Well..I survived almost 3.5 weeks of commuting on the Metro bus in Los Angeles. But this past Thursday...I hit the end of my rope. Maybe it was one too many fistfights (I saw ANOTHER one just a few days after the one I blogged about--where a man shoved around a woman!), one too many smelly homeless people, several too many buses packed to the ceiling with passengers, or possibly the many, many hours spent on traveling just 8 miles.
That's it. No more bus for me. I bit the bullet and paid for an annual parking pass at UCLA. And since we only have one car, N's taking the subway into work now (all the trains go into downtown). We'll see how his experience goes.
For awhile I made myself forget that public transportation was one of the main reasons why I wanted to leave NYC in the first place. I know it's better for the environment, it saves money, etc., etc....but ohmygoodness, I just can't relax when I'm on it. It's just constant stress. To me, public trans = stress. And riding the 60 minutes to work and then the 60+ minutes back just felt like I was tacking on another 120+ minutes to my workday. I didn't have that "Ah, a workday accomplished!" feeling of relief once 4:30pm (when I get out of work) hit. I had that "ugh...now I have to wait 20 minutes for the bus" gray cloud settle over me. Then that cloud would start raining once the 6' 6" guy standing next to me on the bus stepped on my feet over and over again. By the time I'd get home, I'd be in a bad mood.
But heading over to my car at the end of the day...that is true relief. I'm in my own space, I can recline the seat to a comfortable position and go home speeding all the way if I want to. Not that I do, I just could. If I wanted.
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