I am so sick of the "poor people could eat better if they just tried" thing. I mean, of course they could, but how much effort do you need to expend just to eat!

I take the bus in a city with not-so great public transportation. I have a lot of privilege that makes this work for me. I have no kids and no other people at home except a cat. I work a salaried job, so most of the time I have a little flexibility it work hours. I live near a bus stop, and my work is also at a major bus stop with multiple buses. There is a grocery store on my way home. Even with all this, many times grocery shopping ends up being a bit of a nightmare.

This is the scenario tonight:

Today during work, I went online and made a grocery list and printed out some coupons from the store. I decided to make Chuck Roast (on sale) and chili. I already have the chili ingrediants, so I just need a green pepper I need to buy Chuck Roast and veggies, as well as salad ingrediants.

I look up the bus schedule and see that if I work later than usual, I don't have to wait so long for a transfer, so I decide to take the bus at 5:10 even though I get out of work at 4:30. This will get me downtown (where the bus transfers) in time for the 5:41 bus. Then, I will get to the grocery store at around 5:51, and will be able to catch the bus at either 6:07 or 6:27.

You see where this is leading, right?

I do make the bus at work, even though I had to be rude to a few people who wanted to chat as I ran out the door-- "Sorry, I have to catch the bus!!"

Then, this bus gets delayed. I am watching the time, though and we get downtown with 2 minutes to make my transfer, which is on another street, but a very short walk. I am walking fast but not running, because I don't see my bus at the stop yet.

But wait- I see that my bus was hidden behind another bus, so I run toward the stop, waiving my bus pass. The bus driver looks right at me as she pulls away before I can get there!

So now, I wait another 20 minutes for the bus. This also means that once I get to the store, I can complete my whole journey, from bus stop to store to shopping to checking out and bck to the bus stop in 20 minutes total, or I will have to then wait another hour, because the buses stop running often.

I get to the grocery store, and I just have to hurry. I can't really look at the veggies and make choices- I just have to get everything on my list as fast as possible so I can get to the checkout.

I get lucky with the checkout, because it is usually very busy, but I am very, very close on time. My cashier asks me what kind of garlic I have, because she needs to look up the PLU. Apparently they don't have a listing for just garlic, so I tell her never mind, I am really need to catch my bus. I just leave the garlic.

She also packs the bags so that I have 7 bags that aren't very full. I am trying to re-bag them, because that many bags is a bitch on the bus, but I don't have a lot of time. She is very nice, because she is trying to hurry me out of there.

But- I do miss the bus. So now I have to wait an hour, with my groceries, for the bus. It is 6:28 (the bus comes at 6:27) and the next bus comes at 7:30.

So I wait. And take the next bus, which is very crowded, and EVERYONE has grocery bags.

And I get home at 8:00 and te lst fucking thing I want to do is make pot roast.

Now add a child to this scenario. We're going to McDonalds.

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!