It’s a League Game, Smokey

One of the nice benefits of working at Eltron is having a free Eco Pass for the Regional Transportation District (RTD). This started last year, and I can’t tell you how many times I’ve ridden the bus for free as a result. What I can tell you is that on several occasions, I’ve gotten a bit more adventure than I’d anticipated.

For the following story to make sense, I need to give you a little background. It takes me about an hour to ride the bus (actually two buses) from home to work, and a bit longer on the return trip. Much of this is the result of having to change buses in the middle. I ride the first bus a bit farther than necessary, and then I run-walk to catch the next bus a few blocks away. All told, this isn’t really a long commute, especially by some standards; however, you must compare this to my driving commute of about 25 minutes to put things into proper perspective. Even compared to commuting by bicycle (my preferred conveyance, when laziness doesn’t hold me back), the bus is incredibly slow. I can make the bike ride of 12 miles in just under 40 minutes—even faster when I experience traffic-light karma. This allows for a relaxed shower after arriving at work without matching the bus’s best possible time.

Despite the obvious time disadvantage, I rather enjoy riding the bus. Unless I’m stuck sitting in one of the ridiculous sideways-facing seats, I can read or listen to music in relative comfort. The sideways-facing seats require constant vigilance in order to avoid being hurled about the bus like a whirling dervish. All this not withstanding, I’ve had more than my share of epic RTD adventures. I thought I’d hit a low point a couple of years ago when I’d ridden the bus to work on what was then a reasonably sunny and gentle winter day only to be stranded at the bus stop on the return trip when a blizzard caused RTD to suspend activities in the middle of the day. Were it not for the generosity and pity of a coworker, I’d have been left with no recourse but to walk the 12 miles back to Lafayette in the driving snow. That event had left me wondering just how long it would take to walk from Boulder to Lafayette.

Every year, RTD issues new stickers that you afix to your existing Eco Pass to verify that it is valid for another year. This past fall, the “good people” at RTD decided to vastly reduce the value of the Eco Pass by adding a surcharge to the airport shuttle buses, and they also increased the general fare structure yet again with what I find to be scant evidence of financial hardship. One of the general problems with public transit is that idiots at all levels of society hold the misguided opinion that it should be profitable or at least self-funding. This is so completely contrary to all of the goals of mass transit that it doesn’t even require explanation. (Note: if you’re confused about this and have the chutzpah to ask, I’ll be glad to outline my argument.)

Well, this year, on the 6th of January, Jess and I met up in downtown Boulder for a few minutes before she was to head to her monthly book club gathering in Longmont. I was planning to do a little web development over a lovely mocha at the Laughing Goat prior to riding the bus home. As most of you may be aware, we have just one car, so occasionally it requires a bit of creativity to get everyone where they want in a timely fashion. Everything was going swimmingly until the driver of the East-bound Jump refused to let me on the bus. I argued, to no avail, for a few minutes that it was only the 6th of January and of course I hadn’t received my new sticker yet, but he insisted that I would have to pay the new ($2.00) fare in full if I wanted to board his autonomous state. Somehow I bit my tongue and resisted the dozens of scathing remarks that entered my mind. Clearly they wouldn’t have improved my situation. Knowing that Jess wouldn’t get home until about 11:00, I decided rashly that I should walk home.

Now I should also tell you that I did have the money for the bus fare, but as I’ve been trying to explain to Jess this past week, it’s clearly a matter of principle. There is no way I’m going to pay a penny (let alone the new bogus, inflated price RTD is charging) for something I’m clearly entitled to obtain for free. All told, it’s about a 3 hour and 15 minute walk from downtown Boulder to Lafayette. If you were planning to travel by foot, it wouldn’t really be half bad. The new Windstopper jacket I received as a Christmas gift worked quite well in that I was never cold, but I never got overheated either. I got to listen to a bunch of the NPR Science Friday podcasts that were backlogged on my iPod. I also composed about 10 angry letters to RTD outlining exactly what I thought of them and their puppet, but I’ve since calmed down a bit, and no longer carry a blood-oath of vengence. Aside from a few hot spots that almost developed into blisters, nothing really bad happened.

Oh, I should also mention that Jess was not the weest bit angry. She was in fact nearly furious that I didn’t call, but we don’t have cell phones, and there really aren’t that many pay phones available anymore. I certainly didn’t want to add miles to my trip looking for a phone. I finally called Jess at about 11:50—the first time I passed a phone—to tell her where I was. It turned out to be about 11 miles one way from Boulder to the grocery store.