Meet Friends, Save the Environment and Other Reasons to Ride the Bus

Ever since I was young I wanted to live somewhere I could either walk to get where I wanted (I wanted to live in town when I was little and walk to my friends' houses) or I could take public transportation.  I never really liked driving that much.


Now I do take the bus.  I take the bus every weekday to work and sometimes on the weekends to run errands.


Taking the bus can be inconvenient.  You have to go when the bus goes, and where the bus goes.  Sometimes you have to take 2 buses to get where you are going.  But the good points in taking the bus far outweigh the inconvenience.


Here are 5 reasons to take the bus:


1.  It's better for the environment.  I ride the bus with a lot of people.  (The number has grown a lot since gas prices went up.)  Instead of us each driving a car and emitting carbon, we all take the same vehicle.


2.  You meet people.  For some reason people to think that people who take the bus are "weird" or dangerous even. Most of the people I take the bus with are professionals.  There is an occasional strange person, but they are generally nice and definitely not scary.  (Um, and aren't we all strange?)  Plus, you might meet someone who you would otherwise not get to meet.


I generally take the bus at the same time with the same people each day to work.  I have become really close to a few of the people.  I have gone on day trips with a couple of them.  I would not have met them otherwise.


Saturday I took the bus and met 2 very nice people.  One was particularly inspiring.  He was down and out, made bad choices and now he's making changes.  He walked miles to get to the bus that day.  I talked gardening with another bus rider.  I don't garden, but found the conversation fascinating anyway.  Gardening isn't something I usually talk about and it was a nice opportunity to see someone really light up about something they love to do.


3.  Get things done on your commute.  When you're driving yourself, you can't read or work on paperwork.  When you take public transportation, you can!  I read about 2 books per week on the bus.  I love to read and don't often allow myself time to read otherwise.


4.   Bad weather.  I don't know about you, but I hate driving in bad weather - heavy rain, snow, etc.  Bus drivers are skilled at navigating these situations so you don't have to!


5.  Save money!  I purchase a monthly bus pass for less what my fiance pays in gas for the week.  


I highly recommend trying the bus if you haven't before!