Public Transit: The Better Way?
Today the school asked me to bring in 6 passport sized photos for tomorrow. No problem, but where to get them? I was advised by my roommate that the Padova Train Station has photo booths, so I decided to venture over there after school since I need to know where the train station is anyways.
I had planned on checking out a gym 15 minutes walking distance from my place after school as well, so I figured I would hit the train station on the way back. I didn’t take my map with me (aside: I don’t really believe in maps). I knew the general direction of the train station, so I was not worried. Plus, the random walking is good to help me figure out the lay of the land.
About 40 minutes after I left the gym (without getting lost), I made it to the train station and got my photos taken. No problem. But after about an hour of walking, and a full day of work, I was feeling a little tired, and didn’t exactly relish the thought of a 30 minute walk back home again. Especially since I wanted to stop at the grocery store down the street on my way.
All the public buses (APS for those acronym maniacs out there) stop right in front of the train station, so I figured “Why not take a bus back home? I need to figure that out sooner or later.” I knew I had to take the number 4 bus, so I went to the platform. Just as I got there, my bus pulled away, so I bought an inter-city ticket, which is good for 75 minutes upon boarding the bus, and waited 20 minutes for the next bus. It came. I got on, validated my ticket, and sat down, looking forward to getting a different look at the city.
40 minutes later, I began to wonder exactly which way the bus was going because it certainly wasn’t towards my apartment. As I watched the beautiful Italian countryside of corn fields and vineyards pass by, it suddenly dawned on me what had happened: I had taken the bus going the other way. At that moment, the bus reached the end of the line. I was the only passenger left. The bus driver got up to change the sign on the front of the bus and saw me sitting there trying not to laugh at my situation. He gave me this look like ‘What the hell are you still doing here?!?!?’ which made me laugh even harder. I felt like saying, “Yes, I like to ride the bus for fun. I have nothing better to do.”
So, I had to wait for the bus to go ALL THE WAY BACK to the train station. It stopped on the other side of the street from where I got on. Now I know. Then it was another 10 minutes to get to my stop. I spent the entire 75 minutes of my ticket sitting on that bus.
This is how much time I “saved” by taking the bus instead of walking:
20 minutes waiting for the bus + 40 minutes going the wrong way + 25 minutes backtracking (less traffic) + 10 minutes to my stop = 95 minutes
30 minute walk home – 95 minute bus tour of Padova= – 65 minutes
In my defense I ask, “Can you make any sense out of this bus stop sign?”
And when I finally did get home, the grocery store was closed. Of course.
I had planned on checking out a gym 15 minutes walking distance from my place after school as well, so I figured I would hit the train station on the way back. I didn’t take my map with me (aside: I don’t really believe in maps). I knew the general direction of the train station, so I was not worried. Plus, the random walking is good to help me figure out the lay of the land.
About 40 minutes after I left the gym (without getting lost), I made it to the train station and got my photos taken. No problem. But after about an hour of walking, and a full day of work, I was feeling a little tired, and didn’t exactly relish the thought of a 30 minute walk back home again. Especially since I wanted to stop at the grocery store down the street on my way.
All the public buses (APS for those acronym maniacs out there) stop right in front of the train station, so I figured “Why not take a bus back home? I need to figure that out sooner or later.” I knew I had to take the number 4 bus, so I went to the platform. Just as I got there, my bus pulled away, so I bought an inter-city ticket, which is good for 75 minutes upon boarding the bus, and waited 20 minutes for the next bus. It came. I got on, validated my ticket, and sat down, looking forward to getting a different look at the city.
40 minutes later, I began to wonder exactly which way the bus was going because it certainly wasn’t towards my apartment. As I watched the beautiful Italian countryside of corn fields and vineyards pass by, it suddenly dawned on me what had happened: I had taken the bus going the other way. At that moment, the bus reached the end of the line. I was the only passenger left. The bus driver got up to change the sign on the front of the bus and saw me sitting there trying not to laugh at my situation. He gave me this look like ‘What the hell are you still doing here?!?!?’ which made me laugh even harder. I felt like saying, “Yes, I like to ride the bus for fun. I have nothing better to do.”
So, I had to wait for the bus to go ALL THE WAY BACK to the train station. It stopped on the other side of the street from where I got on. Now I know. Then it was another 10 minutes to get to my stop. I spent the entire 75 minutes of my ticket sitting on that bus.
This is how much time I “saved” by taking the bus instead of walking:
20 minutes waiting for the bus + 40 minutes going the wrong way + 25 minutes backtracking (less traffic) + 10 minutes to my stop = 95 minutes
30 minute walk home – 95 minute bus tour of Padova= – 65 minutes
In my defense I ask, “Can you make any sense out of this bus stop sign?”
And when I finally did get home, the grocery store was closed. Of course.
posted by Going Somewhere @ 10:30 pm
1 Comments:
At 2:41 am, September 07, 2005,
Anonymous said…
nope, looks like a whole bunch of nothing to me
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