which could also have one. In fact, the sidewalk at Best Video looks suspiciously like it has vestiges of an ancient civilization’s bus shelter implanted in it. Though the situation is undoubtedly more complicated than I am making out, CT Transit ought to recognize that it would increase ridership and improve rider satisfaction if we had a place to keep dry. (Who knows, we might even find we had a guerilla upholsterer in our midst!)