These days while I am getting Web Design training, I do the practical thing to get downtown and take the bus. It literally picks me up steps from my house and deposits me steps from my school. Since I haven't been a regular bus rider in years (52P during college), I was somewhat of an outsider to the bus life. One thing I felt, was that since I had a car, this was a special journey, such as when I would take the light rail to the airport. For others, of course, this is their only connection to their job, five days a week. In that respect, I try to make a positive contribution to the bus experience. I thank the bus driver, I free up the seat next to me if the bus is filling up.
Two days ago I was coming home on a bus that I normally would not take. Later on, the man sitting next to me got off the bus. I noticed his bag still sitting in my seat. I was the good Samaritan and stopped the bus and hailed the passenger. He thanked me for the chance to retrieve it.
I normally would have taken the bus downtown to school today (Monday), but instead drove down the path the bus would take and parked closer to downtown. A couple weeks ago, a girl did a similar thing, and had parked next to my bus stop, having missed the bus at her stop. This day, as I met up with the bus down Johnson street, I saw a guy heading slowly toward the bus stop as it drove away. He belatedly started a half-hearted jog toward the exiting bus. Noticing this, I was the good Samaritan and pulled over to offer him a ride. His story was that he worked down the road but his car was in the shop.
Later, after I parked and put on my iPod, I listened to an Onion-cast, a blurb about how a guy's day was ruined because he missed the bus.
