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I was waiting for that day to come, turning 60, then eligible for a senior pass, and $1 one-way bus fares! Without the pass, $2!
I work 4 nites a week, and I take the bus 2 nites a week, sometimes 3, and I now look forward to each bus trip! Especially the time I have to read! And, just being around real-real people, for a change, and the entertainment of eavesdropping on conversations! Also provides opportunities to makes friends, as I find, that the same crowd usually takes the buses I take, going and returning from work.
I also enjoy the much-needed exercise of walking 4 blocks to catch the bus, and lately, I've been taking a different bus on Sunday nites, where I have to walk almost a mile to where I work. Great exercise!
I even took a couple trips to Los Angeles this past summer, and navigated all over L.A. by public buses, with a $5 Tap Card! And enjoyed every minute of my frugality!
I walked and rode buses exclusively, until moving to a more rural area a few years ago. I'm shocked at the expense involved in owning a car, even a cheap, used car! So I'm looking forward to moving back to a city, so I can get rid of the car. Such an impractical form of transportation, except for the wealthy.
My bus/trolley pass is $18/month. It's a Senior/Disabled/Medical pass, and you can get them once you hit 60. The regular pass price is $72, so I'm really glad I'm a senior now. It takes me 3 minutes to walk to the bus stop, and the busses run every 10 minutes. Even though I have a vehicle, I only drive when it's necessary, like when I work at night, and get off very late. I save wear and tear on my van, save on maintenance, plus I use less gas, and I track my mileage with a mileage log every time I drive somewhere.
There is no public transportation within around 15 miles. It was so much fun taking bus and metro in Washington DC. Roomy, well ventilated, pleasant passengers, always on time, ...
I've tried taking them here in Arizona. I am very much an advocate for public transit, even though I own a vehicle. Transit here has been a lesson in just how poorly, many areas of the USA are on this subject. There are buses here, but the service is hardly efficient. It is spotty, schedules are very limited, except on a few routes here and there. Many bus stops don't even look like a bus stop outside of the major routes. Maybe a sign on a pole or something on the side of the road. Like many things here it is obvious not much effort, or interest has been put into this subject in Arizona. Transit service was completely neglected for many decades, now it has improved but again so limited. That in most cases it is a complete waste of time and very frustrating. I find myself wondering many times. Just what does Arizona care about, and does it really want to be part of the USA.
Yes! I am trying to coax my old high-mileage car into lasting longer so trying to minimize the mileage on it (not so much gas savings as gas is tres cheap now, but repair avoidance). Also, I am getting a free bus pass (long story), so it comes out to $0 to take the bus...except of course for the time constraints, operating by a schedule, and such.
But that's not a big deal to me and I use my time on the bus to:
a) read
b) sleep
c) sketch my fellow passengers (this is a new thing, taking up drawing as a hobby).
I probably drive two or three times a month, for things that I absolutely positively cant use the bus for.
Oddly enough, my cost-per-mile is actually going up since I still have insurance and registration on my car.
Every time I've ever lived in an area that had public transportation that was viable, I've used it. It was a million times more convenient in Chicago to use the El and buses than to own, maintain, and (most importantly) deal with parking a car.
The public transportation where I live now is an utter joke for a city of this size, the coverage is pitiful, and it's really too bad... it's definitely one of the things that holds us back.
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