Comments on: Buses Are Terrific

By: Lisa

Lisa — Mon, 21 Jan 2008 15:58:34 +0000

I almost always sleep on the bus, in my many years of riding only once did I not wake up in time. (The driver knew where I got off, he stopped the bus and woke me up.)

I still ride the bus on bad snow days. It beats getting to work and already being tense and angry.

By: Janet

Janet — Fri, 18 Jan 2008 19:04:49 +0000

City buses with TV monitors? Flasshe is right; this is completely out of line.

By: Flasshe

Flasshe — Fri, 18 Jan 2008 05:44:28 +0000

A few years back, the bus system installed several TV screens in the buses.

That is unacceptable.

By: 2fs

2fs — Fri, 18 Jan 2008 05:15:48 +0000

I used to ride the bus quite a bit, but when we moved to our house, to get to either of the places I worked required transfers, bringing the transit time up to potentially an hour-plus each way…it was time to get a second car. I’ve ridden the bus a few times since then, when one of the cars was in the shop or something – and discovered a brand new pet peeve, one that, if I had to ride the bus regularly, would really irritate me. A few years back, the bus system installed several TV screens in the buses. At first, they simply had a few silent ads, and route info, and the occasional map – in other words, they were useful and unobtrusive. However, shortly thereafter they started introducing ads with sound – and worse, they’d only come on periodically, every few minutes or so. The really annoying irony here is that the buses have signs posted prohibiting the playing of boomboxes, etc. – yet apparently the bus co.’s own noise is perfectly acceptable. Next time I ride the bus, I plan on bringing a boombox and playing Metal Machine Music every time one of those ads comes on. Of course, it’ll just sound like the bus’s own brakes, so people probably won’t even notice.

By: Bill the Galactic Hero

Bill the Galactic Hero — Thu, 17 Jan 2008 17:10:39 +0000

I road the bus (two buses) to Boulder for about a year and a half. Once I had the route memorized so I wasn’t worried about where to get off, it was great being able to read or study. It just took some practice to get used to reading in that environment. Of course, the total commute time was longer, but I got to read, for which I always had trouble scheduling time; so, it worked out as a net gain.

I quit riding when the number 6 bus (going downtown) got so erratic in its timing that I was always missing the express from downtown to Boulder. Since those run on half hour schedules, that was a killer.

If I get another job in Boulder, I’ll try the bus again.