Saved by the bus
10 Sep
On Tuesday I was waiting for the bus to take me home, reading a book, and checking my watch every few minutes.
My fellow commuters were stretched out on the university’s lawn, plugged into ipods or blackberries or books. The bus was late, but they didn’t seem too concerned.
I, on the other hand, had just walked like an Olympic speed walker for a little over a mile to get to the bus stop on time and my heart rate wasn’t down to a normal level. I watched my fellow travelers for cues as to whether to be alarmed, but they seemed relaxed. Finally, fifteen minutes after the scheduled departure time another bus pulled up to pick up passengers and a woman approached the driver.
“Did you ask her about the Livingston bus?” I said.
“Yeah,” she said. “The driver got lost. He’ll be here soon.”
“He got lost?” I repeated back to her. “Lost?”
This might be possible in Seattle, or Los Angeles, or somewhere a hell of a lot more urban than Bozeman, but if you’ve been in Bozeman, Montana for more than a day you’ve probably seen the whole town, or at least the main routes.
We all stood around chuckling at the thought of someone lost in Bozeman and legitimately worried about our trip home. When the bus arrived a woman immediately said to the pushing-sixty-year-old driver, “We’re going to Livingston. Exit 330.”
“I’ve only been there once,” he said. “Last year, so you may have to give me directions.”
Directions? In a town where you can make approximately two right turns and get to the Interstate that will take you directly to Livingston? I couldn’t help myself. I had to laugh. We all did.
Once he picked up speed on the Interstate I thought our worries were over, but I was wrong. He hit the tight curves in the canyon too fast and we all swung back and forth across the leather seats like we were on a carnival ride. For some reason, this sparked another round of giggles among us, and we laughed for a good ten minutes about our driver’s initiation to the Livingston commute.
Montana isn’t a state known for its public transportation system. People live in hundreds, not tens, of miles from each other, and most places aren’t served by either Greyhound or Amtrak. I shouldn’t complain about the bus – it is after all an incredible free perk for commuters who travel to work the 25 miles between Bozeman and Livingston.
And it’s also a remedy for people who are driving impaired. I joke to Doug that you can tell who in town has had his license jerked for a DUI. He’s riding a bike past our house, in a 30 mph wind, gripping his cowboy hat in one hand, and pedalling fast with his faded cowboy boots. He’s clearly not a recreational mountain biker. He’s in need of a bus.
All I can figure is sometimes we all need to be slowed down a little bit, or maybe even lost.
We all need a bus! I loved your picture of the DUI bike rider because we are faced here in Oak Hill, Austin, TX, with the prospect of having our neighborhood bus route pulled. It seems the city bus system is on the verge of bankruptcy and we are just low priority being out in an area that resembles Montana in its hills and wide open spaces. Didn’t know we are about to resemble Montana in other ways too. But at least your commuter bus is free! How do you do it?
Oh, the reason I loved the DUI bike rider is because I recently wrote a letter to the editor listing the type of folks who would suffer if the neighborhood bus route is removed. Totally forgot the poor DUI population!
A bus driver getting lost? LOL. A better route for him is what we call here ‘light rail transit’… where the vehicle runs on rails, definitely on track.