Don’t Talk To The Driver.

I have no idea who's responsible for this, but I love it.

I have no idea who’s responsible for this, but I love it.

“You were supposed to turn back there.”

“No sir, you’re thinking of the number thirteen route.”

I was standing quietly at the front of the bus waiting to swipe my fare card, but I couldn’t because a guy had come up to the front and was arguing with the driver. It wouldn’t have bothered me but the light had turned green and cars were now speeding around us.

“Well what am I supposed to do?”

“You can get off here and you can walk two blocks over that way and catch the thirteen.”

“But I paid. Can you give me a transfer card?”

“No sir, we don’t have those anymore.”

When I started riding the bus you could pay your fare and get a transfer to ride another bus for an extra ten cents, but they stopped offering those fifteen years ago. Where had this guy been?

“If you go catch another bus and tell the driver you got the wrong bus they might let you on without paying.”

“Maybe I should give ’em your name. What’s your name?”

“Just say you were on bus number 701.”

The guy wasn’t happy about this. He was pretty insistent he wanted the driver’s name, but he finally got off the bus so we could get underway.

It’s one thing to be held up in traffic because there’s just a lot of traffic. It’s another to be held up because some jackass doesn’t know what he’s doing.

fireman

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5 Comments

  1. Gina

    OK, my comment has nothing at all to do with your post but the fire hydrant at the end made me remember this. There’s a state park not too far from our house and one time when my son was teeny-tiny and only speaking a few words, we went walking with him in that park. Out of the blue he said, “Winnie-the-Pooh!” and pointed to something in the distance. It turned out to be a a very squat fire hydrant colored Winnie-the-Pooh orangish-yellow. It was surrounded by grass and it really did look like Winnie the Pooh. I wish I had a photo of it to share. It would be funny to drape a little red t-shirt over it and see if anyone noticed the similarity. With my luck I’d get a citation and fine for defacing public property. “It’s a fire hydrant that looks like Winne-the-Pooh! The world needs to know this!”.

    Reply
    1. Christopher Waldrop (Post author)

      It doesn’t just need a little red t-shirt. It needs a Winnie-the-Pooh face painted on, and maybe some ears. And a honey–or “HUNNY”–jar. Yes, you probably would get a citation for doing that, but you’re right. The world needs to be made aware of this resemblance. There should be a citation given for not doing it!

      Reply
  2. Jay

    That’s the problem with the bus. They let just about anybody get on.

    Reply
    1. Christopher Waldrop (Post author)

      Tell me about it. Some days I feel like I should paraphrase Groucho Marx and refuse to ride any bus that would have someone like me as a passenger.

      Reply
  3. Rob Waldrop

    When I was stationed in NYC, while we were in the shipyard on Staten Island those of us without cars depended on the bus. Back then they did do transfers (free), and if we were going to Manhattan the Staten Island Ferry was free with a military ID… However, I know on at least one occasion the bus I boarded had the route number above the windshield for the ferry terminal but the actual destination was the Staten Island Mall, in the opposite direction. When I asked the driver, he sighed and said “So I forgot to change the number, whaddaya want, you payed $.50 for the ride and saw the island.” Then swung off-route to drop me at the ferry terminal after finding out I was active duty.

    Reply

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