Eating on the bus

So, all the buses and TRAX have a sign saying food is prohibited on the bus. I don't think I've ever seen this rule enforced. Yesterday a guy gets on with a soda and a Subway sandwich bag. He proceeds to eat his cookie and drink from his soda. Yeah, give the guy a break. One of the biggest problems is we're too lenient on this type of infraction. Someone spills, the seat/floor get sticky and the bus becomes a little less nice. If the rule means nothing get rid of it. If not, I expect people to bring boom boxes and start smoking on the bus as well. I can find this type of rule breaking much easier on TRAX, but on a bus where the bus driver is the gatekeeper and can sometimes see what is being brought on the bus it's just hard for me to understand.

So I drove in today

Yeah, I just couldn't get my body out of bed in time to take the bus. I thought that I could lay down for a few minutes more but it turned into an hour. Anyway, I left my house at 8:23 and arrived at work at 8:53. I guess that's about 1/2 hour. At that time of the day the roads are pretty open so it turned out to be a pretty good commute. I listened to my iPod so I enjoyed my time in the car too. Anyway, I'll have to see how the commute home is.

One of the biggest shortcomings of Public Transit

It's public. I sat near the back of the bus today and a couple of yackers (people who talk the entire ride) were bugging. I finally put on my headphones and cranked the classical music to help me concentrate on my reading. Anyway, I guess if the bus is a giant water cooler then just talk. I find it's a great time to read or catch up on something. All I can say is that I probably need a new book if I'm that distracted.

Route 348

After starting this week with the intention of tracking the true schedule of the 356, I decided instead to try another bus, the 348. I like it. I actually takes considerably less time than the 356 in the morning. I also noticed that the 348 drops me off closer near my work faster than the 356 since I caught the 356 at the beginning of the route, and it would drop me off at work very last on its route. the 348 doesn't pick me up first, only stops at actual stops, and it seems like the bus drivers actually know the route - I mean, really, a bus driver that knows the route is a lot better than one who doesn't. I think I'll be taking the 348 from now on. The 348 has better buses, is not as packed and there are more of them. Plus, it even stays pretty close to its schedule - something that can't be said for any vehicle driving in rush hour down 56th West. The only thing I have noticed thus far is that its schedule in the morning between 90th South and 6200 South is too pessimistic. The bus waits for about 3-5 minutes because it has arrived too quickly. The bus could be quicker if the schedule reflected this early arrival instead of having to wait at a corner for a few minutes. The bus arrives later than scheduled by anywhere from 8-15 minutes as I've been tracking. It arrives earlier than expected but I have started to actually catch it now that I've tried to get there a littler earlier than I thought it would arrive.