Introduction

I am a girl.

I ride a bus.

Just over one year ago, I stopped driving and started riding a bus. This decision was prompted mostly by money issues. My car died completely and I couldn't afford to fix it or get a new one. I was determined, at 33, that I would no longer ask my mother to bail me out from failed cars. After many years making between $9,000 - $14,000, I was finally making enough money where it seemed like I might not have to be in debt forever. So I decided to take the bus for a month and see how I did. If I liked it enough to continue, I would.

Here I am, over a year later, and I am still doing it. There are downsides-- I live in a small city, and getting places other than work sometimes requires quite a bit of planning. Getting to and from work takes longer than it did in a car. I must be patient if I miss a bus. Sometimes there are weird men who ask you on dates.

The upsides do outweigh this. The biggest one is monetary. With gas over $4.15 here, the $56 I pay a month to take the bus is a great savings, and this is not including the money I would spend paying for a car payment, insurance, maintenance, and parking. I am able to treat myself more to things I truly want and have also been able to pay my bills on time and start paying down debt I also feel mentally freer. I have never had a car that I did not need to worry about breaking down and stranding me. I enjoy watching people and there are plenty of people to watch on the bus. I can read, or watch TV on my ipod or pay my bills or do any number of things with the time I spend on the bus that is much more productive than the time I spent driving. I do not have the temptation to just randomly go shopping or out to eat.

I regret not starting to record this experience when I started, but I hope to spend a little of each post talking about mmy earlier experiences and the issues of public transportation in Rochester, NY. I also want to talk about my daily experiences and the people I meet. I also would like to encourage people to start taking advantage of public transportation-- only when more people ride will we be able to get more routes and better times!