14. Bus
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All Rosa Parks ever wanted was a chance to ride on the bus like everyone else. The bus took protesters to Washington for numerous marches. The bus is the vehicle of everyman, but more specifically the poor and disenfranchised man. If you live in the US your local bus service is probably mostly for poor people and old people and especially old poor people. The service is infrequent and unreliable. In Seattle my friends who work for dot.coms that survived the crash never ride the bus. They drive. The other passengers on the bus are too scary, they say. And the service sucks.
The bus stops are dreary. You stand by the road watching the more privileged and valued citizens of this country in motion, in cars, stamping your feet in the exhaust stained snow. They are going somewhere and you are waiting. The sign post for the bust stop is bent, it was hit by a car: watch out.
But the bus is the future. Even if it isn't a natural gas bus, or an electric bus, a regular bus, be it greyhound or the city, is one of the best and most environmentally friendly options for travel. A packed bus is the best of all. Economies of scale. It really helps when you let one engine move a whole crowd of people rather than taking your own car.
In the US we have done everything we can to discourage people from riding the bus. The bus is the ghettoized transportation of last resort. When you think of a nice place it is never a bus station that comes to mind.
The things is: a bus is almost as good as a train and in some cases better.
The bus is the future.
Transportation:
Last: 11. The Wounded City
Next: 16. Share
These little snapshots of transportation are part of a larger series called " The Urban Naturalist."
All Rosa Parks ever wanted was a chance to ride on the bus like everyone else. The bus took protesters to Washington for numerous marches. The bus is the vehicle of everyman, but more specifically the poor and disenfranchised man. If you live in the US your local bus service is probably mostly for poor people and old people and especially old poor people. The service is infrequent and unreliable. In Seattle my friends who work for dot.coms that survived the crash never ride the bus. They drive. The other passengers on the bus are too scary, they say. And the service sucks.
The bus stops are dreary. You stand by the road watching the more privileged and valued citizens of this country in motion, in cars, stamping your feet in the exhaust stained snow. They are going somewhere and you are waiting. The sign post for the bust stop is bent, it was hit by a car: watch out.
But the bus is the future. Even if it isn't a natural gas bus, or an electric bus, a regular bus, be it greyhound or the city, is one of the best and most environmentally friendly options for travel. A packed bus is the best of all. Economies of scale. It really helps when you let one engine move a whole crowd of people rather than taking your own car.
In the US we have done everything we can to discourage people from riding the bus. The bus is the ghettoized transportation of last resort. When you think of a nice place it is never a bus station that comes to mind.
The things is: a bus is almost as good as a train and in some cases better.
The bus is the future.
Transportation:
Last: 11. The Wounded City
Next: 16. Share
These little snapshots of transportation are part of a larger series called " The Urban Naturalist."