I ride public transportation to and from downtown Salt Lake City pretty much each day of the week, riding the Fast Bus is actually quite enjoyable, UTA uses nice coaches to shuffle mostly business people to and from downtown, the stops are limited and the service is quick. Riding the bus it takes about an hour to get from South Jordan to downtown Salt Lake City, driving takes about 40 minutes. I spend 40 hours a month locked in a steel tube traveling down the freeway at 65 MPH, here is what I can and cannot accomplish in 40 hours:
- I don't single-handedly release 1000 lbs of CO2 into our atmosphere
- I do catch up on sleep
- I don't spend $150.00 in gas.
- I do enjoy my coffee in the morning
- I don't stop at the gas station to get doughnuts and/or a Monster Energy drink
- I do catch up on email
- I should do my homework
- I do read the newspaper before I get to work
- I don't spend $30.00 a month on maintaining a vehicle.
- I do come home not stressed from driving
- I can't go golfing at a moment's notice
- I do get to make faces at other drivers as we fly past them in the carpool lane
- I do catch up on reading
- I can't stop to use the facilities because I drank a pot of coffee right before I left work
- I learned to empty the bladder before getting on the bus
- I can farmer blow on the window and have someone else clean it up but, I don't
- I don't put 1083 miles on a car in a month
Don't get me wrong, there are cons; on public transportation I get to deal with these types of people:
- Mr. Talks-To-Air - even with headphones on, you can still hear his side of the conversation
- Mr. Needs Personal Space - I'll sit in the aisle seat, just so no one will sit next to me.
- The Mannequin - once I sit down, I'm staring at a fleck of dust in the window till I reach my stop.
- The Speed Reader - After I spent untold amounts of money on the Rocket Reader program, I am determined to show off my newly found talent: reading my book cover to cover before I get off the bus
- The Sleeper - I fall asleep as fast as possible and try to wake up as close to my stop as possible, sometimes missing my stop completely.
I fall into the last 2 categories, although I haven't missed my stop yet.
Most importantly, 98% of the time, work leaves when the bus does, so I come home relaxed and ready to spend time with Laurie, Kylie and the dogs, this reason alone is reason enough to ride public transportation.
