Saturday, March 08, 2008
The Chinatown Bus - Lucky Star
Including my round trip to find my lodgings, I have now done 3 round trips to Boston on Lucky Star. Four of my journeys, those not taking place after work on a Friday, have been very pleasant and incredible value for $15 – less for students. My Friday journeys however, have had me considering alternate means of travel to get home to Brooklyn.
On Friday, the buses are packed out. Not surprisingly, a huge percentage of the passengers are students. Most of these talk among themselves or study. They might occasionally get a little loud, but are really no problem. On the bus yesterday, however, were 3 girls who looked 18 but acted 12. The guy sitting next to me theorized that this was their first time on a bus, to which I added, “Without mummy or daddy”.
They acted as if they were alone, instead of on a bus with perhaps 2 empty spaces. Everything was at the tops of their voices. Fake laughing, which grates the hell out of me and people should get over when they’re older than maybe 4; singing pop songs; clapping and generally not giving a shit about anyone else. Even with music in my ears, they were loud. Apparently, at least one person said something to them during the journey, which they ignored. I couldn’t hold my tongue anymore near the end of the journey. I saw the look on the face of the poor woman sitting in front of them and told her I felt sorry for her. And then my anger took over and I raised my voice so that the children could hear: “…acting like they’re the only damned people on the bus….” I didn’t say much. The girl who I could see looked shocked. A couple of people towards the rear of the bus clapped! There was silence for the duration.
The man next to me turned out to be alright, but I wasn’t too thrilled by him earlier in the journey. He could only sit with his legs very wide apart, which for me has no place in public transportation. And the twice he briefly slept, he snored!
But he was better than my neighbour from a week earlier. My apologies to any seriously overweight person who reads this, but you will be aware you aren’t the most popular seat mates in cramped areas. When the largest woman I have seen for some while passed by my seat, I confess to feeling relieved. But moments later she was back, asking if she could sit next to me. Of course I said that she could. And somehow, she was actually the more comfortable of my two Friday seat-mates to share with.
Her problem was that she seemed to need to kill time by calling everyone in her cell phone contacts list. And she made no attempt to keep her end of the conversations private, get louder as each conversation continued and with each successive call. There is etiquette on buses to keep calls to a minimum as they irritate those around you. And I don’t feel comfortable talking when in such close proximity with others; so my sensibility fits in with the protocol.
After two bad Fridays, I decided to check out Peter Pan Buses. Booking online is $8 more – they claim that the fare is $20, but they add $3 for the annoyingly named convenience charge. (Buying at the gate avoids the bogus charge but costs rather more.) I would have done it, but they say you must be on the bus an hour before departure. I shall make inquiries as to whether they stick with this.
Home on week one at 11:55pm, I decided to work extra hours earlier in the week so as to leave early on Fridays from now on. Yesterday, I walked in at 10:15pm. It isn’t ideal, as I must leave here early to mid afternoon on Sundays, so don’t have long at home. But the joy of my own privacy; my own couch; my own bed; being around my things in my own lovely apartment, make it absolutely worth it.
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On Friday, the buses are packed out. Not surprisingly, a huge percentage of the passengers are students. Most of these talk among themselves or study. They might occasionally get a little loud, but are really no problem. On the bus yesterday, however, were 3 girls who looked 18 but acted 12. The guy sitting next to me theorized that this was their first time on a bus, to which I added, “Without mummy or daddy”.
They acted as if they were alone, instead of on a bus with perhaps 2 empty spaces. Everything was at the tops of their voices. Fake laughing, which grates the hell out of me and people should get over when they’re older than maybe 4; singing pop songs; clapping and generally not giving a shit about anyone else. Even with music in my ears, they were loud. Apparently, at least one person said something to them during the journey, which they ignored. I couldn’t hold my tongue anymore near the end of the journey. I saw the look on the face of the poor woman sitting in front of them and told her I felt sorry for her. And then my anger took over and I raised my voice so that the children could hear: “…acting like they’re the only damned people on the bus….” I didn’t say much. The girl who I could see looked shocked. A couple of people towards the rear of the bus clapped! There was silence for the duration.
The man next to me turned out to be alright, but I wasn’t too thrilled by him earlier in the journey. He could only sit with his legs very wide apart, which for me has no place in public transportation. And the twice he briefly slept, he snored!
But he was better than my neighbour from a week earlier. My apologies to any seriously overweight person who reads this, but you will be aware you aren’t the most popular seat mates in cramped areas. When the largest woman I have seen for some while passed by my seat, I confess to feeling relieved. But moments later she was back, asking if she could sit next to me. Of course I said that she could. And somehow, she was actually the more comfortable of my two Friday seat-mates to share with.
Her problem was that she seemed to need to kill time by calling everyone in her cell phone contacts list. And she made no attempt to keep her end of the conversations private, get louder as each conversation continued and with each successive call. There is etiquette on buses to keep calls to a minimum as they irritate those around you. And I don’t feel comfortable talking when in such close proximity with others; so my sensibility fits in with the protocol.
After two bad Fridays, I decided to check out Peter Pan Buses. Booking online is $8 more – they claim that the fare is $20, but they add $3 for the annoyingly named convenience charge. (Buying at the gate avoids the bogus charge but costs rather more.) I would have done it, but they say you must be on the bus an hour before departure. I shall make inquiries as to whether they stick with this.
Home on week one at 11:55pm, I decided to work extra hours earlier in the week so as to leave early on Fridays from now on. Yesterday, I walked in at 10:15pm. It isn’t ideal, as I must leave here early to mid afternoon on Sundays, so don’t have long at home. But the joy of my own privacy; my own couch; my own bed; being around my things in my own lovely apartment, make it absolutely worth it.
