Source: Streetsblog USA
Back when I finally got around to getting my driver’s license I first had to get a new learner’s permit—I’d originally gotten a learner’s permit when I was sixteen, but it expired in the intervening twenty years or so, but that’s another story—and I took the bus to the Department of Motor Vehicles. There was only one bus that ran kinda sorta close to the DMV and it only went there once every three hours. The bus actually ran every hour and a half, but on one of those trips it stopped in a completely different spot where you could still get to the DMV if you were willing to walk three miles and cross a couple of interstates. The bus stopped in the middle of nowhere, in a spot where no one got off and there was really no place for anyone to get on. The driver was surprised I had ridden that far and I thought the driver had made a mistake until I checked the route map and found that, yeah, this really was where every other bus stopped. Why the bus stopped in the middle of nowhere when it could just as easily have stopped about a mile back on the edge of somewhere is still a mystery to me, and fortunately I had the good sense to stay on the bus and ride back to the main station. Instead of having to sit out there in the middle of nowhere for an hour and a half I got to sit somewhere for an hour and a half.
It’s been several years but I wonder if the bus still stops at that same place. If so it could be a contender for America’s Sorriest Bus Stop which currently has stops in Seattle, Washington and Fremont, California going head to head. And those are some pretty sorry bus stops, but they look to me like they’re close to somewhere.
You tell great stories, Chris. I don’t always comment, but I read them all.
And . . .that that was a hilarious video. I have to look him up.
Thanks–I’m always happy to share great stories.
I just love the irony of taking the bus to the DMV. Great story–those pics really do look like the middle of nowhere!
The strangest thing about taking the bus to the DMV is I wasn’t the only one going there. I think I forgot to mention that there were about six of us–enough that they should make it easier to get there by bus.
Bus routes don’t have to make sense! They seem to prefer them that way.
It’s absolutely crazy. What I think Seattle’s and Fremont’s bus stops demonstrate, though, is that there are places where public transportation goes pretty far out.
I took a cross-country bus once. Well, across a couple states. It wasn’t horrible.
I’ve toured by bus a few times. That’s worse. And better. Depends who you’re with.
I would think it would also depend on the bus. I’ve been on long bus trips too and they’ve mostly been pretty quiet. On one trip a guy told me about “the old days” when it was common for people to carry live chickens on the bus. That must have been an experience.
Your blog is somewhere I’m always glad to be. Thanks, Chris.
And I am always glad you’re here.
I don’t always read your blog posts on time but I usually arrive at them eventually and I am always glad I did. It’s only when the bus of life I travel on at 90 miles an hour gets stopped by a road block I have time to catch up.
Is it a bus or a train? I always prefer trains although it cracks me up when they get stopped by leaves on the track.