Did you know the bus beats driving?
One of my earliest memories is riding the city bus with my mom before I even started kindergarten. We called it an ““adventure.””Looking back, we were probably just headed to the grocery store or the neighborhood library, but the street sliding past the window always felt new.
Time to watch the window
When we drive, we look only ahead: at signals, lanes, and the brake lights in front of us. On a bus or tram, we can finally look sideways. A new bakery, street trees that change with the seasons, people sharing umbrellas at the stop. Public transit is the cheapest way to see a city.
How to ride together
Public transit is also practice in sharing a space with strangers. Giving up a seat, wearing your bag in front, letting people off before you board: small rules like these add up to a city’s manners.
A good city is one where the rich ride the bus.
A city planner’s remark
- A commute long enough to finish a book
- Plans with no parking worries
- Daily steps that grow with every walk to the stop
- The faces of neighbors on your route
Of course, public transit can be inconvenient. Waits between buses are long, and the morning subway is suffocating. But the way to fix that is not for everyone to buy a car; it is for more people to ride and demand better routes. Today, grab your transit pass instead of your car keys.
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